PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF COCAINE CONSUMPTION

main alkaloid found in the coca leaf. Products which contain cocaine in their composition soon appeared: mainly alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks such as the famous coca wine, Vin Mariani. With the arrival of the 20th century, a series of changes led to the illegalization of the use of cocaine (Escohotado, 2001): ambitions in the field of medicine, pressure from the prohibitionist movement and the association relating the consumption of this type of substances to minorities, immigrants and marginal groups. Cocaine is a substance which is obtained from the leaves of a bush known as Erythtroxylon coca. The products which are extracted are: coca leaves, coca paste, cocaine, freebase cocaine or crack cocaine (table 1). Cocaine is cocaine chlorhydrate. It is a white, crystalline powder with a bitter taste which is consumed via the nostrils (“snorted”), orally or intravenously. There is also information about cocaine being consumed in cigarettes or mixed with cannabis (OEDT, 2004). In relation to the prevalence of cocaine consumption, in a door-to-door survey carried out in Spain in 2005-2006 (OED, 2007), 7.0 % of people between 15 and 64 have tried cocaine at least once, 3.0 % consumed it in the last year and 1.6 % in the last month. There has been an increase in its consumption in the past few years risin