While filming ‘The Soloist’ the Block buster real life story of a homeless music prodigy living on the streets of Los Angeles., Robert Downey jr recalls being approached by homless people who knew about the actor’s lifelong battle with drugs and addiction.

Downey joked saying  ”I was surprised that my street cred on Skid Row was pretty high.”  It never occured to me that people would be like ” Dude, I was in the County jail with You.”

Downey, opens up about his feelings and reservations about playing a role that hit so close to home -Being in this environment that is so reminiscent and symbolic of the darkest depths of drug abuse, really struch a cord. For the actor, ” it became this incredibly wonderful humbling and humiliating expreience”  a 3 month field trip to remind you where drug abuse can take you.

The ‘Baby boomer’ generation florished in the 1960’s and spawned an unforgetable era defined by it’s appetite for sex, drugs, and all things rock n roll. Those days of free sex,love and great rock n Roll are long passed, the love child of fantasy and lengend, yet baby boomers are still keeping the hay day of drugs alive and kicking – scarffing down anything from ecstasy pills to snorting cocaine.

 According to Peter Delany, from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Baby Boomers are using/abusing drugs at a higher than normal rate – nearly double that of previous generations.

“When a child uses drugs, we assume that he/she is the only one who suffers. However, the family is suffering as much if not more, becuase they see their child in trouble and yet they are powerless to help them.” These are the words of a Former Crack Cocaine and Crystal Meth Addict located in florida, we’ll call him “Z”

When I used, I knew my family was feeling the pain to, but I didn’t care - I just wanted the high. As my addiction got more and more out of control, I started to notice the obviuos. I noticed my rapid weight Lost, bad breathe, Bad hygiene – Sometimes I’d forget to take showers for days.

I also started to notice that my family who became so fustrated with their failure to fix my addiction, that they began ressembling me. My Mother started loosing weight, started having nervous spells, couldn’t sleep, lost her apitite for life or anything else – she became addicted to wanting to help me/ fix my addiction. I mention my mother here, but my entire family – my sister, two brothers and even my farther started looking like addicts. As addicts we forget that the families also suffer, they serve the same sentence that we serve – our pain is their pain.

When I decided/court ordered to go into rehab, my family served that sentence with me as well – all three  times I relapsed. Now, it’s been almost 4 years since the last time I picked up. I have to say, the feeling of being clean is greater than any high I’ve ever exprienced. Since rehab “I am finally able to be a son to my parents, a brother to my siblings and a friend to all those who beleived and stood by me even when all hope seemed lost.”

Cocaine Demand

The quantity of cocaine available in domestic drug markets seems to meet user demand in most markets, without observable shortfall. But in recent ONDCP analysis of data from February through September 2005 shows that the purity of available cocaine could be diminishing at the retail level–reflecting decreases in potential worldwide cocaine production and significant increases in cocaine interdiction.

Cocaine Wholesale Markets

Mexican DTOs and criminal groups control most wholesale cocaine distribution in the US, and their control is growing. According to federal, state, and local law enforcement reporting, Mexican DTOs and criminal groups are the predominant wholesale cocaine distributors in the Great Lakes, Pacific, Southeast, Southwest, and West Central Regions, and although Colombian and Dominican criminal groups control most wholesale distribution in the Northeast and Florida/Caribbean Regions, wholesale distribution by Mexican DTOs and criminal groups is increasing.
 
Cocaine and The Mexican/US Border

Management over wholesale cocaine distribution by Mexican DTOs and criminal groups has been increasing for several years and is likely to continue to augment. Cocaine transportation data indicate that most cocaine available in U.S. drug markets is smuggled into the country via the U.S.-Mexico border. As Mexican DTOs and criminal groups control an increasing amount of the cocaine smuggled into the country, their influence over wholesale distribution will rise even in areas previously controlled by other groups, including areas of the Northeast and Florida/Caribbean Areas.

Cocaine in Florida

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) New York Field Division reported in 2005 that in some areas of New York City, Mexican criminal groups have supplanted Colombian criminal groups as the primary source of multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine. Similarly, the Central Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) recently reported that in some areas of Florida, Mexican DTOs and criminal groups have supplanted Colombian and Dominican criminal groups as the predominant wholesale cocaine distributors and are establishing new distribution networks.

Cocaine’s effects appear almost immediately after a single dose, and disappear within a few minutes or hours. Taken in small amounts (up to 100 mg), cocaine usually makes the user feel euphoric, energetic, talkative, and mentally alert, especially to the sensations of sight, sound, and touch. It can also temporarily decrease the need for food and sleep. Some users find that the drug helps them perform simple physical and intellectual tasks more quickly, while others experience the opposite effect.

The duration of cocaine’s immediate euphoric effects depends upon the route of administration. The faster the absorption, the more intense the high. Also, the faster the absorption, the shorter the duration of action. The high from snorting is relatively slow in onset, and may last 15 to 30 minutes, while that from smoking may last 5 to 10 minutes.

The short-term physiological effects of cocaine include constricted blood vessels; dilated pupils; and increased temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure. Large amounts (several hundred milligrams or more) intensify the user’s high, but may also lead to bizarre, erratic, and violent behavior. These users may experience tremors, vertigo, muscle twitches, paranoia, or, with repeated doses, a toxic reaction closely resembling amphetamine poisoning. Some users of cocaine report feelings of restlessness, irritability, and anxiety. In rare instances, sudden death can occur on the first use of cocaine or unexpectedly thereafter. Cocaine-related deaths are often a result of cardiac arrest or seizures followed by respiratory arrest.