The coca leaf has been used for over a thousand years by natives of South America. They would chew the coca leaf for many reasons. The coca plant has many vitamins and nutrients that are very hard to come by in the region where it is indigenous. Chewing of the coca leaf would also give the people of that region, feelings of wellbeing and energy. When the Spanish first invaded the area, they tried to outlaw the chewing of coca leaves saying that they were the work of the devil. However, when they found that they could no longer get the natives of the area to perform as much work without chewing the coca leaf, they once again allowed the practice to continue and added a tax to the crops that were grown in the area.

It was not until the 1800’s that the active alkaloid in the coca leaf was isolated and later named. Cocaine was soon there touted as a wonder drug. It had anesthetic properties as well as the power of inducing overall senses of wellbeing in its users. It was not long before there were all types of medicines and tinctures that had cocaine in them and claimed to cure everything from the common tooth-ache to sexual dysfunction. It was added to wine, to cough syrups and most famously a drink called Coca-Cola which was mixture of cocaine and extracts from the cola bean.

One of cocaine’s biggest enthusiasts went by the name of Dr. Freud. Freud, along with one of his associates did many wild experiments with cocaine. He said that it was a cure all drug and he became addicted for it for many years. After a while Freud became disenchanted with his obsession and eventually quit using the drug because of the effects it eventually had on his health.

Cocaine is not widely used as a medicine these days, although it does have its place as an anesthetic for some eye surgeries. The use of cocaine by the public is illegal in almost every country and there are very heavy regulations on it. There are even regulations on the name cocaine. There is a drink called Cocaine Energy Drink that was banned for a while simply because of the name. There was no actual cocaine in the drink.

Most people when they think of drug addicts think of young kids or adults who have gotten themselves into situations with drugs or alcohol that they need help to get out of. The fact of the matter is that there are plenty of mature adults these days that have problems with drugs and alcohol also. Some statistics actually state drug abuse rising among older adults (55+) is not uncommon these days. The fact of the matter is that with the economy the way it is, many people are finding it easy to lose themselves and their problems in addiction. There are a lot of people who have been in the work force for most of their adult lives who have lost their jobs and just do not know what to do with their days. Add that to the fact that it is very easy to get prescriptions these days for almost anything and the availability of alcohol on a day to day basis and it is the perfect recipe for addiction.

Many of these people are embarrassed to go to their loved ones for help because often times the people that are suffering the most now are the people who have been the rocks for their families. With the loss of their job and their way to provide for the family, many of them are losing a sense of their self-confidence as well. It is really quite tragic. They feel that they do not want to put more of a burden on their family than the family is already suffering and so they just suck it up in silence.

Another reason that many mature adults do not always seek treatment when they need it is because they often feel that most treatment centers are full of people that are half of their age and who are not interested in handling their addiction seriously. They may often feel that in any treatment center that they go to they will have to endure meetings filled with young immature people who will share their wild drug and alcohol stories and they do not often see how this will help them with their own addiction.

Brittany(not her real name just used to protect her privacy) is a very pretty and intelligent girl. She was raised in good family. She and her sisters did not have everything that they could ever want when they were growing up because their parents could not afford to spoil them ridiculously, but they always had more than everything that they needed. Brittany said that she and her family were always very close knit and she had a really good child hood. Her mother stayed at home with her girls while her dad went out and brought home the bacon. He owned his own A/C business which earned the family enough to be comfortable but again not live extravagantly. Brittany said that she lived in a really good school district in a richer side of town. She said that a lot of the kids that she went to school had families that had a lot more money than hers did, but it never really bothered her until she got into high school. She said that once she was in high school she began to notice that a lot of her friends had really nice cars and she had to buy a used one. She said that she really tried to not let it bother her, but sometimes it still did. She said that she knew her father worked very hard to provide as nice as a life as he could for her family and it would make her feel bad to want more than she had.

Brittany was always very popular amongst her peers, despite the socio and economic differences between their families. She was always involved in sports and was sort of a tomboy. She said that she always made very good grades and always hung out with the sporty and preppy kids. She never really hung out with the druggies in the beginning of high school because she thought they were such losers. Plus she was way too busy to ever do drugs really.