Cocaine Use reached its high point in 1985 where 5.7 million people reported using cocaine regularly. This is a time where corporate America embraced cocaine and it was very glamorous and accepted in Hollywood, New York, and on the discotheque scene. In 1995 1.5 million Americans reported as being current cocaine users, which is a dramatic 74% decrease. With all the awareness programs, and drug education, less people are even trying cocaine. Between 1980 and 1984 approximately 1.3 million first time users were reported. In 1994 533,000 reported as first-time users . In 1995, an estimated 582,000 were frequent users of cocaine, and almost half of those were crack users.
The decline in amount of people who use cocaine over the years is good news. The bad news is the amount of cocaine that Americans consume is about the same as it was in 1985. This is due to the increase of crack usage over the years. People use crack on a more regular binge basis abusing 3-5 grams per day, where an average person who snorts cocaine consumes 1-3 grams per day.
With proper education and drug rehab efforts we can keep the number of cocaine users on the decline.