Recent Trends in Cocaine Abuse in a VA Psychiatric Population

An anonymous questionnaire completed by 473 patients seeking psychiatric treatment at a metropolitan Veterans Administration medical center indicated that 23 percent were currently using cocaine and 46 percent had used the drug at least once in their lifetime. Typically current users were black males in their early thirties who favored the freebase method of drug use and who were similar to nonusers in occupation, education, and low income. Analyses of freebasers, intravenous users, and intranasal users indicated that freebasers were more likely to be black, to have used more cocaine in the preceding 30 days, to be seeking treatment specifically for cocaine abuse, and, along with intravenous users, to have experienced a greater number of psychosocial disruptions. Freebasers were also least likely to have changed to other methods of cocaine use.