Cocaine is one of the most popular illegal drugs in the world. In 2019, an estimated 18.1 million people used it. It is used worldwide, but some places have higher rates of use than others. This piece goes into detail about finding the Californian and U.S. towns with the highest rates of cocaine use and looking into possible causes.
The California City With the Highest Rate of Cocaine Use
From figures from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), we can see that San Francisco has the highest rate of cocaine use in California. 4.4% of people ages 12 and up said they had used cocaine in the past year, which is twice as high as the state average and higher than rates in any other U.S. city.
People who want to try drugs may be drawn to San Francisco, known for its open culture, diverse population, and lively nightlife. The city has also a history of drug use and action that goes back to the hippie movement of the 1960s and the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s. Residents and tourists may be especially interested in cocaine because it is linked to high social standing, wealth, and power.
Still, using cocaine has nasty effects on health and society, such as addiction, overdose, heart problems, mental illnesses, violence, and crime. The San Francisco Department of Public Health says that cocaine was a factor in 22% of drug-related deaths in 2019. Along with this, sharing needles and other drug tools makes it easier for dangerous diseases like HIV and hepatitis C to spread.
This is the City in the U.S where the Most Cocaine is Used
San Francisco has the highest rate of cocaine use in California, but it’s not the only place in the U.S. with a high rate of use. In 2019, SAMHSA found that 1.5% of people aged 12 and up across the country had used cocaine in the past year. Some towns, though, did much better than this figure.
American Addiction Centers looked at data from 51 U.S. cities and found that 20.6% of people in Phoenix, Arizona had used cocaine in the past year, making it the place with the highest rate of cocaine use. Mesa, Arizona, came in second with 19.8%, and Omaha, Nebraska, came in third with 19.5%. Tulsa, Oklahoma; Wichita, Kansas; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Fresno, California were some of the other places with high cocaine use rates.
The high rates of cocaine use may be caused by being close to the Mexican border, which is where most cocaine in the U.S. comes from, the drug’s easy access and low cost, the lack of effective prevention and treatment programs, and social and economic issues that make people want to escape stress, boredom, or trauma.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the numbers of cocaine use range across Californian and U.S. cities, even though cocaine is an illegal drug used all over the world. People looking for social status are drawn to San Francisco’s high rate, which is due to its culture and political background.
Arizona’s Phoenix is at the top of the list with 20.6% usage across the country. High rates of cocaine use in these places are caused by things like being close to the Mexican border, being easy to get to, being cheap, not having enough protection measures in place, and socioeconomic factors. This causes big health and social problems.