Recent trends in cocaine abuse: a view from the National Hotline, "800-COCAINE".

A series of research surveys of callers to the "800-COCAINE" National Hotline over the past three years has revealed shifting patterns of cocaine use in the U.S. In addition to showing the geographic spread of cocaine use to virtually all parts of the country, the surveys provide evidence of increased cocaine use among women, adolescents, minorities, and lower socioeconomic groups. Increases have also been seen in individual levels of cocaine consumption, the popularity of freebase smoking, concomitant use of other drugs, cocaine-related automobile accidents, and the use of cocaine in the workplace. Despite inherent limitations, data from the Hotline are highly consistent with large-scale government surveys and predictive of clinical trends.