Studies in the Natural History of Cocaine Use-Theoretical Afterword

Abstract

A central commonality between the studies reported in this edition is argued to be important. They reveal a globalized pattern of cocaine use among geographically diverse groups of young, urban, secular people. Cocaine is used for recreational and entertainment purposes, is not commonly associated with ‘drug problems’ and is part of a ‘lifestyle’ in which the ‘rhythms’ of that lifestyle dictate cocaine use, not vice versa. Three general arguments are advanced in relation to this finding. First, the pattern of controlled use with few problems is surprising only to those who operate with defective models of human agency. Second, the rhythms of life are historically varied- some of the ‘rhythms’ of modernity and postmodernity are peculiarly fitted to drug use. Third, even within a given epoch, rhythms are varied between different social locations, creating different ‘settings’ for drug use and hence possibly different use patterns for (chemically) the ‘same drug’.

Key Words:

• Cocaine
• commodities
• consumerism
• modernity