For decades, cocaine has been sniffed, smoked or injected by a relatively few individuals, mainly in the entertainment industry, who could afford the high prices demanded by dealers. Now the pattern has changed dramatically. Nearly thirty per cent of Americans between the ages of eighteen and tewnty-five have tried cocaine, and there is increasing concern that the cocaine epidemic which has hit the United States is spreading to Europe, Australasia and elsewhere. Cocaine abuse has wrecked countless marriages wiped out fortunes, ruined careers and, in some cases, led to psychoses and death. What is the history of this misunderstood and much abused drug? What is its insidious appeal? Is it truly non-addictive as was once believed? What are the risks involved in its use? These and other urgent questions are answered in this volume on a drug whose use is growing and will (many fear) reach epidemic proportions throughout the developed world.