Perceived risk and sources of information regarding cocaine

A study was made of the perceptions of risk and of the sources of information about risk regarding cocaine. Subjects were adult (N = 90) and juvenile (N = 20) cocaine abusers in seven Baltimore area treatment programs. Using structured interview, it was found that 87.8% of adults and 80.0% of youth had experienced at least one negative consequence of their cocaine use, other than addiction, prior to entry into treatment. The most common negative experience reported by both groups was the loss of reality testing. Moreover, 86.6% of adults and 65.0% of youth reported becoming addicted to cocaine before entering treatment. While juveniles sampled had entered treatment within a year of first cocaine use, adults entered treatment 7.9 years after first use and reported an average of 6.6 years of cocaine use before experiencing the first negative consequences. Television received consistently high ratings as an accessible and credible source of information about cocaine. Adolescents rated schools relatively high on the amount and accuracy of cocaine-related information provided.