"I got hooked on the cake when I was 14. I couldn't sleep unless I was fucking a line."
One in eight Spaniards admits to having taken this drug at least once in their life, and the State leads the ranking of consumption in European countries.
BarcelonaThirteen percent of Spaniards between the ages of 15 and 64 admit to having used cocaine at least once in their lives. This is one in eight citizens. Twenty-five years ago, that percentage was only 3.1%. This is one of the conclusions of the latest Ages report on alcohol and other drug use. Cocaine, as it is known, is a The United Nations warned on Thursday, is the drug that has grown the most worldwide in recent years. Politicians, athletes, lawyers, journalists... cocaine is present in all social strata, and Spain—Catalonia included—is the European country with the highest consumption. "It's linked to our leisure culture. We take drugs to socialize, while in northern European countries they do it to escape," explains Emilio Salgado, head of toxicology at the Hospital Clínic, who believes that in Mediterranean culture, prohibition would not be the solution to this problem. "Taking drugs is part of our nature," he maintains.
The Edades report, however, also highlights that there is a lot of sporadic use. This is the positive—or less negative—side of the massive presence of cocaine in the Iberian Peninsula. The drug doesn't take root in most users, who can go quite a while without snorting white powder and continue with their lives. Salgado, however, warns that "cocaine is Russian roulette": "You shouldn't be addicted because it has cardiovascular consequences."
When you fall into addiction, the problems increase. Not just health problems. "With the pandemic, many people spent a lot of money on cocaine, and the more ruined they were, the more screwed they got," a drug trafficker tells ARA. And some clients' debts skyrocketed. That's when the lies to family and friends and the robberies to get money for more drugs began. "I got hooked on cocaine very young, when I was fourteen. And I used it until I was 27, when I detoxed. Cocaine is designed to make you addicted. At first, I couldn't sleep if I didn't have it; I would do a line and fall asleep," says a former user.
Despite these high levels of addiction, the percentage of those who have used cocaine in the last twelve months in Spain remains stable. Over the past 25 years, this statistic has fluctuated between 1.9% and 3% of citizens.
Same price, high purity
In 2023, nearly 25 million people used cocaine worldwide. A decade earlier, the figure had not exceeded 17 million. This sharp increase is due, in part, to the fact that it is a drug that has not become more expensive, as high production and the distribution capacity of criminal networks keep international markets flooded, and it is one of the few businesses that has not suffered from inflation. Forty years ago, a gram cost around 10,000 pesetas (60 euros), the same as it costs a Catalan consumer today.
All this means that there is no need to adulterate the drug. Cocaine arrives pure. However, some consumers prefer it mixed with other substances. It's a matter of taste and custom. A second drug trafficker, who started selling marijuana, acknowledged this in the ARA, but over time, seeing the potential for making money from cocaine, launched into the new market.
The young man noticed how some of his clients preferred the adulterated drug and learned to do it himself at home. "You don't need to be a chemist; it's very easy," he says. Always wearing gloves to avoid leaving a trace, he adulterated it because his clients liked it better. However, despite cases like these, the level of adulteration recorded in the last five years is very low. At the Clínic, where they have a small sample consisting of all the people who are treated in the Emergency Department, the presence of levamisole, one of the main adulterants, is practically negligible. In 2018, it was detected much more than it is now.
![twt Cocaine Routes 6](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 16 9"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
According to data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Spain has a serious problem, especially with cocaine and, on a different level, with marijuana. And while the consumption of opioids, amphetamines, and ecstasy is below the European average, with cocaine and cannabis, Spain is only above it the United States. In fact, with marijuana, it's 2.5 times the world average, while with cocaine, it's much higher: 4.5 times the world average.
In the case of cannabis, these high prevalence rates are linked to the fact that Spain—and especially Catalonia—is a global producer that exports worldwide. And, with white powder, because Spanish ports are the gateway for drugs into Europe. As UNODC researcher Thomas Pietchsmann says, a "trafficking country eventually becomes a consumer country."
In 2024, the Clínic treated 1,509 patients for drug use. Cocaine: 25.5%
Of the 390 cases, crack cocaine—base cocaine converted into crystal for smoking—was detected in 40; a much higher incidence. 3.5% required hospitalization. The remaining patients were discharged after a few hours of treatment, Salgado summarizes.
Following cocaine, among the more than 1,500 cases analyzed by the Clinic, are amphetamines, cannabis, and GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, incorrectly called liquid ecstasy or baby bottle). In almost 8% of cases, medications are detected: pregabalin (an antiepileptic, analgesic, and anxiolytic) and clonazepam (a drug that acts on the central nervous system). Ketamine is followed by tusis, a drug also called pink cocaine due to its characteristic color, but it's a mixture of MDMA, caffeine, and ketamine, which causes very strong hallucinations. "You can see dead people chasing you with a club," the doctor gives as an example.
Interview with Emilio Salgado
![El doctor Emilio Salgado, del Clínic](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1 1"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
What are the effects of cocaine use?
— The fundamental acute effect of cocaine is excitatory/stimulant. This can affect blood pressure, heart rate and rhythm, and arterial contraction, among other effects, which can lead to serious complications such as an acute myocardial infarction or stroke. Regarding chronic effects, not including those related to addiction, one of the most significant and dangerous effects is arteriosclerosis, especially in heart and brain disease. Also, there are anatomical changes in the heart muscle as it tries to adapt to the increased workload caused by cocaine use (ventricular hypertrophy).
What happens when combined with other drugs?
— Combining cocaine with other substances of abuse can enhance or diminish its stimulant effect; for example, if consumed with ethyl alcohol (the most common form), a metabolite called cocaethylene is formed in the body. This metabolite has a toxic potency similar to that of cocaine, but with a longer-lasting effect, increasing the risk of acute cardiovascular or cerebral complications. Consuming it in combination with other stimulants, such as amphetamine derivatives, can affect the body's thermoregulatory mechanisms and cause an uncontrolled rise in body temperature (hyperthermia), with very high mortality rates.
The cocaine that arrives in Spain is very pure, uncut: what does this mean for the consumer?
— I have no evidence to support this claim. However, the presence of adulterants in urine samples from patients treated in emergency departments for acute cocaine poisoning has been reported anecdotally in recent years..
