Cocaine Abuse Among Patients: A Study at the Charleston Area Medical Center (Scientific Article: Special Issue) (Report‪)‬

Introduction According to the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, approximately 35 million Americans over the age of 12 have tried cocaine in their lifetimes. (3) Patients present to hospitals with various complaints that are associated with drug use and, according to one study, cocaine causes the highest number of emergency department visits among users of illicit drugs. (8) Since approximately one-third of users do not volunteer information concerning their drug habits, unnecessary resources are expended in diagnosis. (18) The most widely used diagnostic method for detection of cocaine use is a urine drug screen (UDS), which returns very few false positive tests for cocaine. (10) Urine drug screens can detect cocaine metabolites for as long as 24-48 hours after use, and in chronic users for up to 22 days. (9,10)