2.2 Million Hard-Core Cocaine Addicts in U.S.

Nearly 2.2 million Americans are hard-core cocaine addicts, more than double the official count of those who use the drug at least once a week, according to a Senate report released today.

“This news is as alarming as it is tragic,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden (D-Del.) said in a statement. “It suggests that we have a hard-core addict problem that is far worse than virtually every previous estimate of its scope.”

Some states have “extraordinarily high concentrations,” with one in every 40 people in New York considered a hard-core user, according to the Senate Judiciary Committee report.

The nation’s capital has the highest per capita rate, 32.9 weekly users among every 1,000 Washington residents, the report said.

The findings, prepared under the supervision of Mark A. R. Kleiman of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, underscored a dispute between Biden and a number of other lawmakers and the Administration over whether to aim the thrust of the drug war against hard-core or casual users.

Biden has said hard-core users should be the primary target, while national drug czar William J. Bennett has advocated efforts directed mainly at stemming casual cocaine use.

The report expressed doubt about the official findings of the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s household survey, which estimated the number of Americans who use cocaine at least once a week at fewer than 900,000.

“How could fewer than 900,000 bring such havoc to a nation of 250 million?” the report asked.

The report estimated that 1.5 million hard-core cocaine addicts are arrested annually and represent about 20% of all arrestees nationwide.

“This suggests that cocaine is a major cause of crime in the United States,” the report said.

The report estimated that New York state had the most hard-core addicts, with 434,000. After that came California, 325,000; Texas, 144,000; Illinois, 142,000, and Florida, 93,000.