THE ESSENTIAL
- Globally, cocaine production doubled between 2014 and 2019.
- The record level of production was reached in 2019 with 1784 tonnes.
In the United States, a 35-year-old man injected cocaine into his penis and ended up in the emergency room. Doctors reported this case in the journal American Journal of Case Reports.
An intolerable pain
The story dates back to October 2021. The man presented to the emergency department at Bronx Care Hospital Center and described pain “iintolerable” at the level of the sexual organs, more precisely the penis and the scrotum, that is to say the membrane which surrounds the testicles.
As with every patient, the doctors ask him if he has an idea of the reason for this pain. A little embarrassed, he does not immediately confess the truth to them. But, after several minutes, he finally let go: he injected cocaine into the superficial dorsal vein of the penis at least twice during the last weeks. According to him, before that day in October 2021, he had never had any complications.
Antibiotics to treat the patient
Doctors immediately treated the 30-year-old, who refused to have the gangrenous tissue removed. For five days, he then had antibiotic drugs delivered intravenously. For the next five days, he then took his treatment by mouth. The patient’s condition improved but he refused treatment for his drug addiction.
Cocaine is a drug in the form of a white powder. It is usually taken nasally. According to government, 2.8% of 17-year-olds and 5.6% of adults – a percentage four times higher in 20 years – had already experimented with cocaine in 2017. Risky driving because, in addition to the danger of addiction, this type of behavior is responsible for approximately 10,000 hospitalizations per year in France. Between 2010 and 2016, medical complications related to cocaine use increased sixfold in France according to the authorities.