The rise of the cocaine coma

This story in The Times highlights something that has struck me during my recent weekend night shifts. Its so common to see thirty- or forty-somethings with chest pain that it raises little more than a wry smile amongst doctors. One man in his thirties was wheeled in by the ambulance after being found pulseless with cocaine next to him. The most striking thing about the arrest was that nobody seemed particularly surprised by it – just another person having a heart attack on cocaine. I reckon it wont be long before the rest of the press cottons on to this and we start to hear a lot more about cocaine’s side effects.