During history, an attitude towards cocaine has steadily changed, starting from chewing coca leaves in the 16th century. Currently, cocaine is known as an utterly dangerous and legally restricted drug. The primary focus of this paper is to analyze the existence of cocaine, its consumption, and connected public opinion at the end of the 20th century studying life and death of Len Bias, a renowned basketball player.
To start with, it is essential to delve deeper into the history of cocaine usage and abuse. As was mentioned before, it began in the 16th century when the Incas chewed coca leaves as a tradition believing that the god sent it to them to ease their suffering (Levinthal, 2014). Later on, in the middle of the 19th century, scientists started to study coca plants closer and were able to isolate its active ingredient chemically. It was the time the cocaine was invented in the form with which we are familiar nowadays. Consequently, various drinks based on cocaine were created, including the famous Coca-Cola.
However, most of them were officially restricted or changed the formulas by the beginning of the 20th century. The 1900s were the time when public opinion was mostly firmly against cocaine, which resulted in the Harrison Act of 1914 restraining cocaine sales in the US (Levinthal, 2014). Although cocaine was now legally restricted and seen mostly negatively by the public, it was and still is used in different medical settings.
Similar to the majority of drugs, cocaine provokes acute and chronic effects. Although the display of some of them strongly depends on previous experience, expectations, dose purity, and a way of administration, some features stay the same. The most vivid examples of acute effects are a robust flare of energy, with the following state called “high,” which is also assisted by the feeling of general well-being. However, over time the mood tends to change during the act of consumption with a possible depression as one of the consequences. Besides, cocaine is claimed to be an aphrodisiac, to which it does not correspond fully, according to some cocaine users interviewed (Levinthal, 2014).
Moreover, as one of the chronic effects, there is decreased sexual performance reported. There are also paranoia, hallucinations, insomnia, and the disordered thinking, which can be considered as consequences and indicators of cocaine abuse. In addition, among other both acute and chronic effects, cocaine affects practically every organ in a human body, especially heart, resulting in increased blood pressure and adverse cardiovascular symptoms. It is also significant to note that drug abuse cases connected with cocaine are the most frequent among drug-related death and hospital emergency visits.
Although starting from the beginning of the 20th century, the use of cocaine was legitimate only for medical purposes, it became associated with wealth, high status, and glamour during the early 1970s. Interestingly enough, this image of cocaine is still relevant nowadays despite the record level of tragic accidents connected with its abuse in the 1980s. Moreover, according to Levinthal (2014), “the medical profession at this time was surprisingly naive about risks of cocaine use” (p. 97).
Therefore, people were not warned appropriately, and, besides, the media has created a glamorous image of cocaine among the rich and famous. Altogether, these factors contributed to a widespread cocaine consumption and abuse, particularly among renowned sportspeople, musicians, movie stars, and politicians. Only when it, in its turn, led to many tragic accidents, did society realize cocaine’s actual dangers.
One of the most vivid examples of such accidents is the death of Len Bias, which happened on June 19th, 1986. According to Hudson (2018), “at that time, the record-setting Bias was the most accomplished player in Maryland basketball history” (p. 1). On the evening of June 17th he was selected as a player for the basketball champion team Boston Celtics by the National Basketball Association (NBA). Bias’s destiny seemed to be one of the key players of Celtics and to make them championed again in 1987. Researchers note that “if Bias reached his full potential, he would be a superstar in a bi-racial league” (Hudson, 2018, p. 2). However, regrettably, he was never going to fulfill this potential.
The day after the draft, after being officially introduced as a new member of Celtics in Boston, Bias flew back home to Maryland. There, he celebrated the auspicious event with his family and, then, headed to his college campus to have a party with friends. Little does the public know in terms of the details of this celebration. The consumption of a large quantity of cocaine and the consequent death of Len Bias was reported on the morning of the 19th. Moreover, there was a bag of cocaine claimed to be found in Bias’s sports car.
Some people even compare their emotions experienced in the moment of finding out the news about Bias to those of hearing about September 11th. In other words, the shock was so robust that the phenomenon of flashbulb memory occurred. As was mentioned before, the risks of cocaine consumption were not sufficiently discussed and announced. Therefore, the rich and famous tended to use it without particular worries, and Len Bias was one of them.
According to Smith (1992), “celebration time in the past had meant cocaine time, and the foursome, Bias, Long, Tribble, and Gregg, had had cocaine parties several times earlier that year” (p. 34). Moreover, the idea that Bias had tried cocaine was not unpredictable for his friends and coaches, since everybody understood strong temptations by which he was surrounded as an upcoming sports star. Still, nobody was expecting it to spread beyond the frames to such an extent.
It is undeniable that Bias’s accident was one of the crucial events that made public reconsider cocaine and its effects. Researchers note that “reporters, columnists, and politicians also frequently invoked Bias as a cautionary tale, a symbol of the dangers of drug use and poor decision-making” (Hudson, 2018, p. 78). Plenty of people who knew Bias, including the US Congressmen, the young generation, and black sportspeople, considered him as a role model, a leader, a promise. In other words, he appeared to be an all-American hero, and, therefore, everybody was confused and struggling to understand what truly happened.
Various versions of the accident and its causes and reasons appeared. For instance, there was an assumption that Bias had suffered from a split personality. Besides, many theories contained accusations of Bias being troubled in college and able to buy cheap drugs in some black neighborhoods. Consequently, according to Hudson 2018, ‘journalists transformed Bias into a racialized symbol of drugs, illiteracy, and misplaced moral values who represented the problems of American sport” (p. 79).
What is more, the death of Len Bias not only affected the attitude towards drugs in the 1980s, but it has also influenced the lives of people connected with the event. For instance, Bias’s friends who celebrated with him on the night of the accident were charged with possessing cocaine and obstructing justice (“The death of Len Bias a chain of tragedy,” 1987). As a result, they had to drop out of college, move out to another state, or to be out of the basketball team.
The case has also inevitably affected the mother of Len Bias, Lonise Bias. She was a mother and wife, had a career, but then, it is possible to note that “since Bias’ death, she has become a public figure with a mission” (“The death of Len Bias a chain of tragedy,” 1987, para. 3). Currently, Lonise Bias still performs speeches connected with the danger of drug consumption and abuse.
To sum everything up, it is undeniable that Len Bias provoked a considerable change in society. Although this way cannot be considered a right or a good one, Bias transformed the attitude towards drugs, especially cocaine, of the 1980s. His death contributed to the beginning of raised public awareness of negative, even tragic, consequences of irresponsible cocaine consumption. What is more, Bias explicitly showed by his example all the adverse effects of cocaine and expressed by his unfulfilled potential everything that can be taken away from a person as a result of abusing drugs. In addition, he is still a devastating reminder for the Boston Celtics and the University of Maryland of their failed opportunity and tragic loss of a promising member.
References
Hudson, J. (2018). What could have been: The mediated life and afterlife of Len Bias. Web.
Levinthal, C. F. (2014). Drugs, behavior, and modern society. Bergen, NJ: Pearson.
Smith, C. F. (1992). Lenny, Lefty, and the Chancellor: The Len Bias tragedy and the search for reform in big-time college basketball. Baltimore, MD: Bancroft Press.
The death of Len Bias a chain of tragedy. (1987). The Washington Post. Web.