In the 1980s, cocaine was the drug everyone was afraid of. It was a popular party drug during the disco era; people under the influence were annoyingly jittery, but one must admit that neither Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours nor the classic first five seasons of Saturday Night Live would exist without cocaine. Then the media seized on crack cocaine as the new bogeyman, and a generation of schoolchildren learned to fear cocaine above all else. Trends in drug abuse have gone through so many changes that cocaine now seems quaint, a retro drug, one that you would not take except to unleash your inner John Belushi or Warren Zevon. First it was methamphetamine, then oxycodone, and then the resurgence of heroin, followed by unimaginably deadly fentanyl. Now, cocaine seems to be making a comeback, at least in Oklahoma, but so much has changed, and this is not the Studio 54 cocaine epidemic. If you are facing criminal charges related to cocaine, contact a Tulsa drug charge lawyer.

Cocaine Statistics in Oklahoma

Cocaine use in Oklahoma has increased sharply over the past decade, as have criminal cases related to cocaine. These are some highlights of a report published by the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics (OBN) in early 2025:

• Police seized 392 pounds of cocaine in drug busts in Oklahoma in 2024. This is more than 20 times as much as in 2016, when the total amount of cocaine seized in drug busts was 19 pounds.
• In 2024, 140 people who suffered fatal drug overdoses tested positive for cocaine. By contrast, in 2018, 47 OBN recorded 47 fatal overdoses involving cocaine. Overdose deaths where cocaine is the only drug the person ingested are rare; many of the recent cocaine overdoses involved mixtures of cocaine and fentanyl, although the patients may not have known that fentanyl was a component of the drug mixtures they were buying.
• In less than a decade, the number of patients seeking treatment for cocaine addiction at drug rehabilitation clinics increased nearly fivefold, from 315 in 2015 to 1,500 in 2023.

This means that there is more cocaine in the drug supply than before; you might not know whether the drug mixture you are buying or consuming includes cocaine. If you are present when someone suffers a drug overdose, Oklahoma’s Good Samaritan laws protect you from certain criminal charges if you call 911 to get help for the overdose patient. These laws make you immune to prosecution for possession of drugs or drug paraphernalia arising from the police response to the overdose event. It does not protect you from drug trafficking charges if there is evidence of drug trafficking at the scene. Narcan, carried by first responders, reverses the effects of opioids but not cocaine, but prompt medical treatment can save someone’s life after a cocaine overdose.

Contact Tracy Tiernan About Criminal Defense Cases

A criminal defense lawyer can help you if you are facing criminal charges related to possession of cocaine.  Contact Tracy Tiernan in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to discuss your case.