Price of cocaine much lower than in '80s

By Michael Stetz
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

May 11, 2008

Among the many details laid out by authorities after last week's drug raids around San Diego State University, there was this tidbit: Alleged dealers were selling half-ounces of cocaine for as little as $400.
A half-ounce contains about 14 grams, which comes out to about $28 per gram (the size of a Sweet'N Low packet). In the 1980s, a gram of cocaine cost $100 to $125.

When inflation is factored in, the price difference is even more eye-popping. If the cost of cocaine went up like everything else, that $100 gram from the 1980s would cost $282 today.

It's a stunning price drop for a drug once considered among the more glamorous to use – and one that seems to be on the rise again.

Hollywood celebrities, professional athletes and rock stars gravitated toward cocaine in the 1980s. The popularity soon trickled down to young professionals and Average Joes who spent small fortunes to snort lines of white powder.

The drug made headlines for contributing to the deaths of such notables as comedian John Belushi and college basketball star Len Bias. Belushi died in 1982, five years before most of today's college students were born.

Government officials said the price drop isn't surprising. People became aware of the drug's dangers and started shying from it, said Eileen Zeidler, a special agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

“It's not the trendy drug that it once was,â€