For better or worse, Miami has become an ideal place for jet-setting partiers to indulge in a bit of cocaine, but a new report says you might be safer using coke in a colder climate -- like, say, snorting "snow" where it actually snows.
That's because cocaine raises the body's core temperature and impairs the cardiovascular system's natural ability to cool itself. The drug also affects your body's ability to recognize it's uncomfortable when it's too hot.
A University of Michigan study tracked cocaine-related deaths in New York City from 1990 to 2006 and found that the chances of accidental overdoses rise as the mercury does.
Specifically when the temperature reaches about 75 degrees, the chances of ODing goes up. The average high in Miami Beach is 75 degrees or higher ten months out of the year, and the average low doesn't dip below 75 in five months. Temperatures in crowded clubs can soar above the outside temperature.
The study also found that at least two extra people died per week in New York for every two-degree Celsius -- or about four-degree Fahrenheit -- temperature increase.
You don't need to be an addict to be concerned about the potentially deadly effects of cocaine.
"The vast majority of drug users are people who have jobs and who contribute to society," researcher Amy Bohnert told the Globe and Mail.
