Spilled Expresso

A recent article in The New York Times "Cocaine: Hidden in Plain Sight" discusses the current trend for people to be open about their cocain usage.
The article quotes many bar and club owners about how they see it in the clubs a lot, and although they kick people out when they see it 9or so they claimed on record) it remains prevelent.
Apparently, the current "Meth crisis" has made it a media focus, with the cocaine problem going unnoticed. In the past, I have heard others say that Coke was no longer the problem drug of the moment.
I am not so naive that I don't know that Coke is every where, from NYC to small towns in Montana. Yet, what distirbed me about the article was the quote in which someone called coke "the new weed." I am not a fan of weed, which I know makes me odd, but I have learned to accept the fact that I am the minority in my stance against weed. I have begin to take for granted that I am the only one in the room who doesn't smoke, atleast occasionally. While I'd prefer to not be around it, I cAn handle it. However, I really don't need to have people doing lines of coke in my presence. One source in the article described that the attitude towards coke makes it m ore socially acceptable than cigarettes. Yeah, we all know the dangers of cigarettes, but when's the last time you heard of someone missing work to smoke a cigarette? Or a person robbing a convience store to pay for cigarettes the way many a coke/crack heads have (and continue to do)? Where have people gotten teh impression that coke is the safer version of meth? Is it because LiLo and KaMo have admitted to doing it that it is socially acceptable to use cocaine? I'm not much for coke, I'll stick to my diet pepsi.