while cannabis is the drug most abused by both men and women in terms of annual prevalence cocaine is the second most frequent drug of abuse for men whereas for women cannabis is followed closely by the misuse of tranquillizers with cocaine coming a distant third experts in south america perceive an increase in cocaine use in the region which is considered to be driven by increased abuse in brazil the rise in abuse of smokable cocaine has been receiving particular attention from national authorities with the annual prevalence of crack cocaine being estimated at per cent in