What is Cocaine?

Cocaine hydrochloride is a central nervous system stimulant derived from the coca plant.  Abused for the intoxicating effects, cocaine interferes with the reabsorption process of dopamine, a chemical messenger in the brain responsible for controlling pleasure, alertness, and movement.

How long has cocaine been used?

The Incas were probably the first to use cocaine 5,000 years ago, but the cocaine that we are familiar with today was first refined by a German chemist in 1858.  In its concentrated, purified form, cocaine was used in various medications and led to the first major epidemic of cocaine abuse around 1900.  Soon after, restrictions were placed on the drug because of adverse side effects and addictive properties.

How pure is cocaine?

Cocaine is processed with many volatile solvents, such as kerosene, benzene, and gasoline, and these poisons may remain in the powder.  In addition, dealers may “cut” or combine the cocaine with other substances like talcum powder, amphetamines, anesthetics, and other substances that may reduce the purity and cause unwanted side effects.

What are cocaine’s short-term effects?

Depending on the means of administration, users may begin to feel an intense “high” characterized by a surge of energy, intense pleasure, and increased feelings of confidence.  Cocaine intoxication is rather short, lasting only 15-30 minutes for powder cocaine and 5-10 minutes for crack.  Crack fumes can reach the brain in as little as 10 seconds.  These short periods of intoxication can lead to cocaine “binges” where cocaine is used over and over to prolong the “high.”  When drug supplies are depleted and/or the user becomes tolerant to cocaine’s intoxicating effects, the binge abruptly ceases.  After the pleasurable effects wear off, the user will experience a “coke crash,” which is characterized by depression, irritability, fatigue, paranoia, anxiety, and intense craving for more of the drug.

What are cocaine’s physical effects?

Cocaine use can cause dilated pupils, nausea, headaches, sweating, increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, insomnia, loss of appetite, and seizures.  Cocaine speeds up the heart by stimulating the same nerves that cause fear, thereby causing the heart to beat erratically or stop.  Cocaine also shrinks the peripheral blood vessels and places extra pressure on the heart and circulatory system.  These effects can lead to heart attacks, strokes, brain seizures, cardiac arrest, and respiratory failure in otherwise healthy people.  New and chronic users can die suddenly.  In Texas, 300-400 cocaine overdose deaths due to cocaine use have been reported each year.

What are cocaine’s long-term effects?

Chronic use of cocaine can cause heart problems, permanent liver damage, nutritional deficiencies, and long-term changes in the brain, triggering intense craving for cocaine.  In addition, research has shown that long-term cocaine use can compromise the immune system.  Other effects are related to how cocaine is administered.

Snorting: Snorting cocaine may cause a loss of the sense of smell, nose bleeds, sores around the nose and upper lip, swallowing problems, hoarseness, and sinus problems.  Stuffy or runny noses are common and chronic use may damage the structures on the inside of the nose.  Because of cocaine’s anesthetic effects, users may not be aware of the extent of damage to their nose and mouth.

Smoking: Smoking crack can cause severe chest pain, wheezing, chronic cough, parched lips, tongue, and throat, extreme hoarseness, singed eyebrows and lashes, and burns on fingers.  In the extreme, crack can cause bleeding in the lungs and “crack lung,” a condition characterized by pneumonia-like symptoms.

Injecting: Users may have collapsed and scarred veins, bacterial infections, infections of the heart lining and valves, abscesses or boils, pneumonia and tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases.  Injecting users are at risk for contracting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and hepatitis B and C, liver diseases that can lead to cancer.  These diseases are spread by sharing needles and using unsterilized drug paraphernalia.

What are cocaine’s effects on the mind?

Cocaine causes severe behavior changes including violent, erratic behavior in some and suicidal feelings in others.  Users under the influence may experience tactile hallucinations, where they feel “coke bugs” crawling on their body.  After using cocaine, they may be confused, anxious, and depressed.  They may even lose interest in food or sex, have trouble feeling pleasure, and act paranoid after long term use.  In severe cases, users may exhibit cocaine-induced psychosis where users lose touch with reality and exhibit paranoid behavior.  Because of its effects on behavior, cocaine intoxication is often listed as a contributing factor in drownings, car crashes, burns, and suicides.

Is cocaine really addictive and what does that mean?

Yes.  The onset of addiction is rapid and severe, and not even “recreational users” who limit their use to weekends are immune from the threat of addiction.  Once more, all methods of cocaine use cause addiction.  Clinicians estimate that 10 percent of recreational users will go on to serious, heavy use of cocaine.  Users who become addicted will “crave” more of the drug as soon as the intoxicating effects wear off, if they do not get their regular dose of cocaine or crack.  Cocaine abusers may have a hard time limiting their use, may build a tolerance to the drug requiring larger amounts to get the same effect, and may develop problems with schools, jobs, and personal relationships.  Cocaine addicts have to support expensive habits, which can cause them to quickly turn to lives of shoplifting, theft, drug dealing, and prostitution.

Does treatment for cocaine addiction work?

Yes.  Cocaine addiction is a chronic relapsing “brain disease” characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use that results from chemical imbalances in the brain.  Long-term use of cocaine can alter the brain’s chemistry to the point that the individual may have very long-term and possibly permanent cravings for cocaine.  A national study has found that treatment for cocaine or crack dependency is effective, reducing cocaine or crack use by over 50 percent.

How long does cocaine remain in the body?

Benzoylecognine, a metabolite unique to cocaine, can be detected in the urine 2-4 days after cocaine ingestion.  The disruption to brain chemistry can remain for much longer.  Individuals who have become dependent on cocaine will feel intense cravings for cocaine long after use has ceased making recovery difficult.

Does cocaine affect pregnancy?

Yes.  Pregnant cocaine users risk miscarriages, severe hemorrhaging, premature births, and stillbirths.  Infants who do survive are not only born premature with smaller than average heads, but also they are smaller in size than their peers and may exhibit withdrawal symptoms.  Crack babies may have developmental difficulties as they grow older.

Are adolescents at-risk?

Yes.  Teens and young adults may not be aware of the dangers of using cocaine, especially the threat of addiction and overdose.  Any use of cocaine or crack is particularly dangerous because the physical effects can be severe, causing unexpected death in some.  In addition, cocaine use can cause violent behavior and suicidal tendencies.  As memory, perception, and judgment are clouded under the influence, users are at risk of severe injuries, overdoses, entanglement in violence and crime as they support their habits, and HIV/AIDS from sharing needles and trading sex for drugs.

Who should I contact if someone close to me has a problem with cocaine?

Contact the Alcohol and Drug Abuse’s toll-free hot line at (800) 832-9623 or your local Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse for referral assistance.  You may also contact your family physician, hospital, or yellow pages for other intervention and treatment options.

Tagged as: cocaine, recreational drugs