Cocaine

Cocaine is an alkaloid extracted from the leaves of the South American coca shrub. Street names for the drug include coke, toot, snow, flake, blow, crack, nose candy, and rock. Cocaine works on the central nervous system, causing excessive amounts of dopamine to build up in the brain. Cocaine users experience an intense feeling of euphoria with increased energy. Feelings of increased strength, self-confidence, alertness, mental clarity, and a sense of well-being are common among coke users.

Leaves from the coca shrub have been around for centuries and are traditionally chewed by South American indigenous people. While chewed coca leaves are not known to cause adverse side effects or addiction, the extraction of the alkaloid and the ingestion of cocaine in pure form are highly addictive.

Cocaine is an illegal substance and is usually smuggled into the United States and other countries from South America. Cocaine hydrochloride, or cocaine salt, is a crystalline white powder and is cut with other substances such as cornstarch or glucose to increase the weight, meaning higher profit for the drug dealer when sold on the street. Coke is most commonly snorted but can also be dissolved in water and injected. Users who inject the drug and share needles are at an increased risk of acquiring HIV.

Freebase is the base form of cocaine, free of any cutting agent and hydrochloride salt. Typically, the drug is smoked with a coke pipe or mixed in a marijuana cigarette. Smoking freebase results in faster absorption into the bloodstream and an increased sense of high. Crack is a form of freebase cocaine sold in small lumps or rocks, which must be heated to use. Freebasing cocaine results in extremely high doses reaching the brain and can cause users to quickly develop an addiction.

The euphoria associated with cocaine typically last for less than an hour. When the high disappears, the user is left craving that pleasurable experience. Frequent users binge to keep experiencing the high, with binges lasting for several hours to days at a time. The high cost of the drug and highly addictive nature can lead cocaine users to lie, cheat, steal, and alienate others around them.

Commonly experienced effects of cocaine include insomnia, headaches, loss of appetite, dilated pupils, irritability, anxiety, and agitation. An increase in heart rate, blood pressure and respiratory rates also occur. Regular snorting of the drug can lead to ulcers and damage to the nasal mucus membranes. Effects that are more serious are associated with withdrawal after binging including depression, paranoia and aggressive behavior.

Addicts may isolate themselves from family, friends and work. Lack of motivation, lack of sexual desire, and inability to sleep or eat can occur. Cocaine overdoses can result in seizures, convulsions, hallucinations and increases in body temperature (hyperthermia). Long-term cocaine users may experience weight loss, deterioration of the nervous system, and depression.

Young white males and individuals between 18 to 25 years of age are considered the primary users of cocaine; however cocaine affects individuals across all socioeconomic groups. Doctors, lawyers, celebrities, and homeless individuals have all died from cocaine overdoses. Deaths from cocaine rise when the drug is mixed with alcohol or heroin.

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