Get the facts on Cocaine

Cocaine is a highly potent stimulant that is considered to be one of the greatest drug threats to the world because of the violence associated with trafficking and use, the physical and psychological effects associated with its use, and the costs to society as a whole. Cocaine is a powerful drug that is naturally addictive. It actually plays with your brain! There is instant pleasure when first taken and a quick letdown afterwards that propells the desire to use it again. Crack cocaine is a version of powdered cocaine, but crack cocaine is much more potent. Crack cocaine is cooked into a more concentrated version of the normal powdered cocaine.

What is cocaine?

Cocaine can be “snorted” through the nose, smoked or injected. The duration of the immediate euphoric effects of cocaine depend on the route of administration; smoking or injecting cocaine gives a more immediate high than snorting. However, the faster an effect is achieved, the shorter the duration of the effect; the high from smoking may last 5-10 minutes, while that from snorting may last 15-30 minutes (NIDA, 1998).

What does cocaine do to my body?

At low doses:

• cocaine produces feelings of euphoria, contemplation, anxiety or panic, increased energy, talkativeness, mental alertness, and postponement of the need for sleep and food. Physical symptoms include increased heart rate, blood pressure and rate of breathing, and a dry mouth.

At higher doses:

• the symptoms experienced at lower doses are exaggerated, resulting in intense euphoria followed by agitation, anxiety, flight of ideas, grandiosity or erratic or violent behaviour, and, in some cases, paranoid psychosis. Physical symptoms may include nausea and vomiting, blurred vision, muscle twitches and tremors, elevated blood pressure, fluid in the lungs, chest pain, and other lung damage. The possibility of serious harm or death also increases, and higher dosages have been linked with seizures, strokes and cerebral infarction, heart attack or depression of respiration (Brands, Sproule and Marshman, 1998).

What can cocaine do to my health?

Long-term chronic cocaine use may result in damage to the tissues of the nose and perforation of the nasal septum among those who snort, lung damage among those who smoke, and increased risk of overdosing, infections and sexually transmitted disease such as HIV/AIDS among those who inject.

Chen et al. (1996) conducted a study and followed them over a 20-year period after their 1971 graduation from high school. They found that medical complications often did not arise in cocaine users until they were in their thirties. Over time, however, ongoing cocaine use led to more cardiovascular, neurological and general health problems, as well as negative self-reported health and sick days. Chronic users reported more health problems than less frequent cocaine users.The authors concluded that health problems may not be apparent in individuals who use cocaine during their twenties but, by their thirties, a cumulative effect will become evident, and more health problems will ensue.

Is it easy to get addicted to cocaine ?

Yes! People who use cocaine may need higher and higher doses of cocaine to get the same high, leading some to raise their dose to increase or prolong the effects; and quitting is harder because withdrawl is so difficult. Regular users experience withdrawal symptoms such as depression, exhaustion, extended sleep and hunger. Regular users also develop a strong psychological dependence on the drug with intense cravings when the drug is not available. Brands, Sproule and Marshman (1998) indicate that the abuse liability of cocaine is the highest of all illicit drugs because of the powerful euphoria and the rapidity with which it is achieved, particularly when the drug is injected or smoked.

Withdrawal from cocaine is believed to fall into three phases. The “crash” period lasts from 9 hours to 4 days. It initially produces agitation, depression, anorexia and high cocaine craving, and later it is associated with fatigue, depression, insomnia, no craving, and finally exhaustion. The middle phase, “withdrawal,” lasts from 1 to 10 weeks and swings from initial low anxiety and craving to high anxiety and cravings in the latter stages. The third and final phase, “extinction,” is an indefinite period and features a normal mood but episodic craving, which can be triggered by conditioned cues learned during past cocaine use (Halikas et al., 1993; Hall et al., 1990). However, not all researchers agree on the presence of craving. Flowers and her colleagues (1993) recorded the daily cravings of 15 cocaine-abusing patients who were just admitted to a residential treatment program. Patients reported almost no cravings, generally positive moods, and strong (but not too strong) energy levels. These researchers concluded that cocaine-withdrawal effects were more psychological than physiological. In a somewhat similar fashion, Miller and Gold (1994) found that cocaine-dependent patients reported impulsivity, not craving, as the reason for relapse. They argue that chemical changes in the brain may be present, but a physical craving related to these changes is too small for patients to detect. They suggest that cocaine abuse may be part of a learned behaviour or lifestyle that creates psychological (rather than physical) motivation.

Can cocaine kill?

Cocaine-related “sudden” deaths and instances of heart attack, seizure and stroke are possible.

Cocaine-related deaths may also result from using other substances with cocaine. U.S. researchers have found that the human liver combines cocaine and alcohol, and manufactures a third substance called cocethylene, which intensifies cocaine’s euphoric effects but may also increase the risk of sudden death (NIDA, 1998). Combining cocaine with other analgesics such as heroin also increases the risk of sudden death.

Cocaine and Pregnancy

The use of crack cocaine by expectant mothers has been linked to developmental problems for their children. Cocaine rapidly crosses the placenta and has the same pharmacological effects on the fetus as on the mother (Brands, Sproule and Marshman, 1998). Research has found that prenatal exposure is associated with a higher risk of spontaneous abortion, abruptio placentae, premature birth weight, length and head circumference at birth, poor sleep patterns, and long-term behavioural problems (Gingras et al., 1995; Howard et al., 1995; Kenner and D’Apolito, 1997; Mayes et al., 1995; Regalado et al., 1996; Vogel, 1997).

Some recent studies have shown that children exposed to cocaine while their mothers were pregnant are more impulsive and easier to distract than their peers, have poor motor skills and experience language-development delays (Angelilli et al., 1994; Fetters and Tronick, 1996; Kenner and D’Apolito, 1997). These children are more difficult to arouse, but when they are aroused they are more difficult to control. This may be linked to delays in the ability to maintain attention, as well as in the ability to disengage attention (Heffelfinger, Craft and Shyken, 1997). Children with these characteristics will find it hard to learn in the school environment.

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