Cocaine
Cocaine is a highly addictive stimulant derived from the coca plant that carries significant risks of physical dependence, severe health complications, and chronic brain disorder.
What is cocaine?
Cocaine is a very addictive drug that is made from leaves of the coca plant found in South America. It is mostly available as an illegal drug that some people use to get high. In rare cases, it is also used as a prescription drug for anesthesia during certain surgeries.
As a street (illegal) drug, cocaine is usually a fine, white, crystal powder. Street dealers sometimes mix it with cornstarch, talcum powder, or flour to make it look like they have more cocaine. That way they can make more money. They may also mix it with other illegal drugs. Another form of the drug is crack cocaine. Crack cocaine has been heated to make it into a rock crystal.
How do people use cocaine?
People snort cocaine powder through the nose or rub it into their gums. Others dissolve the powder and inject it into the bloodstream. Some people inject a combination of cocaine and heroin, called a "speedball." Crack cocaine is smoked.
What are the short-term effects of cocaine?
Cocaine is a stimulant that can make people feel like they have more energy and are extra alert. But it can also make people feel restless, irritable, anxious, and paranoid. Large amounts of cocaine can lead to bizarre, unpredictable, and violent behavior.
Cocaine's effects appear almost immediately and disappear within a few minutes to an hour. How long the effects last and how intense they are will depend on how the person used it. In some cases, cocaine can cause very serious health problems such as a heart attack, stroke, or coma.
What are the long-term effects of cocaine?
People who use cocaine over the long term may develop health problems. Which problems they have will depend on how they used the cocaine:
- Snorting: Can lead to a loss of sense of smell, nosebleeds, nasal damage, and trouble swallowing.
- Smoking: Can cause a cough, asthma, trouble breathing, and a higher risk of infections like pneumonia.
- Injecting: Can lead to skin or soft tissue infections, scarring, and collapsed veins. It also puts a person at higher risk of getting diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C.
Other long-term effects of cocaine use may include malnutrition and movement disorders, including Parkinson's disease.
Repeated use of cocaine can lead to tolerance, where users need more of the drug to have the same effect, and eventually physical dependence. If someone who is dependent on cocaine stops using it, they will have withdrawal symptoms, including:
- Depression
- Restlessness
- Fatigue
- Increased appetite
- Bad dreams and insomnia
- Slowed thinking
Repeated use can also lead to cocaine use disorder, a chronic brain disorder where an individual continues to use the drug despite negative consequences in their health, work, school, or home life.
Can a person overdose on cocaine?
It's possible to overdose on cocaine, which happens when a person uses so much that it causes a life-threatening reaction or death. Using cocaine along with other drugs or alcohol can increase this risk. A cocaine overdose can cause:
- Stroke
- Seizures
- Irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia)
- Heart attack
There is no specific medicine to treat an overdose; health care providers focus on treating the specific health problems caused by the overdose.
What are the treatments for cocaine use disorder?
The treatments for cocaine use disorder are different types of behavioral therapies. There are no medicines which can treat it.