What is cocaine?
Cocaine is one of the most addictive drugs available and is a concentrated form of the cocoa bush found in South Africa. It was used to help people with altitude sickness and to help them stay alert by chewing on the leaves, it was even used in Coca Cola drinks before it became illegal. Cocaine hydrochloride powder is far more powerful and dangerous and can lead to long-term mental and physical health problems that can be fatal.
Cocaine is often mixed or cut with other ingredients including harmless powders like flour, sugar or creatine, but can also include dangerous substances like anti-parasite agents that weaken the body’s immune response, and painkillers including Fentanyl, which can be a hundred times stronger than heroin.
Forms of cocaine and how it can be used
Cocaine has several street names the most commonly used include coke, blow, snow, rock, and crack or freebase. It comes in a fine white powder which can be snorted or rubbed on to the gums. Small crystals or rocks known as crack cocaine can be ground up and snorted, smoked or turned into liquid and injected, usually by treating with water, vinegar or lemon juice to make it soluble, it can also be eaten.
Depending on how you take it, will affect how quickly it works and how long the effect of using it lasts as will the purity of the drug. Eating it can take half an hour to work, whilst snorting it can take ten minutes and the affects can last for a couple of hours. Smoking or injecting it will take only a few minutes for it to take affect but can wear off quicker.
Physical effects and why people use cocaine
People use cocaine because of the initial feelings of pleasure, confidence, ecstasy, euphoria and general high it produces. This is because it causes your body to produce higher levels of dopamine, a natural chemical messenger in your body, which affects the parts of the brain that control pleasure. It can also cause dry mouth, and an increased heart rate and temperature.
Because cocaine is highly addictive and your body becomes used to it, you require more of the drug to achieve these feelings. People often increase their alcohol use as a way of extending the feeling cocaine use provides. As the effect of cocaine wears off users will start to feel physical and psychological symptoms quite different to their initial “high” and these are referred to as a “cocaine comedown”. Feelings of cocaine use can include:
- Euphoria and happiness
- Being uninhibited and more likely to engage in reckless behaviour
- Confident and chatty
- Full of energy and wide awake
- Having an increased libido
- A lack appetite or need to sleep
Comedown can cause feelings of:
- Anxiety, panic or confusion
- Depression
- Lack of response to pain
- Aggression
- Unpredictable behaviour
- Paranoia or persecution
- Delusions and hallucinations
- Sweating, headaches, exhaustion and general aches and pains
- Irritability and restlessness
- Suicidal thoughts
Long-term use of cocaine can have serious consequences on your physical and mental health as well as your relationships, finances and work life. It causes the brain to age prematurely damaging the grey matter which has been linked to:
- Alzheimer’s
- Bipolar disorder
- Multiple sclerosis
- Schizophrenia
It can also lead to strokes, heart disease, gastrointestinal issues, kidney and liver problems and weaken the respiratory and immune systems. There is also the risk of overdosing and dying as a result of taking cocaine.
Causes for cocaine addiction
Developing cocaine dependency can happen to anyone who uses it, but you are more at risk if you have a family history of drug or alcohol use. People who have suffered childhood abuse or have easy access to cocaine, because either people around them use it, or they can afford to buy it can increase their risk of becoming addicted.
Treatment and recovery
Sometimes the help of family and friends can be enough to stop people who have only used cocaine casually to stop. For people who are long term users stopping can be harder. You should initially see a doctor who can deal with any physical issues caused by using the drug and provide antianxiety medication or antidepressants if needed.
Counselling and therapy are the most common and successful treatments for addiction. This can be accomplished by either admitting yourself to a rehabilitation centre or committing to regular therapy sessions with a mental health professional. This can include group or individual sessions consisting of talking therapies such as counselling and CBT (cognitive behavioural therapies). Written by Jan, Jeana and Wendy at Barnsley Hypnosis and Counselling (UK). For more free information click above link.
