Cocaine Facts

Cocaine is the second most commonly used illicit drug (following marijuana) in the United States. —From the National Survey on Drug Use & Health

Over 15,000 deaths annually are associated with stimulants in the United States. —From APA

Cocaine can kill you the first time you use it. —From NIDA InfoFacts: Crack and Cocaine, 2008

Cocaine Addiction and Treatment

Regularly snorting cocaine can lead to loss of smell, nosebleeds, problems with swallowing, hoarseness, and a chronically runny nose. —From NIDA InfoFacts: Crack and Cocaine, 2008

The addiction to cocaine and crack cocaine can develop quickly, but cocaine treatment and rehabilitation is a long-term process. Our specialists understand that factors such as encountering old acquaintances, entry into a familiar environment, such as smells, objects, and memories can create psychological stress in former cocaine users. Our staff furnishes the recovering addict with the tools and skills needed to combat these feelings and to prevent relapse in the real world.

Cocaine Facts

*This article is reprinted with permission from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Overview

Pure cocaine was first used in the 1880s as a local anesthetic in eye, nose, and throat surgeries because of its ability to provide anesthesia as well as to constrict blood vessels and limit bleeding. Many of its therapeutic applications are now obsolete though due to the development of safer drugs.

Cocaine is the most potent stimulant of natural origin. This substance can be snorted, smoked, or injected. When snorted, cocaine powder is inhaled through the nose where it is absorbed into the bloodstream through the nasal tissues. When injected, the user uses a needle to release the drug directly into the bloodstream. Smoking involves inhaling cocaine vapor or smoke into the lungs where absorption into the bloodstream is as rapid as by injection. Each of these methods of administration pose great risks to the user.

Crack is cocaine that has been processed from cocaine hydrochloride to a free base for smoking. Crack cocaine is processed with ammonia or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and water. It is then heated to remove the hydrochloride producing a form of cocaine that can be smoked.

Health Effects of Cocaine Addiction

Cocaine is a strong central nervous system stimulant. Physical effects of cocaine use include constricted blood vessels and increased temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure. Users may also experience feelings of restlessness, irritability, and anxiety.

Evidence suggests that users who smoke or inject cocaine may be at even greater risk of causing harm to themselves than those who snort the substance. For example, cocaine smokers also suffer from acute respiratory problems including coughing, shortness of breath, and severe chest pains with lung trauma and bleeding. A user who injects cocaine is at risk of transmitting or acquiring diseases if needles or other injection equipment are shared.

Cocaine is a powerfully addictive drug and compulsive cocaine use seems to develop more rapidly when the substance is smoked rather than snorted. A tolerance to the cocaine high may be developed and many addicts report that they fail to achieve as much pleasure as they did from their first cocaine exposure.

Smoking crack delivers large quantities of the drug to the lungs, producing effects comparable to intravenous injection. These effects are felt almost immediately after smoking, are very intense, but do not last long. For example, the high from smoking cocaine may last from 5 to 10 minutes. The high from snorting can last for 15 to 20 minutes.

Cocaine continues to be the most frequently mentioned illicit substance reported to the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) by hospital emergency departments (ED) nationwide. During 2002, it was mentioned 199,198 times and was present in 30% of the ED drug episodes during the year. While cocaine ED mentions were statistically unchanged from 2001 to 2002, they have increased 47% since 1995 when there were 135,711 mentions.

Cocaine-related deaths are often a result of cardiac arrest or seizures followed by respiratory arrest. An added danger of cocaine use is when cocaine and alcohol are consumed at the same time. When these substances are mixed, the human liver combines cocaine and alcohol and manufactures a third substance, cocaethylene. This intensifies cocaine’s euphoric effects, while also possibly increasing the risk of sudden death. Drug Rehab