Drug Addiction - Cocaine

Cocaine is a powerfully addictive drug of abuse. Addiction to the drug has been known to occur shortly after using cocaine for the first time. Individuals who have tried cocaine have described the experience as a powerful high that gave them a feeling of supremacy and reaching repetitively for that feeling by using cocaine often results in drug addiction. Cocaine closely resembles powdered sugar. The street names for cocaine include coke, snow flake, and blow. Crack is the street name given to the form of cocaine that has been processed to make a rock crystal, which, when heated, produces vapors that are smoked. The term "crack" refers to the crackling sound produced by the rock as it is heated. Cocaine stimulates the central nervous system. The drug causes the user to experience euphoria. People who use the drug regularly do it for that "rush" they get. They often chase this desired rush, risking drug addiction or even death in the process of abusing cocaine.

The major ways of taking cocaine are sniffing or snorting, injecting, and smoking (including free-base and crack cocaine). Health risks exist regardless of whether cocaine is inhaled (snorted), injected, or smoked. However, it appears that compulsive cocaine use may develop even more rapidly if the substance is smoked rather than snorted. Smoking allows extremely high doses of cocaine to reach the brain very quickly and results in an intense and immediate high. The injecting drug user is also at risk for acquiring or transmitting HIV infection/AIDS if needles or other injection equipment are shared.

Side-effects of cocaine drug addiction-Users who chose to snort the drug, often develop nasal congestion and damage the mucous membrane of the nose and have bleeding cartilage. Users coming down from cocaine high might get depressed, or experience insomnia. Common for cocaine users is a decrease in appetite, accompanied by weight loss. Use of cocaine causes blood vessels to constrict, leading to an increase in blood pressure, heart rate and heart attacks are common. Cocaine can lead to irregular heartbeat, lung disease and irreversible brain damage. Body temperature and blood sugar rise. Respiratory failure, strokes and seizures are also possibilities. In rare cases, first time users have been known to die from the effects of the drug. Cocaine drug addiction also contributes to dramatic changes in behavior, as some users are known to display bizarre actions, or become violent. Cocaine users have been known to contract HIV/AIDS and hepatitis. Blurred vision is a common side effect. Women users are susceptible to miscarriage, or if they carry to term, serious birth defects often occur.

Long Term Effects -Prolonged cocaine snorting can result in ulceration of the mucous membrane of the nose and can damage the nasal septum enough to cause it to collapse. Cocaine-related deaths are often a result of cardiac arrest or seizures followed by respiratory arrest. An additional danger of cocaine abuse happens when people mix cocaine and alcohol, they are compounding the danger each drug poses and unknowingly causing a complex chemical interaction within their bodies. Researchers have found that the human liver combines cocaine and alcohol to manufacture a third substance, cocaethylene, which intensifies cocaine's euphoric effects and possibly increases the risk of sudden death. Research out of Stanford done several years ago showed a pattern of constrictions bands across the hearts of cocaine drug addiction sufferers bodies brought in for autopsy. Equivalent to cirrhosis of the liver - the more you use the more susceptible you become.

Successful drug rehab for cocaine addiction is best administered in the context of a long term drug treatment setting. A survey of 1,605 cocaine-dependent clients from 11 U.S. cities found that clients who stayed in long-term residential treatment for at least 90 days had a much greater chance of success according to follow up statistics in the year after discharge following treatment for cocaine addiction than clients who stayed less than 90 days. These clients were part of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study (DATOS). The greater benefits of longer treatment held for clients with low, medium and high problem severity levels. The authors of the survey unanimously stated: "It takes at least three months to achieve the most positive behavioral change for cocaine-dependent patients with moderate to severe problems at in-take." The authors also agreed that reductions in long-term treatment would ultimately compromise client care.