You CAN Overcome Cocaine Addiction
And Get Your Life Back!

Cocaine remains one of the most commonly abused illicit drugs in American society. While the good news is that cocaine addiction treatment admissions have declined moderately over the last decade, there are still well over 1 million people in the United States who need rehabilitation for their cocaine abuse.

Narconon Arrowhead helps individuals seeking treatment for cocaine addiction through effective drug-free rehabilitation and education. Don't let yourself or a loved one continue to drown in the trap of drug abuse.

Call Narconon Arrowhead today at 1-800-468-6933 or fill out the confidential online assessment and one of our counselors will contact you to see how we can help you overcome addiction.

Thousands of people from all over the country have received help to beat their addiction to cocaine and other drugs and have gone on to lead successful, happy and productive lives from drugs and alcohol. You can do the same.

Cocaine – an overview!

Cocaine has a severe effect on the brain and is a powerful stimulant that is highly addictive.  Due to widespread popularity cocaine has been labeled the “drug of the decade” for its extensive use during the 1980’s and 1990’s.  Cocaine out ages most other drugs and has been used and abused for over 100 years.  In Peru and Bolivia, where cocoa leaves originate, people have been “chewing away” for thousands of years making it one of the oldest drugs known to man.

In the mid-19th century, peddlers of tonics and elixirs used an extraction of the drug make fro the leaves of the Erythroxylon cocoa bush and these bushes are indicative to Peru and Bolivia.  These tonics and elixirs were then sold and said to treat all kinds of illnesses.  Schedule II drugs have a high potential for abuse and cocaine falls under this category of drug.  Even though the risk of cocaine addiction is high, doctors are still allowed to prescribe the drug for various surgeries as a local anesthetic.

Cocaine comes in two ways.  One of which is hydrochloride salt, which is the powdery form of cocaine that can be melted in water and used intravenously, which drug abusers refer to as “shooting up” (by vein) or chopped and taken intranasal or “snorted” (by nose).  The other form of cocaine is called “freebase”.  With this form there has been no neutralization by acid and this lack of process gives the addict the option to smoke the drug.

Coke, C, snow, flake, or blow, are names that cocaine is generally known as on the streets.  Cornstarch, talcum powder, and/or sugar, are substances used to dilute cocaine.  A chemically-related local drug such as procaine or other stimulants such as amphetamine may also be used to dilute the drug on the streets.

In 1997 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse of those age 12 and older 0.7 percent were current cocaine users.  This represents an estimated 1.5 million Americans.  Although, there was a dramatic decrease from the 1985 peak of 5.7 million cocaine users, there has been no dramatic change in this number since 1992.  These 5.7 million users represent 3 percent of our population.  An overwhelming estimate of 3.6 million chronic cocaine users is reported by the Office of National Drug Policy, these statistics are based on data resources that take into account the countless users that are not represented in the 1977 survey.

Cocaine is found to be at a higher rate of use among adults 18 to 25 years of age.  The rate among women users is much lower than men.  Abuse among African Americans ranks at 1.4 percent, for Hispanics the rate of use is 1.4 percent and for Caucasians the use rate is 0.6 percent.

Among eighth graders lifetime and past-year use of crack increased to its highest levels as reported in a 1988 Monitoring the Future Survey.  In  1977, 2.7 percent of eighth graders reported using crack at least once in their lives.  In 1988, the percentage increased to 3.2 percent.  Other grades reported no changes, but among this group, past-year use of crack rose slightly.

The Drug abuse Warning Network (DAWN) indicated that emergency room visits that were related to cocaine use increased by 78 percent between 1990 and 1994.  According to the same data there were 152,433 cocaine related incidences between 1194 and 1996 and that there was no increase or decrease. 

There is no safe way to use cocaine!

Cocaine is administered orally, intranasal, intravenous, and inhalation.  Chewing, snorting, mainlining, injecting, and smoking are all slang terms for methods of using cocaine.  Smoking is primarily a way of administering freebase and crack cocaine.  Powder cocaine is inhaled through the nostrils:  this act is commonly known as snorting or sniffing.  With this method the cocaine is absorbed into the bloodstream through the nasal tissues.  A feeling of heightened intensity is the effect of injecting the drug directly into the bloodstream. Inhaling cocaine vapor or smoke into the lungs causes the absorption into the bloodstream as rapid as by injection.  Rubbing the drug onto mucous tissues is another method of use.  When users combine crack or cocaine powder with heroin for use, the street slang is “speedball”.

Patterns of cocaine use vary from seldom to occasional use and from repetitious to consistent use.  Two causes of death related to cocaine abuse are acute cardiovascular or cerebral vascular emergencies.  No matter the way and individual uses the drug, adverse health consequences and addiction can manifest rapidly.  The bottom line here is that there is no safe way to use cocaine.

Thorough research indicates that the extremely pleasurable and addictive qualities of cocaine stems directly from it’s affects on the brain.  The ventral tegmental area (VTA) of the brain appears to be most affected by cocaine use.  Activity is increased in the nucleus accumben region, which is the brains pleasure center that has many nerve cells that extend to this region from the VTA.  This is caused by, what scientist refer to as “pleasurable stimuli” which include, sex, water, food, and many other drugs of abuse.  Introduction of cocaine to the bloodstream mimics the effects of pleasurable stimuli causing increased activity in the brains pleasure center.

Through continued use of cocaine the abuser will often develop a tolerance to the affects.  For the brain to experience the same level of pleasure, higher doses and more frequent use of cocaine will become necessary.  Cocaine users reported the thoughts of the euphoria experienced from the use of cocaine might possibly cause a tremendous craving and relapse to drug use, even after long periods of being without the drug

The long and the short of it!

A user of cocaine may experience feelings of euphoria, a higher level of energy and may become over talkative.  The user may also become mentally alert to sight, sound and touch.  These symptoms may be experienced when amounts up to 100mgs of cocaine are used.  These effects may appear immediately after a dose of cocaine and may last only a short while or for hours.

Use of cocaine may lead to loss of appetite and exaggerated mental alertness which can lead to a loss of weight and sleep.  Cocaine use will increase an individuals heart rate and blood pressure.  Dilated pupils are a short-term effect of cocaine use.  A rise in temperature and increase in energy may also be identified by the user.  The increased heart rate and elevated blood pressure may cause the blood vessels to constrict.  Some users may perform simple physical tasks easier than usual and intellectual tasks more quickly others may experience the opposite effect.

Effects and the duration of the euphoric feeling will depend upon the method through which cocaine was administered.  A more intense high is created by a method that promotes faster absorption into the blood stream.  With a faster absorption method the duration of the action will be shorter and a higher level of euphoria will be created.  When smoking cocaine a high of 5 to 10 minutes can be expected.  When snorting cocaine, feeling the high will take longer, but may last 15 to 30 minutes.

Constricted blood vessels, dilated pupils, increased temperature, high blood pressure, and fast heart rate are a few of the short-term physiological effects of cocaine use.  A users intense high from using large amounts of, 100mg or more, may produce bizarre, erratic, and violent behavior.  A user may experience tremors, vertigo, muscle twitches, and paranoia during a toxic reaction closely resembling amphetamine poisoning.  Others have reported feelings of restlessness, irritability, and anxiety.  There are reported incidents of sudden death among some first time users.  Death may also occur unexpectedly, shortly after a person has used cocaine.  Cardiac arrest or seizures followed by respiratory arrest are often a result of cocaine use.

Since cocaine is one of the most powerfully addictive drugs, a new user trying cocaine may have difficulty in predicting or controlling how much or how often they will continue to use cocaine.  A powerful addiction to cocaine can be developed in a short time.

Addiction can last a lifetime!

Paranoia, moodiness, restlessness, irritability, and hallucinations of sound is a short list of the long-term affects of cocaine addiction.  The re-absorption of dopamine by nerve cells are thought to be the primary result of cocaine’s ability to be a highly addictive stimulant.

An addict may report a failure to achieve as much pleasure as they did after they first started using cocaine.  They may not be aware of the fact that they are developing a tolerance to the drug itself or the amount used.  While trying to intensify or prolong the effects of a high the user will sometimes increase their dose.  Sensitization is when a user has developed a tolerance to the high, becomes more sensitive to the anesthetic and convulsant effects of the drug without increasing the dose taken.  An explanation of some deaths occurring after use of low doses of cocaine may be due to the development of an increased sensitivity.

Taking the drug in repeatedly high doses and at an increasingly high rate will lead to an increase in irritability, restlessness, and paranoia.  This action, known as bingeing, may also result in a full-blown paranoid psychosis to the point of an individual losing touch with reality.

There can be sever medical complications associated with cocaine use as well.  Cardiovascular effects are the most frequent and most dangerous complications to develop from cocaine use.  Others include, but are not limited to:  disturbances in heart rhythm, heart attacks; respiratory failure and chest pain;  strokes, seizures, and headaches; abdominal pain and nausea are all listed medical complications associated with cocaine use.

Many types of heart disease are linked to cocaine to.  Chest pain, nausea, blurred vision, fever, muscle spasms, convulsions, coma and chaotic heart rhythms are physical symptoms of a condition know as ventricular fibrillation.  Accelerated heartbeat and breathing, increased blood pressure and body temperature are also part of this condition.

Some examples of the adverse effects of snorting cocaine regularly would be:  loss of sense of smell, nosebleeds, hoarseness, problems with swallowing, chronic inflamed runny nose, and an overall irritation of the nasal septum.

Puncture marks, known as “tracks” or “track marks” commonly found on the forearms are from cocaine being injected in the veins.  Users that inject cocaine through the veins sometimes experience an allergic reaction to the drug or to an additive the street dealer uses to “cut” the cocaine.  In some instances the reaction may even cause death.  Bowel gangrene is another of the numerous conditions caused from ingesting cocaine.  Drastic weight loss and a malnourished appearance are often the result of a decrease in food intake caused from cocaine use.

Mixing cocaine and alcohol has the potential of causing a dangerous interaction.  Cocaethylene is the substance created when the body converts the mixture of alcohol and cocaine in the brain.  This chemical has a longer duration of action in the brain.  Cocaethylene is more toxic than either of the other two substances alone.  Death results from the mixture of the cocaine and alcohol combination are found to be a common fact.  More research is being done on the effects of the combination of the two drugs. 

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