Blow: The Lasting Effects Of Cocaine

Cocaine is an addictive stimulant, and it is known to be the strongest natural stimulant in today’s

often to beat, using cocaine can make the heart pump so fast that it damages the

Cocaine is one the most destructive and addictive drugs on the market. Cocaine leads to be one of the results of why people go to jail, do it while they are pregnant, and even death. This is the story of Cocaine, or one of the forms known as Crack, and the bare minimums of it.

Cocaine usage is not as popular today as it was back in the 1900s but it continues to be abused as it was then. The drug has become addictive to those that used the drug intravenously, and free base (smoking crack). It has been said that individuals who try cocaine by inhaling, injecting, snorting would become addicted by using it for the first time. The individuals try to capture the pleasure or that high he/she first got when using the drug, the psychological effects of cocaine, addiction and dependence reports “only about 10 to 15% of those who initially try cocaine intranasally become abusers” (Gawin, 1991, p.1584).

Cocaine also known as crack cocaine is a stimulant drug, a stimulant raises one’s heart rate, attention and awareness and breathing. Stimulants were used to treat respiratory issues but is now prescribed for individuals with ADHD. In the 1800’s is when cocaine began to be seen as an addicting substance due it’s mood-altering effects on one’s brain. Cocaine can be inhaled through a pipe, when in powder form it can be snorted, and some individuals inject the drug into their bloodstream through intermuscular or intravenously. Individuals that use cocaine repeatedly use the drug within a short time span between each time used so that the euphoric high stays longer. The effects that cocaine has on the central nervous system is so

One of the most detrimental and addictive narcotics in the world today is cocaine. Cocaine dates back as early as 3000 BC. Ancient Incas used the coca leaves to counter the effects of living in thin mountain air. Native Peruvians in the 1500’s chewed the plant strictly for religious ceremonies. Andean Indians are believed to chew the leaves of the coca plant to increase their energy for work while decreasing their hunger and pain. It wasn’t until 1859 when a German chemist Albert Niemann successfully extracted the narcotic from the coca leaf. In the 1880’s, it was freely prescribed by physicians for “maladies as exhaustion, depression, and morphine addiction and was available in many patent medicines” (“Cocaine”), until users and doctors began to realize its dangers and side effects. While it was not fully understood at the time, cocaine has many devastating and lasting effects on the user.

As a coach, I had a player, who was very polite and worked hard in practice. She was very timid around other teammates. She would stop in to talk to me and never had friends that I could see her relate to. Trying to fit in desperately, she was happy to be included in the “social” activities in college. She got pregnant and her boy friend and her were arrested for conspiracy to deliver cocaine and both sentenced to prison. This course states cocaine can cause an initial rush of pleasure that makes you alert, talkative and confident. With prolonged exposure to meth and cocaine, it can destroy up to 50% of dopamine – producing neurons in certain parts of the brain. This can lead to irreversible symptons of Parkinson’s disease. (Cocaine handout) After several letters from her in prison, she thanked me for being a good listener. I know her family closed their eyes thinking it’s not an addiction, but a social activity that they can quit at any time. This course explains how a higher level of dopamine on a regular basis is needed just to keep you feeling normal. Cocaine can make people feel paranoid, angry and hostile even when they are not high. Prolonged use causes sleep deprivation and loss of appetite. A person can become psychotic and experience hallucinations. It increases the risk that the user will experience a heart attack, stroke, or respiratory failure which can result in sudden death. (Foundation for a Drug-Free

Cocaine has much impact on your body. Cocaine is a stimulant that increases your body,

The first time you are Introduced to cocaine addicted to the rest of your life until you get some help. The long-term effects are,stress become sensitive, leading to increased in negative moods and having a lack of interest in friends,family,school. When you are not taking the drug, which are signs of withdrawal. All of these effects make the person on the drug more likely to focus on seeking the drug instead of relationships.

Unfortunately, each generation of the drug has proven to be more dangerous than the next. The illicit drug community has also introduced dozens of new synthetic substances to takeover as the party crowd's drug of choice. Cocaine has not disappeared. Instead, it has morphed into an illegal narcotic that still gets its fair share of users.

Cocaine, a narcotic drug that took the entire world by storm in the 1980’s, has continued to find it’s way into countries all over the world. The drug is a highly addictive stimulant that is extracted from the leaves of the Erythroxylon coca bush, which is indigenous to the Andean highlands of South America. It comes in two main forms, powder and crystalline, also known as “crack” (“Cocaine Use and Its Effects”). Although the short term effects of cocaine seem somewhat harmless, the long term effects are devastating and have ruined the lives of many users. The short and long term effects of cocaine can be seen on Ishmael Beah, and his companions in the novel A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah.

"Cocaine and crack are among the most addictive substances known to modern science, and they have already ruined the lives of millions of Americans" (Morganthau and Miller, 208). Cocaine and crack are both dangerous, harmful drugs. Though pleasurable effects can be obtained from these drugs, the use of crack and cocaine cannot be worth the actual consequences that are inflicted on mind and body. The bad effects of these drugs, by far outweigh the good. Because crack and cocaine are so closely related, it is important to have a firm understanding of both drugs.

Cocaine has stronger physical affects on the body and brain than almost any other drug. After cocaine is taken, the heart beats 30 to 50 percent faster and the body temperature rises. The strongest physical affects cocaine has, though, are on the

Cocaine can be identified as a white powder which can then be snorted up a person’s nose, an alternative method to taking is to inject directly into the blood stream. Crack Cocaine comes about by chemically altering the Cocaine powder to form hard crystals, which can be known as ‘rocks’.

For short-term use, cocaine can provide extreme happiness, enhanced sensitivity to sound and touch or mental alertness. People takes cocaine as it can provide energy on their work but a long-term use of cocaine may lead to malnourishment, irritability, restlessness, paranoia and auditory hallucination (NIDA, 2016; Roncero, C., et al., 2013). Also, cocaine abuse may have other complications such as nosebleed because of snorting, difficulties in swallowing and easily infected by HIV or hepatitis C through needle injection and the misjudgment on having unsafe sex (NIDA, 2016). On the other hand, long-term use of cocaine may lead to addiction and a stronger dosage will be taken when they have any withdrawal symptoms. For instance, symptoms of depression, fatigue and increased appetite. Nowadays, still no medicines were approved for treating the addiction on cocaine and thus the treatment of cocaine addiction is