For people with cocaine abuse, mild symptoms may resolve completely with total abstinence from cocaine, making early involvement of addiction services essential. The short half-life of cocaine, combined with binge use, may expose the nasal tissues to this acidic environment more frequently, increasing the risk of irritation and damage. As cocaine is absorbed through the nasal mucosa, the remaining hydrochloride component forms a dilute hydrochloric acid. About 30% of people who had snorted cocaine at least 25 times but less than daily, and 47% of daily users, reported experiencing nasal irritation, crusting or scabbing, and frequent nosebleeds.
This form of cocaine is sometimes called crack, which refers to the crackling sound of the rock as it’s heated. Human studies also show that alcohol use increases the risk of transitioning from cocaine use to addiction. The cocaine esterase enzyme and redesigned versions of it have been studied as a potential treatment for cocaine addiction in humans. The report further states that Western Europe’s cocaine market is rapidly expanding, resulting in increased violence driven by traffickers, including organized criminal groups from the Western Balkans. Before the early 1900s, newspapers primarily portrayed addiction (rather than violence or crime) as the main problem caused by cocaine use, and depicted cocaine users as upper or middle class White people. Swabbing can reveal traces of cocaine or other illicit substances, providing evidence of recent drug handling or use.
It provides a highly reliable, conservative record of cocaine movements and interdiction efforts, revealing that despite large seizures, interdiction captures only a small fraction of trafficking events and has minimal impact on U.S. cocaine prices. One of the major implications of cocaine production is deforestation as large areas of forest are cleared for coca cultivation. The environmental destruction caused by the production of cocaine has been well documented, with reports made the UN and other government bodies. Most of the world’s cocaine is produced in South America, particularly in the Andean region. This combination of affordability, accessibility, and toxicity makes cocaine paste particularly damaging to vulnerable populations in cocaine-producing regions.
Smoking crack can damage your lungs and worsen asthma symptoms. If you snort it, you might have nosebleeds, loss of smell, hoarseness, nasal irritation, runny nose, or trouble swallowing. Continued use puts you at risk for physical issues like. For crack, the dose is usually 15 to 50 milligrams. Comedown is a term that describes symptoms you feel when you come off the drug. When you snort it, it takes slightly longer to feel the effects.
Latin America
This pathway originates in a region of the midbrain called the ventral tegmental area and projects to other brain areas including the nucleus accumbens, where one of the brain’s hedonic hotspots is also located.6 Besides reward and reinforcement, this circuit also regulates emotions and motivation.7 Cocaine is a Schedule II drug, which means that it has high potential for misuse but can be administered by a doctor for medical uses, such as local anesthesia for some eye, ear, and throat surgeries. It is made from the leaves of the coca plant (Erythroxylon coca), which is native to South America.1 The word cocaine derives from French Cocaïne, from Spanish coca, ultimately from Quechua kúka. By the early 2000s, this model fragmented into a diverse network of global trafficking links, allowing South American cocaine production to easily supply markets in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania through various routes.
But the impact of cocaine use can last for months, years or a lifetime. Often, a cocaine high is over in minutes. It’s also important to remember cocaine use often has a ripple effect, putting stress and strain on relationships. Asking for help is a huge and important step toward recovering from cocaine use disorder.
Psychiatric symptoms
For example, it affects the amount of glutamate, a neurotransmitter that sends messages between nerve cells in the brain. Cocaine use has short-term and long-term side effects. Normal amounts of dopamine can make us feel happy, alert and focused.
Some individuals seek plastic surgery to repair or reconstruct nasal damage caused by cocaine use, although surgical outcomes can be complicated by ongoing tissue loss and poor healing. In 2024, Belgian doctors report a rise in patients needing nose reconstruction due to cocaine use, which damages nasal tissue and cartilage; however, few undergo surgery because it requires at least six months of abstinence from cocaine for proper healing. As a result, individuals with cocaine-induced nasal damage frequently withdraw from social activities and relationships, leading to social isolation. “Cocaine nose” or “coke nose” are informal terms that refer to nose disorders resulting from repeated or chronic cocaine use.
- Your body and mind begin to rely on the drug.
- In these countries, cocaine is extracted and processed from coca plants, which thrive in the natural environment along the ridges of the Andes mountains in South America and in lowland jungles.1,3,4
- The rate was highest in the age group (1.2 million people or 3.5%), followed by those over age 26 (3.6 million or 1.6%).
- Cocaine use should be considered as a potential cause of persistent or unexplained rhinitis, including in adolescent patients.
- When people use cocaine, their brains release lots of dopamine.
What Is Cocaine?
Once inpatient treatment ends, ongoing support—also called aftercare—can help people avoid recurrence. For example, an unemployed patient would benefit from vocational rehabilitation or career counseling along with addiction treatment. Regardless of the specific type of substance use disorder treatment, it is important that patients receive services that match all of their treatment needs.
Cocaine’s Cocaine and Alcohol Mix effects start quickly after you take a dose. Someone who uses the drug heavily might test positive for up to 2 weeks after their last use. But doctors can legally use it in limited ways for medical purposes.
- The delay in absorption after oral ingestion may account for the popular belief that cocaine bioavailability from the stomach is lower than after insufflation.
- Contingency management (CM)—which rewards patients with vouchers for meeting treatment goals—has proven especially effective, particularly for helping patients achieve initial abstinence from cocaine.
- With regular use, tolerance may develop so that higher doses, more frequent use of cocaine, or both are needed to produce the same level of pleasure and relief from withdrawal experienced initially.11,24 At the same time, people can also develop sensitization, in which less cocaine is needed to produce anxiety, convulsions, or other toxic effects.3 Tolerance to cocaine reward and sensitization to cocaine toxicity can increase the risk of overdose.
Contingency management (CM)—which rewards patients with vouchers for meeting treatment goals—has proven especially effective, particularly for helping patients achieve initial abstinence from cocaine. Because there are no medications with an approved indication for cocaine use disorder, psychosocial treatments are the current standard. These modifications may result in lasting epigenetic “scars”, which are believed to contribute to the persistent epigenetic changes observed in cocaine addiction. A 2014 study found that increased cocaine use is linked to greater cognitive impairment, particularly in working memory, while reduced or ceased use can lead to partial or full recovery of cognitive function. Delusional parasitosis with formication (‘cocaine bugs’) is also a fairly common symptom.
Cocaine Effects
Repair may involve rhinoplasty, which includes creating a new internal lining with nasolabial flaps and restoring support with costal cartilage grafts. Chronic intranasal usage can degrade the cartilage separating the nostrils (the septum nasi), leading eventually to its complete disappearance. Cocaine use should be considered as a potential cause of persistent or unexplained rhinitis, including in adolescent patients. However, none have sufficient evidence or regulatory approval for routine clinical use, so psychosocial interventions remain the mainstay of treatment. Effective approaches include group and individual counseling, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and motivational interviewing (MI). A key mechanism involves the overexpression of ΔFosB in the nucleus accumbens, altering transcriptional regulation and reinforcing drug-seeking behavior.
Pregnancy
Counseling and rehab programs can help people with crack cocaine use disorders to get off the drug and avoid relapse. But with the proper support, many people are able to overcome a crack cocaine addiction. Combining cocaine with other drugs or substances can cause dangerous reactions. Research suggests that certain communities may be more prone to using drugs, including cocaine.
Cocaine’s binding properties are such that it attaches so this hydrogen bond will not form and is blocked from formation due to the tightly locked orientation of the cocaine molecule. The 5-HT2 receptor (particularly the subtypes 5-HT2A, 5-HT2B and 5-HT2C) are involved in the locomotor-activating effects of cocaine. The most extensively studied effect of cocaine on the central nervous system is the blockade of the dopamine transporter protein. Most commercial cocaine immunoassay screening tests cross-react appreciably with the major cocaine metabolites, but chromatographic techniques can easily distinguish and separately measure each of these substances.
cocaine
Some people who use cocaine report feelings of restlessness, irritability, anxiety, panic, and paranoia. The duration of cocaine’s euphoric effects depends upon the route of administration. Chronic cocaine exposure affects many other areas of the brain too.
Overdose
Before trafficking to the United States, the cocaine is frequently adulterated with levamisole. It can also become a serious risk at high doses due to cocaine’s blocking effect on cardiac sodium channels. Cocaine as a drug has a low molecular weight and high water and lipid solubility which enables it to cross the placenta and fetal blood-brain barrier. Some common teratogenic defects caused by cocaine include hydronephrosis, cleft palate, polydactyly, and down syndrome. As with all injected illicit substances, there is a risk of the user contracting blood-borne infections if sterile injecting equipment is not available or used.
This article will talk more about cocaine by shining a light on how dangerous (and potentially deadly) the use of it can be. Her clinical experience has included inpatient and outpatient treatment, and severe mental illness in residential and community settings. Leah Miller is a mental health counselor and is trained as an alcohol and substance abuse counselor. If you think someone you love is using cocaine, encourage them to seek help.
Impact of illicit cocaine
It is thought to intensify the “high” by releasing dopamine in the brain, acts as a bulking agent, and is a difficult adulterant to recognize. It triggers coronary artery spasms, increases blood clot risk, and accelerates atherosclerosis, especially with long-term use. Low-birthweight babies are 20 times more likely to die in their first month of life than normal-weight babies, and face an increased risk of lifelong disabilities such as mental retardation and cerebral palsy. As a result, cocaine-exposed babies are more likely than unexposed babies to be born with low birth weight (less than 5.5 lb or 2.5 kg).
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