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What
is Cocaine?
Cocaine is snorted, injected, and smoked (freebase and crack cocaine). Snorting is inhaling cocaine powder through the nose where it is absorbed into the bloodstream through the nasal tissues. Injecting is using a needle to release the drug directly into the bloodstream. Smoking involves inhaling cocaine smoke into the lungs, where it is absorbed into the bloodstream as quickly as when it is injected!  It was not uncommon to mix your cocaine with a soft drink. No one knew how dangerous it was then. Cocaine was used in wines and soft drinks such as Coca Cola. Cocaine was widely used until it was outlawed by the Harrison Act in 1914 during the temperance movement. ²One of the reasons why it was used in soft drinks? So people drinking to soda would become addicted to it and therefore buy more. (Hmm... maybe why they use caffeine in them today).² Above - Photograph of coca leaves, plant and beans. The photo above is an accurate depiction of crack cocaine and how it is sold in small glass or plastic vials. Street Names for Cocaine: Coke, Dust, Toot, Line, Nose Candy, Snow. Sneeze, Powder, White Pony, Flake, The Lady, Cain, Rock, and Crack, we are sure you have heard others. How to recognize it: Cocaine is white and looks like a crystalline powder. Cornstarch, crushed or powdered vitamin substances, sugar, and flour are often mixed with cocaine to make the drug less strong. This is called "cutting" the drug. Crack cocaine looks like small (sometimes pink) rocks. For more photos of cocaine and crack see our drug photo page. At the same time, coke raises blood pressure, increases heart rate, causes rapid breathing, tenses muscles, and causes the jitters (although many don't notice it because they're feeling so alert and euphoric). Over time, and with regular use, people may get paranoid, anxious, and confused, and sometimes they hallucinate. Insomnia, agitation, and depression can also result from frequent cocaine use. The problems with cocaine come from doing too much, its mixture with other drugs, and the crash after binge use. The latter arrives when the initial feelings of well-being and confidence, the sense of being invincible, and the satisfied feelings disappear as suddenly as the rush appeared, leaving the user with the desire to have more. Usually, after a night, or a few nights, of snorting coke, the user crashes -- sleeping all day long, trying to put energy back into the body -- and decides never to do the drug again. Anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks later, the person wants to do it again, searching for that good feeling from the last time. Cocaine use can easily turn into abuse -- and yes, this can occur shortly after one's first cocaine experience. The brain's pleasure centers that cocaine short-circuits makes its use a mighty hard habit to kick -- despite the side effects of chronic nasal irritation, nosebleeds, paranoia, and bank account depletion. This is an expensive habit! Some Mental And Physical Effects: * Angry, hostile and anxious feelings. The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) reported that, in 2000, cocaine was used by 3.8 million Americans, or 1.7 percent of the household population aged 12 and over. Estimates of the current number of those who use cocaine regularly (at least once per month) vary, but 1.75 million is a widely accepted figure within the research community. Although cocaine use has not significantly changed over the last six years, the number of first time users has increased in the United States. *However, cocaine use is significantly less prevalent than it was during the early 1980s. Cocaine use peaked in 1982 when 10.4 million Americans (5.6 percent of the population) reportedly used cocaine. That was a lot of cocaine. Availability
In 2001, Colombia remained the world's leading producer of cocaine. Three quarters of the world's annual yield of cocaine is produced there. Today, Columbia still remains the world's leading producer of the drug. Trafficking Medical Uses Cocaine is still used medicinally as a local anesthetic and vasoconstrictor in Europe. In the United States cocaine was once used to treat sinusitis, hay fever, depression, chronic fatigue and for appetite suppression. It has not been used as medicine in the U.S. since 1914. COCAINE IS ILLEGAL: In
all states in the US, even though state laws vary. Possession for first
time offenders carries a penalty of time in jail and a fine. Those who
distribute the drug can spend a longer time in jail and have to pay even
bigger fines. If you or someone you know needs help with a cocaine addiction,
call the Cocaine Help Line Thanks and appreciation are extended to the U.S. Department of Justice - Drug Enforcement Administration for their information and for the use of their photographs.
No part of this web site may be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the publisher. Cool Nurse shall not be liable for any errors in content of this site, see disclaimer |
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Cocaine
is the most potent stimulant of natural origin. It is extracted
from the leaves of the coca plant which grows on the mountain slopes of
the Andes Mountains of South America. Illegal cocaine is usually distributed
as a white crystalline powder or as an off-white chunky material. Cocaine
base is converted into the powder form, which is usually cocaine hydrochloride,
by diluting it with other substances. The substances most commonly used
in this process are sugars, such as lactose and mannitol, and local anesthetics,
such as lidocaine --yes, like the dentist uses, but in powder form. This
mixing of cocaine increases its volume and then multiplies profits for
drug dealers. 
Native
cultures have used coca leaves in chewed and brewed forms for thousands
of years for social and religious occasions. In 1860, cocaine was isolated
from all the other chemicals in the coca leaf, and a pure form of cocaine
was extracted. The drug readily dissolves in water, allowing users to
dissolve it directly into soft drinks. Injecting cocaine results in an
intense rush in fifteen to thirty seconds, while drinking it results in
a milder, yet longer lasting, stimulation thirty to forty-five minutes
after ingestion. Both these methods of using cocaine popularized the drug
in the United States in the early 1900s. 
"Crack"
is the street name given to cocaine that has been processed from cocaine
hydrochloride to a ready-to-use form for smoking. Rather than requiring
the more dangerous method of processing cocaine using ether, crack cocaine
is processed with ammonia or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and water
and heated to remove the hydrochloride, thus producing a form of cocaine
that can be smoked. The term "crack" refers to the crackling sound heard
when the mixture is heated, presumably from the sodium bicarbonate. On
the illicit market, crack, or "rock," is sold in small, inexpensive dosage
units. Smoking this form of the drug delivers large quantities of cocaine
to the lungs, producing effects comparable to intravenous injection. These
effects are felt almost immediately after smoking, are very intense, and
do not last long.
The
physical effects of coke are the same as any other stimulant drug -- except
that the first rush is possibly much more intense. The initial effects
are pleasant, they give the user increased confidence, a willingness to
work, greater motivation, increased libido, and a euphoric rush or high.
1-800-COCAINE
(1-800-262-2463) in the United States.