Cocaine Addiction Research Paper

The short term physiological effects of cocaine include constricted blood vessels, dilated pupils, and increased temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure. Large amounts intensify the user’s high, but may also lead to bizarre, erratic, and violent behavior. The short term effects on the brain are tremors, vertigo, muscle twitches, paranoia. Some users of cocaine report feelings of restlessness, irritability, and anxiety

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.

Crack has an effect on the part of the brain that is known as the rewards center. It is the part that makes us happy. Normally how this works is the brain will release dopamine, a feel good chemical neurotransmitter, in response to potential rewards that are coming its way. It will then be recycled back into the same cell that released it. The signal between nerve cells shuts off, then the cycle is then repeated. When someone puts crack cocaine into their body, the cocaine gets sent up to the brain through the bloodstream. It then will attach itself to the dopamine, preventing the dopamine from recycling. This causes it all to build up between the nerve cells and be released all at once, resulting in the powerful rushed high feeling people get. This lasts anywhere between 5 minutes to a half hour. After using it one time, people can become addicted. However, with each use the pleasurable feelings fade away, making people want a bigger dosage, which could lead to a negative

Addiction of cocaine has proven to be a lifetime addiction and there is always a possibility for relapse even after years of curtailment. These drugs have the ability to alter the physical makeup of the brain.

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

Low income, crack-cocaine addicted African American mothers face many challenges as they seek addiction treatment. Limited research suggests that women who seek addiction treatment can potentially lose custody of their children to Child Protective Services Intervention. Ironically however, women in need of treatment for any other illness face no such threat of losing their children. Unfortunately, women with substance use histories often encounter criminal penalties or the lost of their children to Child Protective Services. Consequently, many of these women are afraid to seek treatment. Due to the social injustices faced by women with substance addictions, elected officials and policymakers should consider enacting legislation that provide

Establishing the real facts about drug use is the first step in understanding the flaws inherent in the policy of prohibition.  First, cocaine is not an addictive drug, and according to a 1993 National Institute on Drug Abuse report, less than one percent of cocaine users become daily users.  Cocaine's non-addictive status comes from the fact that users who stop using it have no withdrawal symptoms, which is one of the three criteria to define something as addictive.  Like marijuana, cocaine only induces dependence, or a desire for use, much like chocolate.

Cocaine is one of the most euphoric, exciting, fun substances in the world - and also the most dangerous. It creates the perfect feeling, the invincible high. It is so strong and has so many beneficial qualities that it was once called the miracle drug, but the miracle drug has its downsides too. The miracle drug is dangerous. The miracle drug is deadly. Cocaine is a highly addictive and dangerous drug that alters the mind and body of humans of all ages and consequently changes their entire thought process. It chemically alters the mind, increases the physical ability of people (while also destroying their bodies) and morphs their entire mental state into something great (while also turning them into paranoid schizophrenics).

Methamphetamine and cocaine are both in the category of drugs known as stimulants. “Central nervous system are drugs that increase not only the activity of the CNS but also that of the ANS, (autonomic nervous system) resulting in both euphoria and mood enhancement” (Csiernik, R. 2014).

Irritability, restlessness, insomnia and paranoia replace the euphoria. Physically, the long- term user will lose interest in sex and lose weight. Those who snort the drug wear out their nasal septum while those who inject it risk the chance of contracting hepatitis or AIDS. Cocaine related deaths are often a result of cardiac arrest or seizures followed by respiratory arrest. Over time, to the user's tolerance, the drug will build. To achieve the same effects as that of early usage requires larger doses of the drug. The user becomes psychologically dependent. The drug becomes pivotal to their thoughts, feelings and their daily activities. "Cocaine just made you feel really good. Then after you get done feeling really good then you start to get a Superman ego and that's the beginning of the end." ("Drug Wars"; A Frontline, PBS Production) Often times, cocaine addicts develop an illicit lifestyle to keep up with their drug habit. Cocaine's influence leads a user to stealing from family, friends and even employers. The lifestyle of addicts becomes as corrupt as the organizations that produce and supply the product.

Cocaine can damage your health in a number of ways. It can cause an increase in blood pressure, heart rate and body temperature. It can also cause gastrointestinal side effects. Additionally, chronic cocaine users are more likely to become malnourished.

Fact: Being addicted to any type of illicit drug can be dangerous, and cocaine is certainly no exception. A cocaine addiction can lead to many medical complications. This includes things such as respiratory failure, stroke and heart failure. Additionally, cocaine causes more fatalities than any other illicit drug.

However, everything comes at a price, the short-term health effects are: constricted blood vessels, dilated pupils, nausea, raised temperature and blood pressure, faster heartbeat, tremors and muscle twitches, and restlessness. The long-term effects of cocaine depend on how it is taken. If it is snorted effects include: loss of sense of smell, nosebleeds, frequent runny nose, and problems with swallowing. Ingesting orally leads to severe bowel decay from reduced blood flow. If it is injected, the effects include higher risk of contracting HIV, hepatitis C, and other bloodborne diseases. However, those who use non-needle forms of cocaine are still at risk for STDs because cocaine affects one’s judgement so one may lead to unsafe sexual behavior. Long term effects shared by all forms of cocaine include: being malnourished due to cocaine’s appetite suppressing properties, movement disorders such as Parkinson’s, irritability, restlessness, and severe paranoia which can lead to the loss of touch with reality and cause auditory hallucinations. Along with all the previously mentioned effects, if someone becomes dependent on cocaine, withdrawal symptoms include: depression, fatigue, increased appetite, nightmares, insomnia, and slowed cognitive function. I personally know someone who has tried cocaine and here’s what they said on the matter:

Cocaine is a to a great degree addictive and poisonous drug. Individuals who are dependent on cocaine will much of the time do whatever it takes to get a greater amount of the drug, paying little respect to the dangers or results. Utilizing cocaine can bring about genuine wellbeing issues and may prompt death, ordinarily from cardiovascular failure, stroke, or seizure. Around 15 percent of individuals in the U.S. have attempted cocaine (National Institute on Drug Abuse [NIDA]). Cocaine is otherwise called coke, C, chip, snow, break, or blow. It is gotten from the coca plant, which is local to South America.

Cocaine is no longer a drug used only by the wealthy and celebrities. Individuals of every age, income and social class may turn to this drug to obtain a high. In fact, almost 10 percent of individuals between the ages of 16 and 59 have used this drug at some point in their life, according to a report compiled by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. Furthermore, more than 18 percent of individuals surveyed in 2013/2014 stated they used cocaine powder in the prior