Cocaine Addiction Research Paper

One can feel the effects of cocaine almost immediately after use, with these effects lasting only a few minutes or hours. The duration of cocaine 's effects depends upon how it is administered. The faster the drug is absorbed, the more intense the high, but also the shorter the duration. The high from snorting is relatively slow to arrive but it may last 15 to 30 minutes. In contrast, the effects from smoking are more immediate but may last only 5 to 10 minutes. “In the brain, cocaine interferes with the chemical messengers -- neurotransmitters -- that nerves use to communicate with each other. Cocaine blocks norepinephrine, serotonin, dopamine, and other neurotransmitters from being reabsorbed. The resulting

The long term effects of cocaine are very extreme. Once having tried cocaine, an individual may have difficulty controlling the urge to use the drug and the perspective might change leaving the consumption of the drug as primordial. Cocaine’s stimulant and addictive effects are due primarily as a result of its ability to stop the reabsorption of dopamine by nerve

The power of crack cocaine can destroy lives, take away mothers and fathers from their family and leave people on the streets whether you are white, black, hispanic, etc. However, there is a bigger, direct impact on the African American community for various reasons; such as where it hit when it came to America, the stereotypes of the drug users and of the drug itself and the harsh laws that only pertained to crack cocaine.

As we have learned, Cocaine is a very harmful and addictive drug that doesn’t only affect the user. While it can cause many complications in pregnancies, the ones who ultimately

Cocaine’s mode of action has been shown to involve the dopamine receptors. This paper will discuss how cocaine affects dopamine receptors, the mode of addiction, how cocaine affects the frontal brain metabolic activities, as well as the role of excitatory amino acids in cocaine’s mechanism. I will also discuss how cocaine affects another system through its mechanism on the brain—the renin angiotensin system.

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).

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

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

(1) The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 which congress passed was a remedy that would end the on slot of crime and Violence which was becoming ramped in city streets and spilling over to urban neighborhoods. The enacting of these laws were the direct results of the mass prosecution of American Minorities with African Americans defendants being charged with crack offences, while white offenders were usually indicted on powder cocaine possession, Because making the sentencing for African Americans harsher than that of their white counterparts. (1) The sentencing disparities were broken up in tiers between crack cocaine and powder cocaine the inequality of sentencing was for example If an African American is arrested for possession of 5 grams of crack his sentence is will start at a mandatory minimum sentence of (5, 10, 15) years in prison where as their counterparts 500 grams of powder (5, 10, 15) years in prison. The difference is astronomical and would the main contributor to the pandemic of mass incarceration of minorities. Judicial Racial bias keeps more people of color in prisons and on probation than ever before a direct result of

Cocaine is one of the most destructive and addictive drugs in recent history. The use of cocaine and other narcotics often results in incarceration and even death. This is the story of a form of Cocaine called Crack and the results of one's affiliation with this highly addictive substance.

Since the individual is not experiencing any sickness, pain, or other outward physical discomfort I would suggest that this individual may have been consuming cocaine, marijuana, or is an alcoholic.

A cocaine addiction not only affects your health, but it also affects your performance in the workplace. There are many ways that a cocaine addiction can have a negative effect on your work performance. Below is a list of some of the ways that your business can suffer from a cocaine addiction:

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, approximately 750,000 pregnant women per year use cocaine to some degree (NIDA, 2016). A typical woman’s body goes through numerous changes during pregnancy. A pregnant woman who is using cocaine puts her and the fetus at an increased risk for miscarriage, preterm labor, and a difficult delivery. The mother may suffer from maternal migraines or seizures because of cocaine use. A mother who is using is also at an increased risk for maternal and fetal difficulties associated with high blood pressure. At delivery, the baby may have a low birth weight, be small in length, and may have a smaller head circumference than a baby born to a mother who did not use during pregnancy. Continued research is needed, but there is evidence to suggest that children of mother’s who used cocaine during pregnancy have an increased risk of social, emotional, educational and attentional difficulties to deal with throughout their

Some cocaine users will stay up for days, even weeks, and will not eat, which results in their bodies becoming malnourished. Continued cocaine use can cause sleep deprivation, which can then lead to aggressive and paranoid behavior. Cocaine is such a powerful stimulant and it can keep a user awake for days, sometimes longer, which then results in the user hallucinating from lack of sleep. Hallucinating can then cause the user to become aggressive and paranoid because they are hearing and seeing things that are not really there. Continued cocaine use can also cause severe tooth decay and reproductive damage in both men and women. Cocaine causes severe dry mouth, which further increases the risk of tooth decay, and cocaine can also cause tooth decay because the user will grind their teeth while using the drug. Continued cocaine use can cause heart attack, stroke, respiratory failure, and convulsions. Cocaine use has been linked to many types of heart disease. Cocaine has been found to trigger chaotic heart rhythms, called ventricular fibrillation; accelerate heartbeat and breathing, and increase blood pressure and body temperature. Physical symptoms may include chest pain, nausea, blurred vision, fever, muscle spasms, convulsions, coma, and death. Different routes of cocaine administration can produce different adverse effects. Users who snort cocaine can experience the loss of their sense of smell, nosebleeds, problems with swallowing, hoarseness, and an

Cocaine has many different effects on the brain once it is used. A person who uses cocaine frequently usually does not eat, or sleep properly. This drug can cause a person to be angry, unsympathetic, and anxious. Cocaine side effects can also cause unexpected deaths which can lead to a stroke, respiratory failure, or a heart attack. Cocaine convicts depression so critical that a person would do any and everything just to get that drug. A person would even commit murder and if he or she cannot get the drug, it can drive the abuser to