Negative Effects Of Cocaine

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.

Some short term effects of Cocaine , is that it causes a high , then followed by nervousness, and a crave for more of it . People who use it usually have trouble sleeping at night, As they get very restless. It can make their heart rate faster, and the user could have muscle f its and shakings. The drug can make the users feel paranoid, fu rious, threatening and restless. He art attack, stroke, and a seizure are all other side effects of Cocaine.

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 has fast acting effects stimulating the central nervous system (CNS) resulting in a high and feeling euphoric. The most widely studied phenomenon of this drug is its ability to enhance dopaminergic activity within the mesocorticolimbic circuit, the reward system, which enable it to prevail as one of the most addictive substances (Pierce and Kumaresan, 2006). Specifically, cocaine directly blocks the re-uptake of dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine into the pre-synaptic neurons, increasing the synaptic concentrations of the neurotransmitter (Hummel and Unterwald, 2002). Chronic cocaine abuse has been linked to deficits in neurocognition and brain perfusion, some of which were unresolved after long periods of abstinence of up to 200 days (Nnadi et al., 2005). Cocaine use has also been found to cause coronary vasoconstriction resulting in decreased oxygen supply, increased blood pressure, and increased heart rate. Chronic use may lead to micro cardiovascular disease and thrombosis (Schwartz et al.,

They must use cocaine in a binge pattern by taking the drug repeatedly in a short period of time at incrementally higher doses. This leads to chronic changes in the neurotransmitters synapses in the brain that results in abuse and addiction (Cocaine). Cocaine will cause long-term changes to the brain’s reward system that will eventually change the amount of dopamine needed to reach that initial euphoria. Tolerance will develop and will result in an increasing dose to reach that same initial high, but could result in psychological or physiological effects

The effects that cocaine has on the body differentiate between users, but process in which it is able to give off an effect is the same in every person. Cocaine mainly effects the striatum (part of the brain that produces feelings

In this paper the many physical and psychological effects of Cocaine use will be presented to the reader. The reader will be able to see the rough timeline of Cocaine use and how it has evolved into the narcotic that is seen today. It will be clear to see just how much the theories on the drug has changed throughout history as a one point Sigmund Freud himself promoted the drug as healthy and could see no fault within its effects (UXL Encyclopedia of Science, 2015). In today’s world it is clear that cocaine is in fact dangerous and it is up to the reader to decide whether the physical effects or psychological effects are more drastic.

There are different types of effects this drug can cause which is short term and long term damage. Short term effects cocaine can cause a short lived. Other effects is intense high which is followed by intense depression, edginess and you start to get addicted to the drug. Cocaine increases the chance of heart attack, stroke, seizure or respiratory breathing failure. Long term phrase is

Cocaine is a stimulant. It affects the neurotransmitter called dopamine. In a normal situation dopamine is a response to pleasure; after the dopamine gets released it is then recycled back into the cell once dopamine has been recycled the feeling of pleasure go’s away. Cocaine is used to prevent dopamine from being recycled, and because it can no longer be recycled large amounts of dopamine build up between neutrons. These high amounts of dopamine disrupts normal brain activity leading to a high

The primary mechanism by which cocaine exerts an effect is through the blockade of dopamine transporters, or the increase in dopamine signaling in the nucleus accumbens. Dopamine transporters are the molecules which reside in the presynaptic membrane. Their prime function is to remove dopamine from synapses and transfer it back into presynaptic neurons. (Pinel, 2014) The need or feelings that motivate cocaine drug abuse occur by the raising dopamine concentrations through the activity of one particular set of dopamine receptors, called D3 receptors. The neurotransmitter dopamine is released into the nucleus accumbens and produces pleasure, this serves as a “signal that the action promotes survival or reproduction, directly or indirectly. The system is called the reward pathway.” (Harvard Health Publications , 2004)

Most people do this because it has a lower melting point and can travel faster to the brain. When you snort or smoke cocaine it travels to your brain where it passes through the neurons “A specialized cell that conducts impulses through the nervous system.” This causes you to feel more energized, more alert, and sense of awareness goes up. Also the amount of dopamine made rises. The dopamine travels through neurons, where normally it would be reabsorbed through dopamine transporters, but cocaine blocks those transporters causes a dopamine build-up. This is what causes that continuous good feeling for about ten minutes, which then leads to a feeling of depression. If a person were to become addicted this could lead to serious problems including a heart attack or a stoke “an event in the cardiovascular system in which a blood clot or plug of fat blocks on artery and cuts off the blood supply to a particular area of the brain.” Researchers have also found that a person who is constantly using crack or cocaine will eat away the dura mater, and cause spinal fluid to come out of the person’s nose. This causes the person to sniffle and most likely have a runny

What causes cocaine to be so addictive? The white powder happens to be a physiological addiction since it stimulates areas of the brain that gives a person feel euphoria and a person will build up resistance to the drug quickly. This in turn has the drug consumer requiring additional amounts of the substance with each subsequent practice. Because of this a person will be “chasing the dragon” the high that they first experienced each time that they snort, shoot, freebase or smoke. That first experience with cocaine will never be repeated. Nevertheless the beneficial news happens to be that cocaine addiction has fewer physiological effects and once the psychological addiction have been addressed the client has a greater chance for

All drugs have an effect on the brain. Addictive drugs primarily target the dopamine system, creating a 'rewarding' feeling. Within seconds of drug intrusion in the body, the drugs bring about dramatic changes to synapses in the brain. Because addictive drugs triggers a rewarding sensation within the brain, they produce a euphoric, pleasuring state of being.

Prolonged abuse of this drug causes long term change in the brain’s reward system and in other brain systems which result in unpredictable behaviour toward those around them. Individuals often increase their dosage to intensify or prolong their effects, which heightens their risk of adverse physiological and psychological effects and risk of consuming potentially deadly overdose. Likewise, using cocaine with alcohol causes drug related death instantly. The other long term effects include,

We all remember the commercials saying that drugs will “scramble” your brain, but how exactly do drugs affect it? Well, when our brain becomes affected by drugs, we form pleasurable memories and associations with them, the places we were at, and the people we were with. This is one of the reasons why seeing a picture of someone else use, or going back to a place you used frequently, can trigger a desire to use. This is especially true in cocaine users. Glutamate is a neurotransmitter that’s altered by drug abuse. And when the optimal amount is altered by drug abuse, the brain attempts to compensate for this change. This can cause impairment in cognitive function. Also, there was a study of binge drinkers and regular non-binge drinkers during