The Effects of Cocaine on the Brain

Cocaine is one of the oldest, most powerful and most dangerous stimulants in the world. This powerfully addictive drug effects over 35 million people In the United States. Cocaine addiction prevents a person from being a productive member in our society. It also increases the cost for law enforcement and treatment facilities. It rapidly decreases the workplace, increases the homeless rate and needless deaths on a daily basis.

First of all this research paper will examine the history of cocaine, answer exactly who used it, effects of the drug and its addictive nature. People choose to write about cocaine so that others can clearly see and understand its historical origins and dangerous properties. Those who experiment with drugs should become aware of their dangerous effects and take caution. The more people that become knowledgeable about cocaine, the more they can protect themselves from seriously endangering themselves. Cocaine users that are seriously dependent on the drug can seek treatment and rehabilitate. Most cocaine users do not realize they have a problem until it becomes too late. Much like the alcoholic, a cocaine dependent’s body

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.

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.

In the eyes of the public, the word addict stirs up a negative image: a person of low moral character who willfully chooses to engage in questionable behavior. This image is perpetuated in the media; on a recent episode of E.R., the chief surgeon criticizes another doctor for allowing a heroin addict (who has been treated for an abscess) to exchange a dirty needle, explaining "we donât want these low-lives hanging around the hospital." The social stigma attached to addicts reflects the great gap that exists between scientific knowledge and public perception of addiction. Just as mental illness was viewed as a social problem instead of a medical issue until the last several decades,

M.J. is a 21-year-old female who presented herself in the emergency room with a laceration on her hand and a positive test for cocaine in her system. The patient is a single mom of two toddlers and has a live-in boyfriend. The patient presented to the E.R. that her house was destroyed in a fire and lacerated her hand while trying to escape. Her boyfriend, who is a heroin user, perished in the fire. She is now having difficulty remembering the fire and she feels like she is in a dream. M.J. is being admitted to the psychiatric unit. Because of this traumatic event, the likelihood that this patient is experiencing anxiety and depression is very high: leading to acute stress disorder. This disorder is prevalent within the first month of

In your post you are saying “A faster drug such as heroin and cocaine occupies enough brain receptors to produce psychoactive effect. It just slows the brain down.” I do agree on the drugs do it does slows the brain down and the side of effects are when it enter the brain heroin goes into morphine that is when binds to molecules on cell opioid receptors. The receptors are located in many areas of the brain and in the body and the opioid receptors are located in the brains stem too. That controls such as blood pressure, arousal, and respiration. Cocaine can prevent dopamine from recycling prevents dopamine from recycling and if you flood of dopamine ultimately it can disrupts normal brain communication and causes cocaine’s high, the short term

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 is a powerfully addictive stimulant drug that has become increasingly prevalent due to its rewarding effects. The rewarding effects of cocaine are largely mediated by its actions in blocking brain dopamine transmitters to increase extracellular levels of the neurotransmitter in the brain’s reward circuits (Hancock & McKim, 2012). Cocaine is administered through the nose, where it is absorbed through the nasal tissues, or intravenously into the bloodstream. Once cocaine has been administered into the body, like Amphetamines, it stimulates the sympathetic nervous system causing an increase in blood pressure and heart rate. The effect of cocaine on mood and performance is what creates a strong dependence among users. In low doses, it produces euphoria, exhilaration, feelings of well-being, and an increased interest in sex. As the doses increase, the feelings are replaced by anxiety, hyperactivity, sleep deprivation, and paranoia (Hancock & McKim, 2012).

Just the way it affects families and ruins societies is an obvious reason. Cocaine and every other addictive drugs have a huge consequence in someone’s social life because it alters the mental and emotional prosperity of the user. As stated in the “Impact of drug use on your social life” article, “[c]onflicts and breakdowns in communication can become more common” (ReachOut). In other words, drug users’ relationships can suffer from drug habits, leading these people to be less in touch with others. Additionally, cocaine use, or any addictive drug use, can have a severe impact on personal and professional success. On the professional side, using drugs can cause a decrease in focus, which can result in poor performances at work (ReachOut). It can also engender other consequences related to the person’s job which can be far more important than what was mentioned above. On the other hand, personal success can be affected through many ways such as financial problems. If the user is unable to pay for his or her usual drug use, he or she could begin to be implicated in illegal activities (ReachOut) and this could conduct the person to jail. The person would not have liberty or ambitions anymore and this is where personal success comes to an end. A life affected by drug use is not sustainable. A human being cannot spend an entire life abusing of drugs like cocaine because his or her social life

If you had a choice whether you wanted to alter your brain forever for the worse or keep it the way it is, what would you choose? Pretty easy question right, most people would chose to keep their brain the same. That is not the case. Drugs are a colossal problem nowadays for teenagers and adults, Drugs can alter the brain permanently, and it can be almost impossible to recover from addiction, especially as a teen. Addiction is a chronic relapsing disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and abuse and long lasting chemical changes in the brain. People who are addicted to certain kinds of drugs are lead onto a long and hard path of drug abuse and dependence.

Cocaine is the drug I think that has the biggest impact on someone’s behavior because of the intense ‘rush’ or ‘high’ that the user typically experiences. My main concern with cocaine is that the user goes from such a Euphoric feeling to feeling depressed. The dramatic change as the effects wear off makes a person change substantially. The user becomes irritable and despondent, which lead the user craving for another dose (Levinthal, 2012, pg. 170). The after effects can induce someone into the thought of suicide and that effect to me makes it a serious threat to whoever is using the drug. The effect that cocaine has on your brain with the loss of dopamine receptors is something that is permanently gone. Your dopamine receptors are what allow

Violence is another major effect of cocaine. Cocaine is an illegal drug that is sold for the hopes of yielding high profits returns. Most low-level cocaine dealers sell the drug in their community and city. Most places were drugs are sold are in the poorest areas in an inner city, there is not enough territory for everyone to sell drugs. In return this causes people to murder one another for control of territory. For example, a person receives a shipment of drug they are required to sale and they kill the people in that specific area to have more people to sell drugs to. Crime in these areas are at an all-time high as well. Many chronic abusers of cocaine are homeless or not employed. In a poll with 297 participants, 84 percent stated they hand some involvement with drug related violence (Heraclito). With money and resources to obtain drugs being very low. Many resort armed robbery, purse snatching, home

A psychoactive substance is a chemical substance that changes the functioning of the brain resulting in alterations in moods, perception or consciousness. Some of these substances are legal while others are illegal depending on the jurisdiction of the user and the substance itself to meet the respective purpose. These substances bring about various changes in the life of the user, more so they impose a substantial health burden on the society. The most important psychoactive substance to address in the United States is cocaine.

Cocaine can be identified as a white powder which can then be snorted up a person’s nose, an alternative method to taking is to inject directly into the blood stream. Crack Cocaine comes about by chemically altering the Cocaine powder to form hard crystals, which can be known as ‘rocks’.