Cocaine

Cocaine or coke is a powerful stimulant drug. It comes from the leaves of the coca plant and cocaine is typically distributed in powdered form. ‘Crack’ is a form of cocaine has been processed to create rock-like crystals.

Called coca, crack, flake, snow, soda cot, blow, bump, C, candy, or Charlie.

How is Cocaine Used?

Cocaine is snorted, injected (after dissolving the powdered form in water) or maybe smoked. Smoking involves inhaling cocaine vapor or smoke (from ‘crack’) into the lungs. When cocaine is smoked or injected, it reaches the brain in seconds causing an intense feeling of euphoria which we call ‘rush.’

Cocaine has a some effects including increased alertness and energy, as well as irritability, restlessness and anxiety.

What Are the Common Risks Associated with the Use of Cocaine?

Cocaine use increases body temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure and it can also cause headaches, nausea and irritability. Because cocaine tends to decrease appetite, chronic users can become malnourished. Cocaine may cause users to take risks, leading to unsafe sex and injury. It may also lead to addiction and other serious health consequences including increasing the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases.

Users of cocaine may experience emergencies, such as a heart attack or stroke, which may cause sudden death or long-term disability. Cocaine-related deaths are often a result of cardiac arrest or seizure followed by respiratory arrest.

Cocaine Pharmacodynamics

Cocaine is a local anesthetic indicated for the introduction of local (topical) anesthesia of accessible mucous membranes of the oral, laryngeal and nasal cavities.

Cocaine Mechanism of Action Cocaine produces anesthesia by inhibiting excitation of nerve endings or by blocking conduction in peripheral nerves. This is achieved by reversibly binding to and inactivating sodium channels. Sodium influx through these channels is necessary for the depolarization of nerve cell membranes and subsequent propagation of impulses along the course of the nerve. Cocaine is the only local anesthetic with vasoconstrictive properties. This is a result of its blockade of norepinephrine reuptake in the autonomic nervous system. Cocaine binds differentially to the dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine transport proteins and directly prevents the re-uptake of dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine into pre-synaptic neurons. Its effect on dopamine levels is most responsible for the addictive property of cocaine.

Cocaine Metabolism

Hepatic. Cocaine is metabolized to benzoylecgonine and ecgonine methyl ester, which are both excreted in the urine. In the presence of alcohol, a further active metabolite, cocaethylene is formed, and is more toxic then cocaine itself.