Methylbenzoylecgonine, C17H21NO4
General Information
What is Cocaine?
- a drug made from the leaves of the cocoa plant
- is a stimulant drug (which means it speeds up the brain and nervous system)
Cocaine is:
- processed in different ways to make different types of cocaine.
- in many countries including South America the cocaine leaves are processed using ordinary motor vehicle petrol rather than alcohol, resulting in neurological and brain damage with long term use.
Types of Cocaine
Cocaine hydrochloride
- white powder type of cocaine most common in Australia
- it is sniffed through the nose ('snorted') or injected
- it cannot be smoked because burning destroys it
'Freebase' cocaine
a chemically changed type of cocaine (alkaloid cocaine)
it can be smoked making the user feel high quickly
'Crack' cocaine
- a type of freebase cocaine sold in the form of small crystals or 'rocks'
- it is usually smoked
People who sell cocaine often mix or 'cut' the powder with chemicals other that look the same, to make the drug go further. Added substances can have unpleasant or harmful effects. It is difficult to tell what the drug actually contains.
Effects of Cocaine
What cocaine does to you depends on:
- how much taken
- the type of cocaine
- height and weight
- general health
- mood
- individual experience with cocaine
- whether cocaine used on its own or with other drugs
- whether used alone or with others, at home or at a party, etc.
Immediate Effects
Small amounts
With a small amount of cocaine, the effects last from a few minutes to a few hours.
You may:
- feel good and confident
- be excited or upset
- take more risks than usual
- feel aggressive
- be less hungry
- feel alert and energetic
- want to have sex
Effects on your body may include:
- heart beats faster
- body temperature rises
- pupils in your eyes get bigger
- movement quicker than usual
Large amounts
With a large amount of cocaine you may:
- get headaches
- feel dizzy
- feel restless
- become violent or aggressive
- find it difficult to concentrate
- lose interest in sex
- feel apathetic (not want to do anything)
- experience chest pain
- have a heart attack
- have convulsions (fits)
- overdose
- have psychosis (hear voices, imagine things, get frightened that others want to hurt you)
Long-term effects
If you use cocaine often and for a long time you may:
- become dependent
- become aggressive, violent and argumentative
- have relationship, work, money, legal or housing problems
- Long term use can cause health problems
Snorting cocaine can lead to:
- nosebleeds
- sinus problem
- damage
- inside the nose
Injecting cocaine with used or dirty needles or other equipment can cause you to:
- get infected with hepatitis C, hepatitis B and/or HIV
- get blood poisoning (septicemia)
- get skin abscesses (sores with pus)
Injecting cocaine over a long time can result in:
- blocked blood vessels (caused by substances mixed with cocaine) leading to serious damage to the liver and heart
- inflamed blood vessels and abscesses
- a person picking at their own skin, causing serious damage that may need skin grafts (operations) to heal
Smoking freebase cocaine (crack) can cause:
- breathing difficulties
- long-term cough
- chest pain
- lung damage
Overdose
- heart failure
- bleeding blood vessels in the brain
- death
Cocaine during Pregnancy
Using cocaine when you are pregnant may:
- increase the risk of losing the baby before it is born
- cause the baby to be born too early
- cause babies to weigh less
- cause babies to get withdrawal symptoms from the mother's cocaine use (little is known about the long-term effects on the child as it grows)
Cocaine and Driving
Cocaine can make you:
- feel more confident when you drive
- take dangerous risks and have accidents.
- it is illegal to drive under the influence of drugs, including cocaine. Penalties include losing your license, a fine and/or jail.
Mixing Cocaine with other Drugs
Cocaine is sometimes taken with other drugs to cope with some of the physical effects of cocaine on the body. Minor tranquillizers, alcohol, marijuana or heroin are often taken for insomnia (can't sleep).
This can make you dependent on several drugs at once, cocaine each day to get moving and minor tranquillizers each night to get to sleep. This type of dependence can lead to many serious physical and psychological problems and also make you more likely to overdose.
Tolerance and Dependence
- Anyone can develop a 'tolerance' to cocaine.
- Tolerance means that you must take more of the drug to feel the same effects you used to have with lower amounts.
- 'Dependence' on cocaine means that it takes is a stimulant drug. This means it speeds up the brain and nervous system.
- Dependence on cocaine can lead to a variety of health, money, legal, work and relationship problems.
- Not all people who use cocaine are dependent.
Withdrawal
Cocaine-dependent people may find it very hard to stop using or cut down because of withdrawal symptoms.
These can include:
- wanting cocaine very badly (cravings)
- feeling angry or upset
- feeling sick
- vomiting
- shaking
- tiredness
- weakness
- hunger
- long but disturbed sleep
- muscle pain
- deep depression (feeling very down or sad)
- wanting to kill yourself
These symptoms are usually fairly short-lived and most people with withdrawals do not need medication. However, if you are worried about withdrawal, contact your doctor or health center.
