Hi I know that there is already an article written by Ozbinky here about cocaine but I really would like to write a bit about this horrid drug also...So here is my article on this drug to go with the rest of the advices in my illegal drugs and teens series...

Cocaine is one of many drugs from a group known as stimulants...They speed up the messages from the brain to your body by speeding up the central nervous system...Other stimulants from this group are drugs like speed and nicotine... Cocaine comes in the form of a white powder that has no smell...It as heroin has a bitter taste but it is also numbing...This is probably how police can tell the difference on the police shows when they stick their finger in to taste it...

COCAINE IS ADDICTIVE

The two  main ways of taking cocaine is snorting so sniffed up through the nose and injecting...This is done with the form of cocaine called Cocaine hydrochloride...It can also be smoked but not in this form as the drug is destroyed at high temperatures...It is smoked through a process of freebasing in an alkaloid form... Crack is sold in small crystals or rocks...It is smoked through a pipe or even in cigarettes...It is usually mixed with tobacco or marijuana... Just like all drugs that are illegally made like speed etc..it is hard to tell the safety of this drug as there is no controls on the strength or the hygiene of cocaine...Cocaine can be cut or mixed with things like sugar, talc or baking soda for the dealer to increase their profits...their greediness increases the risks of using this drug because when its mixed with another substance it increases the risk of harmful effects...

There are quite a few street names for cocaine these include but are not limited to...coke, snow, white, toot, rock, freebase, C, flake, nose candy, white lady, and crack...

Just as every other drug I have already written about cocaine has immediate and long term effects...shortly after taking cocaine a user may experience some or all of these effects, panic, feelings of wellbeing, loss of appetiete, anxiousness, exhilerated, become indifferent to pain and fatigue, enlarged pupils, more sexually aroused and unpredictable or violent... If cocaine is snorted the effects peak after about 15 minutes to half an hour and then they subside...In larger doses and more than one dose for a few hours could cause effects like...Becoming extremly agitated, paranoid, hallucinations, feeling sick and vomiting, loss of sex interests, heart pain or heart attack, paranoid psychosis, higher body temperature, tremours, unpredictable, aggression, and rapid and shallow breaths...

Long term effects of this drug when used over a long period of time are a little different...Long term users take higher doses and binge on cocaine which is interupted with crashes...A binge is just like a binge of alcohol it is taken alot of times over a few days...This is followed by a crash which is intense depression, tiredness and hunger...
Long term users have feelings of restlessness, intense excitability, psychosis, paranoia, hallucinatios, weight loss, unable to sleep, and the inability to experience pleasure...

There are many dangers in the use of this drug to people who snort cocaine damage the nose lining and the nasal passages...Leaving bleeding alot..when cocaine is mixed it can cause the collapse of the veins when injected...abcesses and damage to the heart liver and brain are also common from mixed cocaine...After one injection of cocaine there can be severe tissue damage caused by constriction of the blood vessels, as by the action of a nerve... this may prevent blood flowing to the tissue...HIV, Hep c and Hep B risks are raised because of the fact they are blood borne diseases...People who smoke cocain can damage their lungs get chest pain a chronic cough and cause breathing difficulties...When a user injects this drug...blodd vessels become blocked by substances that are mixed with cocaine...this causes major damage to organs...Then there is the risks if sharing needles happens...

Overdoses on this drug depends on the users size and build etc...even if uncommon deaths from cocaine from overdose are usually caused by this drug directly by bringing on a seizure, heart attack, kidney failure, stroke, and brain haemorhage...

This drug is just another one of the dangerous drugs that is available to our teens...Drugs scare me but not so much as they used to because I have made the effort to learn alot more about them so I can arm my kids with all the correct information on them...Learn about these drugs and the facts so you can pass these on to your children our future.... Thanks for taking the time to read this....

Have a great day
Cheers
Angie