A drug is any substance that when consumed interferes with the normal functioning of the body. People use drugs for different reasons. Some people use drugs to escape from personal issues that they are facing, others are extremely curious about what drugs can do while others consume drugs due to the fear of being left out. Whatever your reasons are for taking drugs, the experience is mutual to everyone else who is taking the same drugs. Drugs cause people to become extremely happy, energetic, more relaxed. However, drugs can also lead to a range of immediate health problems. Cocaine also called coke is a strong stimulant that is very addictive. Cocaine is the second most frequently used illegal drug globally (Matera, Warren, Moomjy, Fink, & Fox, 1990). Powder cocaine, coca leaves, salt, crack and freebase are all forms of cocaine. This paper looks at how cocaine is consumed, its physiological effects to the person and its pharmacology.
How Cocaine Is Consumed
Cocaine was historically useful as a tropical anesthetic to help reduce pain during surgeries of the mouth and nose. Overtime cocaine has been used as a recreational drug that is commonly inhaled, insufflated, injected directly into the veins or orally induced. Some of the users of cocaine have found it more convenient to rub the cocaine powder mixed with baking soda along the gum line making the teeth numb (Marzuk & Tardiff, 1992). Alternatively, cocaine can be wrapped up in a paper and swallowed directly then later absorbed in the stomach. In South America, however, the coca leaves are chewed or consumed in tea to reduce fatigue by increasing the heart rate thus generating more energy.
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Pharmacology of Cocaine
Cocaine is used primarily to alter one’s mental state. When consumed, cocaine binds tightly at the dopamine transporter blocking it from performing its function. It further affects certain serotonin receptors thus disabling hydrogen concentration in the brain (Ritz, Lamb, & Kuhar, 1987). Recent research has shown that cocaine causes a vasoconstriction due to its substantia nigra nature, thus reducing bleeding during surgical procedures. After cocaine is taken in, it gets metabolized in the liver with only 1% being excreted in the urine. Cocaine can be detectable in urine within four hours after its intake depending on liver and kidney function (Ritz, Lamb, & Kuhar, 1987) .
Physiological Effects of Cocaine
Cocaine’s short-term effects are noticed almost immediately after its intake. Cocaine alters with the reabsorption of dopamine in the central nervous system thus causing reduced fatigue and hyper stimulation of the brain neurons. It causes the user to feel alert, euphoric, energetic and more relaxed. Several milligrams of cocaine or more may lead to violent behavior such as paranoia, tremors, increased blood rate and constricted blood vessels (Carroll, Krattiger, Gieske, & Sadoff, 1990). These effects are more common as a person’s tolerance to cocaine builds up leading to addiction. Additionally, a person who is used to bingeing cocaine may develop a state of psychosis where he cannot connect with reality. Addicts of cocaine suffer from hallucinations where they hear or see things that do not exist. In most cases, the users of cocaine end up committing suicide due to depression and suicidal thoughts that overwhelm their brains. They tend to be detached with reality since all their focus is directed to imaginary threats (National Institute of Drug Abuse, 2016).
In conclusion, cocaine like any other drug is very harmful to our society. Anyone who is about to inhale or inject this drug into his or her blood stream knows the risk he or she is about to take. We can’t also ignore the fact that it is a very important drug when carrying out minor surgeries. If this drug is only used as an aesthetic which is actually the major purpose of the drug, then we’ll be living in a safer society. The problem is not the drug, human beings are by constantly using this drug for the wrong purposes.
References
Carroll, M. E., Krattiger, K. L., Gieske, D., & Sadoff, D. A. (1990). Cocaine-base smoking in rhesus monkeys: reinforcing and physiological effects. Psychopharmacology, 102(4) , 443-450.
Marzuk, P. M., & Tardiff, K. (1992). Prevalence of cocaine use among residents of New York City who committed suicide during a one-year period. The American journal of psychiatry, 149(3) , 371.
Matera, C., Warren, W. B., Moomjy, M., Fink, D. J., & Fox, H. E. (1990). Prevalence of use of cocaine and other substances in an obstetric population. American journal of obstetrics and gynecology, 163(3) , 797-801.
National Institute of Drug Abuse. (2016, May). What are the Short- term Effects of Cocaine Use . Retrieved from Cocaine: https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/cocaine/what-are-short-term-effects-cocaine-use
Ritz, M. C., Lamb, R. J., & Kuhar, M. J. (1987). Cocaine receptors on dopamine transporters are related to self-administration of cocaine. Science, 237(4819) , 1219-1223.
