Cocaine is a powerful drug that stimulates the brain. People who use it can form a strong addiction. They may have to use more and more of the drug to get high. It's sold on the street as a fine, white powder. There are two forms of cocaine: hydrochloride salt and freebase. The salt dissolves in water. People can take it in a vein or in the nose. The freebase form can be smoked. Crack is the street name of a smokable form of cocaine.
No matter how cocaine is taken, it is dangerous. Some of the most common serious problems include
• Heart problems, including heart attacks
• Respiratory effects, including respiratory failure
• Nervous system problems, including strokes
• Digestive problems
Any of these can be fatal. Using cocaine with alcohol is a common cause of drug-related death.
There may be hope for people withdrawing from Cocaine. Scientists have discovered the physiological basis which cocaine withdrawal creates in the brain. Apparently, both dopamine and serotonin are depleted, which causes cravings by the reformed addict to return to the drug.
A dopamine analog has been created, which works in animals, to reduce these cravings; however, the abuse potential of the analog was excessively high. Therefore, to replace an addiction with another potentially harmful addiction made no sense. But, with a combination dopamine-serotonin, the abuse potential seems to have been decreased, if not eliminated altogether.
Unfortunately, cravings may be stopped, but the judgment, decision making ability of the cocaine addict has deteriorated, and in some cases been destroyed. The Anterior Pre-Frontal Cortex, which is the portion of your brain that performs these higher executive functions, has been damaged. The cocaine addict, given the wrong environment and peer pressure, probably would return to cocaine, even though no cravings are urging them to do so.
Knowing this should not create a hopeless feeling for the addict who wishes to recover, or loved ones who are involved. The message should be that not only a drug to decrease cravings is an important part of future treatment; but the environment in which the former addict lives is equally important. To return to a situation which helped to create a bad situation, is not helpful. We always knew that, but now we know the physiological basis for avoidance of bad environs.
Sources
Psychiatric Times: New Approach Promising for Cocaine Addiction, Vol. 24 No. 12, October 01, 2007
http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202101017&cid=PT-news-toc-102407
National Institute of Drug Abuse
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/cocaine.html
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