Drug Addiction and Alert Cocaine Essay

Submitted By SiaSmith1
Words: 1665
Pages: 7

Cocaine is a stimulant that is extremely addictive that can be very dangerous to try even once. Some nicknames for cocaine are blow, bump, C, Candy, Charlie, Coke, Snow, and Marketing Powder. Although, these name sound silly and Childish don’t let them fool you into thinking they’re safe. To be alert cocaine comes in two main forms, white powder and crystalline. The Crystalline form is commonly known as crack or freebase and isn’t neutralized by acids. Cocaine is mostly found in the Andean Highlands of South America, but gets transported to the U.S. from Colombia. Cocaine is among the most dangerous leading and illegal drugs in America. (“Cocaine Facts and Figures”) * Sadly, there are many reasons as to why people in the U.S. use this drug. Sometimes people do it in hopes that their stressful situation would get better or easier, but in reality cocaine makes you feel more alone and isolated as well as most drugs. Other reasons that this drug is influenced (these facts are more related to teens) are when people think drugs will help them fit in, to look cool or rebellious, help with stress, boredom, and even to help improve performance. (“Why People Take Drugs”) * Now, as you may know, not only is the drug itself harmful, but the way to inject the drug into your body can be just as bad. Cocaine can be taken by snorting through the nose, injecting into your blood through a needle, or smoking to produce vapors. Although, cocaine can come in two forms, it’s known for people to snort or mix with water and inject it. Crack cocaine on the other hand is mostly just smoked. “Because Cocaine enters the bloodstream much faster when it’s smoked, smoking crack cocaine can bring users to a euphoric state twice as fast as when the drug is snorted. Since the onset of the drug is faster and more intense for users, the subsequent ‘crash’ after use is also more extreme for users of crack cocaine,” says Sean Connolly. Since, cocaine is the second most dangerous drug in the U.S. it is obviously very addictive and the users that need to take repeated amounts tend to want to keep creating the same high. Once cocaine is smoked, in the crack form, you’ll develop an addiction more easily and quickly. Also, the high from snorting cocaine will consist of a 15 to 30 minute time limit, whereas the high from smoking cocaine lasts only 5 to 10 minutes. (“Facts About Cocaine by Narconon”) (“41 Random Facts About Cocaine”) * One of the most important things most people don’t consider in taking cocaine would be the symptom that you could or will get. First, off here are some long-term effects they include: “getting strange scabs on your mucus membranes, damage to your septum (the thin wall that separates your left and right nostrils) and eventually make your nose collapse,” said an Anonymous personal. You could risk getting an addiction to the drug, but I’ll explain addiction later. Also the more crack you smoke the sooner your personality changes into someone ugly (aggressive, paranoid, and anxious). You know, the more cocaine you smoke can actually give you heart and brain problems? It’s true. The more you smoke can give you heart and brain problems that can kill you through cardiac arrest, seizures, or respiratory failure. Some more physical effects of Cocaine are constricted blood vessels, increased temperature, heart rate, and blood flow. Sometimes the drug users can feel greater alertness, energy, self-confidence, and even power after their dose. (41 Facts About Cocaine, Cocaine) * “ Cocaine produces it’s euphoric effect by activating the nerve cells in the brain that release dopamine, a chemical associated with pleasure and mental alertness. The drug then inhabits neural transporters from ‘mopping up’ the dopamine and storing it for a later time. The longer the dopamine stays active, the longer the sense of euphoria lasts,” says Jerome J. Platt. In some studies men tend to be prone to effects of cocaine quicker than women and