Cocaine
-Snorting (powder cocaine)
-Chewing (coca plant)
-Inhaling (smoking of crack)
-Injecting
I-Cocaine
beta-cocaine
benzoylmethyl-ecgonine
Molecular Weight: 303.36
Melting Point: 90 degrees celsius
Boiling Point: 187 degrees celsius
The most common way in which a user gets cocaine into their system is to snort it. When this is done, the drug is slowly absorbed into the bloodstream through the mucus membranes of the nasal and sinus cavaties. Once in the bloodstream, the cocaine must still travel through the body until it reaches the "pleasure center" of the brain. This way of using cocaine results in a much slower effect and a smaller dose than with others (i.e. crack).
Injecting cocaine inserts the drug directly into the bloodstream and has the same rapid effects as crack cocaine. Some users combine heroin with cocaine to create a drug called "speedball" for a synergistic effect.
Users commonly describe a "high" that peaks in about 10-20 minutes after consumption.
The active chemical that causes the "high" cocaine users experience. This brain chemical carries messages between brain cells and controls the body's feelings of pleasure.
Drugs that cause the dopamine level in the brain to increare, will cause the user to become depressed when they are no longer effected, resulting in cravings for more and an easy addiction.
Cocaine hydrochloride (regular, powder cocaine) has more direct and immediate access to the brain when compared to other drugs that are abused. The drug itself, combined with it's rapid entry pace causes a disruption of the chemicals that regulate mood, pleasure and survival drive.
The effects of cocaine usually occur immediately after consumption and can last anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, depending on how it is used. Snorting cocaine produces a slow onset of effects that can last from 15-30 minutes, while the effects of smoking cocaine (crack) can last from 5-10 minutes but produce a more intense high. Cocaine produces euphoric effects or a "high" by increasing dopamine in the brain, causing the continuous stimulation of neurons, making this drug psychoactive.
Users often feel excessively happy, energetic, talkative, and mentally alert even after ingesting cocaine in small amounts. It can temporarily suppress or lessen a user's need for food or sleep, often causing restlessness and extreme weight loss. Short-term effects physiological effects include constricted blood vessels, dilated pupils and increased temperature, heart rate and blood pressure. Large amounts of cocaine can intensify the high, but can result in bizarre, erratic and violent behavior. Users who ingest large doses of cocaine may also experience tremors, vertigo, muscle twitches and paranoia. Other possible effects of cocaine use include irritability, anxiety, or the feeling that bugs are crawling under the skin ("coke bugs").
Cocaine can be processed by a system called "freebasing", essentially draining the base of the powder to create a more pure form. This is done by adding sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) or ammonia to the cocaine and appyling heat. The end result is what users call freebase cocaine, or "crack". This form of cocaine can be up to 90% pure and 5-6 times stronger than regular powder cocaine. Crack looks like tiny white, gray or beige rocks and can be sold on average of $5-$10 for two small usages.
Crack can be broken up and put into a pipe or rolled like a cigarette and then smoked. The cocaine enters the bloodsteam through the lungs and then travels to the heart via the pulmonary vein. Once it reaches the heart, it enters the carotid artery and flows into the "pleasure center" of the brain. An entire dose of crack cocaine can travel this path in less than 5 seconds. It is because of this high speed in which the drug reaches the brain and before it reaches the liver that presents the problem. The enzymes responsible for protecting the body and brain from foreign toxins such as this are unable to work that rapidly, giving the user an instantaneous high with a very addictive effect. Crack can cause lung damage; heart attack; stroke; respiratory problems including congestion, sneezing and spitting up of black phlegm; burning of the lips, tongue and throat; weight loss; and generally poor health.
THIS kind--->
Cocaine is the world's most poweful stimulant to come from nature. South American indians have been using cocaine by chewing it from the Erythroxylon Coca plant for social, medicinal, mystical and religious purposes for at least 5000 years. Coca can be harvested four times a year and traditionally, chewing the sacred leaf of the harvest promotes contact with the spiritual world.
Cocaine is an alkaloid found in the shrub Erythroxylon coca and is a very powerful psychostimulant.
-More than 33 million Americans age 12 or older said they'd used cocaine at least once in their liftetime.
-More than 8 million Americans age 12 or older said they'd used crack at least once in their lifetime.