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Cocaine |
Most cocaine available in South Africa is imported and sold in the form of cocaine hydrochloride powder. This is a white, odorless, substance, derived from the leaves of the cocoa plant, grown primarily in Central and South America. Cocaine powder is sold illegally on the streets at a fairly high price depending on the degree of purity. Pharmaceutical cocaine is available for medical use as a local anesthetic in nasal and eye surgery.
Pharmacological Actions
Cocaine is both a local anesthetic and a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant
Cocaine numbs and freezes by blocking the conduction of sensory impulses. When snorted, cocaine temporarily numbs the user’s nasal and throat passages. Dealers often add cheaper local anesthetics in order to reduce its purity while retaining the effect.
Cocaine acts directly on the dopamine receptors, sending such a jolt of pleasure to the user that it is well remembered - and why it is so highly addictive. Along with the pleasure, however, is causes:
- Increased heart rate,
- Blood pressure,
- Rapid breathing
- Elevated body temperature,
- Raises the blood sugar, and
- Dilation of the pupils.
These changes give the user a strong feeling of being more alert, energetic and confident.
However, these responses are similar to the body’s normal psychological response to threat and may provide explanation cocaine’s tendency to cause exaggerated feelings of anxiety and paranoia at higher doses and chronic use.
METHODS OF USE
Snorting Cocaine
Intra-nasal use or sniffing it up the nostrils is the most popular method of ingestion. Users believe that using it this way makes it safe, or recreational: relatively harmless. This is incorrect. Most cocaine addicts snort cocaine. Cocaine is usually sniffed into the nose by means of a straw or rolled up bank note. Occasionally a small spoon is used.
Once inhaled, cocaine is absorbed into the small blood vessels of the mucous membrane lining the nose. From there it ravels through the heart and lungs to the brain. It takes about five minutes or so before the user begins to feel the “high”. The concentration of cocaine in the blood peaks between 15 minutes to an hour after ingestion, while the high itself may last for 20 – 30 minutes.
The ritual involved in sniffing cocaine appears to play an important part in the addictive process. A recovering addict who sees cocaine paraphernalia or a pile of cocaine on TV may experience intense cravings and urges for the drug. Some use high currency notes, gold plated straws or spoons to glamorize their drug use.
Consequences of regular cocaine use:
The chemicals in cocaine and its additives can cause:
- Ulcerous sores in the membranes lining the nose,
- Nose-bleeds and in some cases
- Perforation of the nasal septum – a hole in the cartilage separating the nostrils.
- Rapid and/or irregular heartbeat (tachycardia, arrhythmia)
- Cardiac arrest (heart attack, ventricular fibrillation)
- Cerebral hemorrhage (stroke)
- Brain seizure (convulsion with loss of consciousness)
- Respiratory failure (suffocation)
- Hypothermia (heat stroke due to elevated body temperature)
- Psychiatric symptoms such as paranoia, depression and mood swings, cocaine psychosis, panic attacks, anxiety, violence and aggression
- Restlessness, unnatural excitement, over-confidence, hyperactivity
- Death due to overdose.
Complications from Cocaine used in pregnancy are:
- Premature separation from the placenta (spontaneous abortion)
- Neurobehavioral deficits in the fetus
- Malformation of the fetus
- Premature birth, stillbirth, and/or low birth weight.
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