Cocaine and amarillo
7% of teens in Amarillo report that they have tried cocaine. The average of first use in Amarillo is 13.4 years old. Cocaine is one of the most powerfully addictive of the drugs of abuse -- and it is a drug that can kill. No individual can predict whether he or she will become addicted or whether the next dose of cocaine will prove fatal.
The mixture of cocaine and alcohol is the most common two-drug combination that results in drug-related death.
Cocaine is generally sold on the street as a fine, white, crystalline powder, known as coke, C, snow, flake, or blow. Street dealers generally dilute it with such inert substances as cornstarch, talcum powder, and/or sugar, or with such active drugs as procaine (a chemically-related local anesthetic) or with such other stimulants as amphetamines.
Cocaine can be snorted through the nose, smoked, or injected. The drug can also be rubbed onto mucous tissues. Some users combine cocaine powder or crack with heroin in a speedball.
Freebase is a form of cocaine that is smoked and is extremely dangerous. It appears that compulsive cocaine use may develop even more rapidly if the substance is smoked rather than snorted.
The cocaine reaches the brain within seconds, resulting in a sudden and intense high. However, the euphoria quickly disappears, leaving the user with an enormous craving to freebase again and again. The user usually increases the dose and the frequency to satisfy this craving, resulting in addiction and physical debilitation.
Crack is the street name given to one form of freebase cocaine that comes in the form of small lumps or shavings. The term crack refers to the crackling sound made when the mixture is smoked (heated).
Smoking crack is very dangerous since it produces the same debilitating effects as freebasing cocaine. Crack has become a major problem in many American cities because it is inexpensive and easily transportable -- sold in small vials, folding paper, or tinfoil.
Effects of Cocaine on the body.
Cocaine's effects appear almost immediately after a single dose, and disappear within a few minutes or hours. Taken in small amounts (up to 100 mg), cocaine usually makes the user feel euphoric, energetic, talkative, and mentally alert, especially to the sensations of sight, sound, and touch. It can also temporarily decrease the need for food and sleep.
Short-term effects of cocaine include: increased energy, decreased appetite, mental alertness, increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, constricted blood vessels, increased temperature, and dilated pupils.
Long-term effects of cocaine include: addiction, irritability, mood disturbances, restlessness, paranoia, and auditory hallucinations.
Medical Consequences include:
Different routes of cocaine administration can produce different adverse effects. Regularly snorting cocaine, for example, can lead to loss of sense of smell, nosebleeds, problems with swallowing, hoarseness, and an overall irritation of the nasal septum, which can lead to a chronically inflamed, runny nose.
Ingested cocaine can cause severe bowel gangrene, due to reduced blood flow.
Persons who inject cocaine have puncture marks and tracks, most commonly in their forearms. Intravenous cocaine users may also experience an allergic reaction, either to the drug, or to some additive in street cocaine, which can result, in severe cases, in death.
Because cocaine has a tendency to decrease food intake, many chronic cocaine users lose their appetites and can experience significant weight loss and malnourishment.
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