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WHAT IS COCAINE?
Cocaine comes from the leaves of the South American Coca plant. It is refined using solvents like gasoline, ether, acetone (fingernail polish remover!) and kerosene. By the time a user gets it, it is a white powder which may be somewhat chunky, "Crack" cocaine looks like small, white pebbles.
Cocaine is a stimulant. That means that it increases the level of most things that go on it your body. It raises your blood pressure. It increases your heartbeat.
Most important to users, it raises your mood. Most people feel energetic, happy, and confident that they can handle anything and everything that life can throw their way. Worried about something? Not after you use Cocaine. No sweat. Nothings’s a problem (except of course where to get more coke).
Q. How do Cocaine addicts budget?
A: They plan to win the Lottery.
One reason Cocaine is so dangerous is that just about everyone who tries it likes it. Many people don’t like how they feel using alcohol or marijuana or PCP and don’t use them again. But most folks who try cocaine like it very much indeed. So just ‘trying out’ Cocaine can make you a repeat user very quickly.
HOW IS COCAINE USED?
Cocaine can be snorted up the nose. It is chopped fine with a razor blade, usually on a hard surface like a mirror. Then a tube or straw is stuck up one nostril and the user inhales the "lines" that were laid out on the mirror.
The coke sticks in the mucous in the nose, where it dissolves and is absorbed through the very thin skin into the blood vessels. The blood carries it to the brain and the person gets high.
Since you get higher the faster a drug gets to your brain, some people inject Cocaine directly into a blood vessel using a syringe. Many people don’t like giving themselves a shot, but until recently shorting or shooting were their only choices.
Then someone discovered how to change the chemistry of Cocaine so that it could be SMOKED. Smokeable Cocaine feels as strong or stronger than injected Cocaine and is known as Freebase or Crack Cocaine.
Cocaine is more addictive than other drugs. This is because it wears off so fast. Someone who uses it may feel wonderful – full of energy, confident, excited, sexy – for about half an hour. Then the feeling wears off and you are dropped on your butt.
Naturally, if you have more you will take it again. And again. With "Crack," the feelings wear off even faster (in ten or fifteen minutes) so you take it even more often.
Compare this to other drugs. If you get drunk, you’re drunk for an evening. If you smoke marijuana, you’re stoned for hours. But if you use Cocaine before going to a party, you won’t even get there before you need more. This is why people who mess with Cocaine get into trouble so fast.
WHAT ARE THE DANGERS?
Overdose and death are always possible, especially with Crack Cocaine. Getting busted can lead to a record that will follow you for a long time – and penalties for Cocaine-related offenses are getting harsher all the time.
The mental and social effects are even worse. Chronic users become emotionally unstable and paranoid. They can think people are after them or even have hallucinations. They live on an emotional roller coaster – sometimes on tolp of the world, other times feeling suicidal. Their relationships with spouses, children and everyone else are terrible. It’s a miserable life and one that only gets worse.
It’s not unusual for cocaine users to run into serious problems and decide they need to quit. This is extremely hard to do. Newly straight people aren’t used to living without coke. They don’t know how to socialize straight, relax straight, or handle emotions straight. They can’t hang around their old friends and they don’t know anyone else to be with. It’s not unusual for them to complain after a few weeks that "I feel worse now than I did when I was using" and go back to Cocaine.
SO HOW DOES ANYONE EVER RECOVER?
The answer is that they don’t do it alone. Most people who stay straight are those who hook up with groups of other recovering users. There they can share what works and what doesn’t, help each other over the early rough spots, and support each other’s sobriety. In the words of one recovery program, "The lie is dead. We DO recover!" But we all need help to do it.
If you or someone you know is in trouble with Cocaine or any other drug, there’s plenty of free assistance available.
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