Addiction Treatment , Alcohol Rehab and Drug Addiction Library and Programs - ADDICTION TREATMENT LIBRARY
Cocaine, Crack, Cocaine Abuse, Cocaine Addiction
Cocaine, the most potent stimulant of natural origin, is extracted from the leaves of the coca plant (Erythroxylon). It was originally used in South America in the mid-19th century by natives of the region to relieve fatigue. Pure cocaine (cocaine hydrochloride) was first used as a local anesthetic for surgeries in the 1880s and was the main stimulant drug used in tonics and elixirs for treatment of various illnesses in the early 1900s. Crack, the freebase form of cocaine, derives its name from the crackling sound made when heating the sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) or ammonia used during production. Crack became popular in the mid-1980s because of its immediate high and its inexpensive production cost.
Cocaine most often appears as a white crystal like powder or an off-white chunky material. Powder cocaine is commonly diluted or "cut" with other substances such as lactose, inositol, or mannitol to increase the amount of the substance and increase the profits associated with the sales of the drug. Powder cocaine is usually snorted or dissolved in water and injected. Crack, or "rock", is most often smoked. Over the last ten years, crack cocaine has become increasingly popular resulting in an even greater cocaine addiction problem.
It is not often one finds a person suffering from cocaine abuse for long. Cocaine abuse becomes cocaine addiction almost overnight. When a person moves from cocaine abuse to cocaine addiction they will almost surely experience an increase in the frequency of cocaine use and the amount cocaine used.
Effects of Cocaine, Crack, Cocaine Abuse and Cocaine Addiction
The effects of cocaine or crack cocaine normally occur immediately after ingestion and can last from a few minutes to a few hours. The duration of the cocaine's effects depends on how it is ingested. Snorting cocaine produces a slow onset of effects that can last from 15 to 30 minutes, while the effects of smoking crack cocaine last from 5 to 10 minutes and produce a more intense high. Because of the intensity of the "high" associated with smoking crack cocaine, many cocaine users have become addicted to crack cocaine. Cocaine produces euphoric effects by building up dopamine in the brain, causing the continuous stimulation of neurons.
Cocaine users often feel euphoric, energetic, talkative, and mentally alert after taking small amounts of cocaine. Cocaine use can also temporarily lessen a user's need for food or sleep. Short-term physiological effects of cocaine abuse include constricted blood vessels, dilated pupils, and increased temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure. Ingesting large amounts of cocaine can intensify the user's high, but can also lead to bizarre, erratic, and violent behavior. Users who ingest large amounts may experience tremors, vertigo, muscle twitches, and paranoia. Other possible effects of cocaine use include irritability, anxiety, and restlessness.
Cocaine is a powerfully addictive drug. A tolerance is often developed when a user, seeking to achieve the initial pleasure received from first use, increases the dosage to intensify and prolong the euphoric effects. Unfortunately, the effects experienced with the initial use of cocaine, is rarely ever captured again although the addict continues to chase it.
Consequences of Cocaine, Crack Cocaine, Cocaine Abuse and Cocaine Addiction
Cocaine abuse can lead to medical complications such as cardiovascular problems (disturbances in heart rhythm, heart attacks), respiratory failure, neurological effects (strokes, seizure, and headaches), and gastrointestinal complications such as abdominal pain and nausea. Cocaine abuse has been linked to heart disease, has been found to trigger ventricular fibrillation (chaotic heart rhythms), can accelerate a user's heart beat and breathing, and can increase a user's blood pressure and body temperature. Additional physical symptoms of cocaine abuse include blurred vision, fever, muscle spasms, convulsions, and coma. In rare instances, sudden death can occur on the first use of cocaine or unexpectedly thereafter. Cocaine-related deaths are often a result of cardiac arrest or seizures followed by respiratory arrest.
Other medical complications are related to the method of ingestion. For example, users who snort cocaine may lose their sense of smell, have nose bleeds, have problems swallowing, and have an overall irritation of their nasal septum that leads to a chronic runny nose or eventual surgery.
Combined alcohol and cocaine abuse converts in the body to coca-ethylene and causes a longer duration of effects in the brain that is more toxic than each drug used alone. This mixture results in more drug-related deaths than any other combination of drugs. If you are experiencing an addiction to cocaine and alcohol, please seek help in a residential addiction treatment program with a cocaine detox program.
Although the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure are not completely understood, research has shown that such afflicted babies are often born prematurely and have low birth weights. Originally thought to suffer irreversible neurological damage, "crack cocaine babies" now appear to recover from the exposure to cocaine. This is not to underestimate the subtle effects cocaine abuse can have on these babies as they continue to age such as lack of concentration, emotional struggles or even an increased curiosity relating to the drug later on in years.
The Cocaine Detox Program and Cocaine Addiction Treatment Program
The American Medical Association recognizes that cocaine addiction is a disease that is progressive, chronic and if left untreated, fatal. As such, cocaine addiction should be treated in a cocaine addiction treatment program capable of providing cocaine detox program services. Although cocaine is not physically addicting, it certainly carries a psychological dependency that is challenging enough to require an inpatient cocaine detox program. An inpatient cocaine detox program should be located within the cocaine addiction treatment program and be capable of providing 24 hour medical care and support. The intense cravings that accompany withdrawal from cocaine addiction or crack cocaine addiction can be so compelling; the most effective way to address a person’s cocaine addiction is within a cocaine detox program. Please realize that a cocaine detox program is not a cocaine addiction treatment program. The cocaine detox program provides for medical and psychiatric stabilization, but is only the initial step in the treatment of cocaine addiction. Aside from medical stabilization, the other main focus of a cocaine detox program is to determine the person’s need for an ongoing cocaine addiction treatment program. Research has determined that very few people who complete a cocaine detox program and choose not to go on to a residential cocaine addiction treatment program maintain their recovery.
The goal of a cocaine addiction treatment program is to support the gains made in the cocaine detox program, while continuing to help the person develop a solid foundation upon which their future recovery is to be built. The addiction treatment program should be residential in nature, license by the state in which it resides and be accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
Every cocaine addiction treatment program should have as a minimum an addiction treatment program staff which is licensed and credentialed and addiction treatment services such as; dual diagnosis treatment program, medication management class, relapse prevention program, family recovery program, group and individual therapy and aftercare.
There are as many addiction treatment program as there are addiction treatment program philosophies. Take the time to match the addiction treatment program services with the needs of the person looking for the addiction treatment program. If you are having trouble deciding on which addiction treatment program is best, please allow us to help. As we said earlier, a cocaine detox program and a cocaine addiction treatment program must work hand in hand to provide a continuum of care that will result in recovery from cocaine addiction.
