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Cocaine
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Description
Cocaine comes from the leaves of the tropical coca plant. It's a double acting-drug: a powerful stimulant that speeds up your central nervous system, and an anaesthetic that numbs whatever tissue it touches, such as the inside of your nose.
- Cocaine is usually sold as a white crystalline powder that is inhaled ('snorted') from spoons or through straws. It can also be injected and, in some forms, smoked.
- Freebase and crack are both smoke-able forms of cocaine. Freebase gives an intense high that lasts 2 to 5 minutes, which quickly fades into a restless desire for more of the drug.
- Crack - rock-like chunks of impure freebase - also jolts the body with a short rush of energy.
- Liquid cocaine (injection) is surfacing in Trinidad and Tobago
Harmful Effects
For some occasional users, and for those who use it frequently, cocaine use can lead to serious health problems eg:
- damage to heart tissue and rapid heartbeat, can cause heart failure and sudden death even though the user may otherwise be healthy.
- a cocaine-triggered rise in blood pressure can explode weakened blood vessels in the brain, causing a stroke. It is easy to overdose on crack, freebase, or injected cocaine - even on small amounts of the drug. The user can die from convulsions, heart failure, or the depressions of vital brain centres that control breathing. Cocaine use can damage the entire breathing system.
- as with other stimulant drugs, heavy or long term use can cause the body to burn itself out. Insomnia, weight loss, and malnutrition are among the first signs of a serious problem.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Copyright ©
• National Alcohol & Drug Abuse Prevention
Programme
Trinidad and Tobago • Caribbean