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Description: 
Cocaine C17H21NO4is a unique chemical in that
it is both a central nervous system stimulant and an anesthetic. It is
found in the leaves of the Erthroxylum coca plant that is native to the
mountains of South America. The traditional method of coca use is to
chew the leaves, producing a mild stimulation. Outside of South America
it is generally used in its more refined and extracted forms: powder
cocaine or freebase (chemically purified cocaine) and produces much
stronger effect than chewing the leaves. It is known on the street as
"the lady", "girl", "white",
"uptown" or "coke".Source: http://firehorse.com/addict/cocaine.html Background: As early as 3000 B.C., there is evidence of coca use in South America. The inhabitants believed that the coca plant was a gift from God. In the 15th century A.D. the Incas operated coca plantations in South America. In the 1800s coca tinctures were used in surgery and it was in the middle of that century that cocaine was first extracted from coca leaves. In 1886, Coca-Cola was introduced, containing cocaine and caffeine. Around the same time Parke, Davis began to manufacture cocaine. Soon thereafter, around the turn of the century, sniffing cocaine powder became popular. In 1914 cocaine was banned in the U.S. under the Harrison Act which controlled the sale of opium, opium derivatives and cocaine. Source: http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/cocaine/cocaine.shtml Usage: Cocaine can be used by sniffing or injecting the powder (dissolved in water) or by smoking a purified form ("freebase" or "crack") of the drug. Outside of South America, where cocaine is chewed and absorbed by the membranes of the mouth, stomach and intestines, cocaine is most frequently used in the form of powder. On the street, cocaine is sold by the gram and used in greatly varying amounts. This is due to a tolerance that builds very rapidly in regular users. A typical dose for sniffing cocaine is between 0.05 gram and 0.20 gram. For injection and smoking the dosage amounts can differ significantly. Source: http://firehorse.com/addict/cocaine.html Effects: Cocaine increases alertness, wakefulness, elevates the mood, induces a high degree of euphoria, decreases fatigue, improves thinking, increases concentration, increases energy, increased irritability, insomnia, restlessness. In large doses users often display symptoms of psychosis with confused and disorganized behavior, irritability, fear, paranoia, hallucinations, may become extremely antisocial and aggressive. It increases heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature, temperature, pulse, and respiration, decreased sleep and appetite, seizures, strokes, heart attacks, death. Dependency: Physical Dependence: Moderate Psychological Dependence: Severe Tolerance: Strong Cocaine is highly addictive substance, at least in the psychological sense. While the physical withdrawal is relatively short-term, the psychological cravings associated with withdrawal can last for months. Cocaine withdrawal symptoms include intense cravings for the drug, hunger, irritability, apathy, severe depression, paranoia, suicidal thoughts, loss of sex drive and insomnia or excessive sleep. Often, more cocaine is taken to reduce these effects. More than one user of cocaine has said that using the drug was more important than food, sex, friends, family, or jobs. Their main concern was how to ease the undesirable effects of being without the drug. Source: http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/cocaine/cocaine_effects.shtml Treatment: As noted above, cocaine is a highly addictive substance. Additionally, because of the nature of addiction, the newly recovering user is often in a somewhat depleted physical state. Because of this, the first step to treatment is usually a detoxification done in a hospital or medically supervised setting. After detoxification, residential treatment or twelve-step programs, such as the ones listed below are generally recommended.
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