Cocaine and Crack-Cocaine--Effects of Cocaine Use
It is profoundly unwise to
take crack-cocaine. The brain has evolved a truly vicious set of negative
feedback mechanisms. Their functional effect is to stop us from being really
happy for long. The initial short-lived euphoria of a reinforcer as powerful as
crack will be followed by a "crash". This involves anxiety, depression,
irritability, extreme fatigue and possibly paranoia. Physical health may
deteriorate. An intense craving for more cocaine develops. In heavy users,
stereotyped compulsive and repetitive patterns of behaviour may occur. So may
tactile hallucinations of insects crawling underneath the skin ("formication").
Severe depressive conditions may follow; agitated delirium; and also a syndrome
sometimes known as toxic paranoid psychosis.
The social consequences of
heavy cocaine use can be equally unpleasant. Users are likely eventually to
alienate family and friends. They tend to become isolated and suspicious. Most
of their money and time is spent thinking about how to get more of the drug. The
compulsion may become utterly obsessive. The illusion of free-will is likely to
disappear. During a "mission", essentially a 3-4 day crack-binge, users may
consume up to 50 rocks a day. Whereas "empathogens" such as ecstasy - which
trigger the release of far more serotonin than dopamine - will typically promote
empathy, trust, compassionate love and sociability, mainly dopaminergic drugs,
if taken on their own and to excess, can easily have the reverse effect.
Simplistically, cocaine tends to be a "selfish" drug.
If you have questions
whether you or a loved one has a problem with drug use or alcohol use or if
you believe you or a loved one may be an addict please click here.
Contact Us