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Cocaine Cocaine is highly addictive stimulant of natural origin, which directly affects brains of a human. This drug can be produced from a special extract of the leaves of coca plants, which are growing in the highlands of South America. Cocaine is one of the most harmful, but, at the same time, one the most usable drugs in the world because of its strong psychological and psychical effects, and also because of the thrill of danger, associated with its producing, distribution and usage. In the USA keeping, selling and using cocaine is illegal.
Nevertheless, cocaine dealers are distributing it on the streets of all major metropolitan areas of our country as white sugar-like powder, which has jargon names coke, snow, blow or flake. There are also other forms of this drug, like freebasing and crack: powders processed from cocaine hydrochloride for a free base and adopted for smocking. Official sources report that there is a wide range of prices for cocaine in different places. In New York the price for 1 gram of cocaine powder varies from 25 to 35 USD and in Detroit the same amount of powder costs from 75 to 150 USD. Average price for 1 gram of cocaine powder is 100 USD, at the same time the price for a crack of cocaine (approximately 0. 1 - 0. 2 gram) changes from 2 to 40 USD. Usage of cocaine brings sudden and powerful rises of activeness, emotional euphoria and feelings of anxiety, but after some time these feelings decrease and calm down.
Using further equal doses of cocaine lowers the effect, thats why people always have tendency to increase the doses to receive better effects. Within the time human organism falls into dependence on cocaine presence in the blood and a person becomes addicted to this drug. There are several most common methods to take cocaine. Most users prefer to inject a dose or a mixture of various drugs, because it allows reaching the fastest and the deepest euphoric effects. This way of administration is very popular, but it is connected with incredible danger of receiving HIV/AIDS or viral hepatitis, in case if one injector is being used by a number of different cocaine users. Some people chose to smoke cocaine: they insert a dose or a mixture into a little pipe made of glass, with or without filter.
Also it is possible to make cocaine inhalations: as nasal membranes can absorb into the bloodstream up to 80 % of cocaine powder, such inhalations are also very effective in terms of quick and deep effects. Finally, some users administer this drug by chewing or drinking special teas from its leaves, but this way is old-fashioned and one of the least effective. As a rule, the effects of cocaine are quick. After taking a dose of this drug, a person may feel first effects in five-ten minutes. The duration of the effects depend on individuals biochemical particularities and on the dose which was taken. If body absorbs the drug faster, it makes the effects more intensive, but it also shortens their duration.
Generally, cocaine effects are short termed and long termed. The syndromes of short termed effects are the following: a person becomes extremely energetic and talkative, becomes very sensible for light, touch and sound, displays increase of body temperature and blood pressure, and feels decreasing of appetite. Big doses of cocaine, like more than three-four hundred milligrams, may cause huge irritability and anxiety, hyperactivity and feeling of emotional euphoria, accompanied with terrible headaches, muscle spasms and tremor. Such doses may evoke attacks of weird and violent behavior, anger, aggression, etc. The main long term effect of cocaine use is addiction. An individual, who has started taking cocaine, after having some doses begins feeling dependence on the drug and stops controlling own activity, until he does not receive another dose.
The other long term effects include insomnia, hallucinations, depression, and mental disturbances. In some cases using of cocaine may result in paranoid psychosis or sudden death from heart attack or brain bleeding, like it has happened to famous comedian, cocaine addicted John Belushi, who died in 1982. There are also some groups of possible consequences from cocaine addiction. Being a powerful stimulant of central nervous system, cocaine affects, first of all, on psychological and neurological condition: it may cause strokes, aches and twinges. Besides, using cocaine may bring to disorders of cardiovascular system in forms of extreme jumps of pressure, tachycardia, increased hart rate, and further more developed forms. In addition, those, who smoke cocaine, can seriously harm respiratory system, receiving pain in lungs or their malfunction.
Finally, using cocaine frequently results in problems with gastrointestinal system, which include different forms of nausea and abdominal pains. Cocaine causes extensive processes of metabolism, especially in liver, and mostly cocaine is evacuated from the body in form of benzoylecgonine during one or two days after taking a dose. It is extremely dangerous to combine cocaine with alcohol: in such case a composition of cocaine and ethanol called coca ethylene will be produced in users liver, which considerably increases euphoric effect of the drug, but, at the same time, it is extremely toxic and may cause lethal damages to the whole organism. It is very difficult to stop taking cocaine, especially for those, who became addicted. But there are some medical and psychological ways of treatment, which are used in our country to help people to get free from this terrible dependence.
A number of behavioral treatments and therapies were found out, which are classified now as residential and outpatient approaches. They include different types of cognitive-behavioral methods, general idea of which is stimulation and rewarding of staying cocaine free. In addition, recently some new medicines, like topiramate and modafinil, are being tested by NIDA specialists as cocaine treatment medications. In the USA using, selling or possessing cocaine is banned by national legislation since 1914 by the Harrison Act, which prohibited all non-medical usage of this drug. In the year 2003 the Drug Reinforcement Administration arrested about 10. 5 thousand people, connected with cocaine distribution or usage. Besides, cocaine-related activity caused 12. 5 thousands of Federal drug arrests in the year 2002.
Usually cocaine is being delivered from the South America. 75 % of different types of cocaine, recently available in the United States, are produced in Columbia, Peru or Bolivia. Statistic shows that about 65 % of whole cocaine consignments enter our country through USA/Mexico border. That is why the Southwest border is primary target for American police forces in fighting with cocaine smugglers. Therefore, in the year 2003 U. S. Federal security, custom service, border patrol and police agencies confiscated about 245. 5 pounds of cocaine in different forms.
This activity is being carried out under the Federal Drug Seizure System (FDSS), which provides all the interested with relevant regulations and information. Teenagers are under the biggest danger of getting involved into cocaine using and becoming addicted. It is very important for young people to know the laws, to be informed about damaging effects of this drug and understand the risks of using and possessing it. Fortunately, latest statistic demonstrates decrease of cocaine using among teenagers: more than 97 % of American school children have never used this drug. Cocaine has more than 100 years of history, and recently using it grows slightly more popular among adult American citizens.
The survey of National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows that approximately 3. 5 million Americans above 12 years tried cocaine at least once in their life, and there are about 1. 5 million of heavily addicted users of cocaine in our country. This problem requires a lot of attention and immediate help to those, who are killing themselves for a dangerous dose of euphoria and emotional rise. Bibliography: Agarwal, P. , Souvik, S. (2004, October 26). Cocaine. E-Medicine. Retrieved May 02, 2005 from < web Cocaine. (2005, January 12).
Drug Facts. Office of National Drug Control Policy. Retrieved May 02, 2005 from < web >. Cocaine. (2005, April 30). Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.
Retrieved May 02, 2005 from < web >. Cocaine. (n. d. ). University of Washington.
Retrieved May 02, 2005 from < web >. Cocaine Abuse and Addiction. (n. d. ). Focus Adolescent Services.
Retrieved May 02, 2005 from < web >. Cocaine: the Basics. (n. d. ). The Good Drugs Guide. Retrieved May 02, 2005 from < web >. Cocaine: Tips for Teens. (n.
d. ). Alcohol and Drug Information. U. S. Department of Health and Human Services and Samshas National Clearinghouse. Retrieved May 02, 2005 from < web >.
Lloyd, J. (2000, March 7). Cocaine. Office of National Drug Control Policy. Drug Policy Information Clearinghouse.
Retrieved May 02, 2005 from < web >. NIDA Info facts: Crack and Cocaine. (2005, March). National Institute of Drug Abuse. Retrieved May 02, 2005 from < web >. Smith, R. (1994, January 13).
Cocaine. Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuser. Missouri Department of Mental Health. Retrieved May 02, 2005 from < web >.
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