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Other names include coke, Charlie, toot, sniff, snow
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- Cocaine is a powerful but short-lasting stimulant that comes from
the coca plant which is found mainly in Columbia, Bolivia, Peru and
Ecuador.
- The native South Americans, and particularly the Andean Indians, have
sucked on the leaf of the coca plant for thousands of years. The leaves
are said to contain virtually all the vitamins that are needed; help
with breathing when working in the mountains; help with digestion; have
aphrodisiac qualities and actors, singers and public speakers used to
drink coca wine to relieve tired throats.
- The use of the leaves, however, is very different to the use of the
powder that is becoming more and more popular.
- Coca was one of the original ingredients of Coca-Cola and was used
in a large number of medicines and tonics during the 1800's. Arthur
Conan Doyle's story book detective, Sherlock Holmes, was given a cocaine
habit. Cocaine use in Britain was rare until quite recently, though
controls were put on it during the First World War as there were fears,
albeit false, of a cocaine epidemic amongst British troops. It wasn't
until the mid-1970's and the rise of the rock music star that cocaine
became a fashion amongst the rich and famous, though the 1990's was
the time of the real increase in cocaine use.
- The powder is cocaine hydrochloride, an odourless, bitter tasting,
white, crystally powder which is the end result of a number of chemical
processes. When it's sold on the street, the powder is about 40% pure,
the rest is largely glucose.
- Cocaine is usually "snorted" - sucked up the nose through a straw
- after the small crystals have been chopped up into a fine powder.
It can also be smoked as crack cocaine or "freebase" cocaine or injected.
- Cocaine costs around £40-50 a gram which will give a new or occasional
user about 6-8 "lines" or doses.
- Cocaine can, however, be so pleasurable that some people use significant
amounts over a short period of time, even one evening, and, therefore,
spend lots of money on it.
- It has become very popular on the club scene and with young people
who no longer see it as the drug of the "champagne set". It's use, though,
is still rare amongst under 16 year olds.
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The effects from snorting cocaine come on after about
5-10 minutes, reach their peak after about 30 minutes and wear off after
an hour or so and can be split into two - the psychological and the physical
effects.
- Psychological - there is a very rapid feeling of excitement and happiness
followed by feelings of confidence, sexual potency, mental strength,
alertness and control. And this is the pull of cocaine. These characteristics
are naturally rare in most people and yet people are told they should
both have them and are constantly striving to experience them through
personal development courses, therapy, self-help groups and the like.
Cocaine gives them to you, lets you taste and enjoy them and then takes
them off you leaving you with the knowledge that you can have them again
as long as you've got the money. And for some people this is painfully
tempting. The more that is used, however, the more likely a person is
to experience the opposite - confusion, paranoia, impotency and fatigue.
- Physical - cocaine is a stimulant and, as such, there is a dryness
of the mouth, an increase in heart-rate and blood pressure and sweating
as the body temperature rises. There may be some irritation in the nostril.
As cocaine is very effective as a local anaesthetic, and as the user
feels so good, these symptoms are often overlooked.
- Debt - cocaine use can be very expensive in both the long- and short-term.
In the short-term, the "moreishness" of cocaine can mean that
some people will spend what money they've got on it at the expense of
other things. If the cocaine is being "laid on" (bought on
a pay-later, credit-like basis) significant debts can grow which, because
the drug' business is illegal, can result in serious consequences for
the debtor.
- Health - cocaine can be risky for people who suffer from high blood
pressure, heart disease, thyroid gland problems, epilepsy, breathing
and chest problems (particularly if the cocaine's being smoked), liver
damage and any muscular disease. Regular cocaine users may also be prone
to diarrhoea, weight loss, paranoia and erratic heart beats.
- Social - whilst cocaine can help a person to feel more sociable, continued
use can bring on intense selfishness and the focus of any social gathering
can become the cocaine.
- Pregnancy - although it is difficult to give any clear detail about
the effect of any drug during pregnancy, the fact that cocaine can bring
on high blood pressure and irregular heart beats can be problematic
to the mother during late pregnancy. Cocaine, along with other drug
and lifestyle factors, can increase the risk of premature birth.
Cocaine is a Class A drug.
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