RED RIBBON WEEK: COCAINE FACTS

DANGEROUS COMBINATION

Using more than one drug is common among substance abusers. When
people consume two or more psychoactive drugs together, such as
cocaine and alcohol, they compound the danger each drug poses and
unknowingly perform a complex chemical experiment within their bodies.
Researchers have found that the human liver combines cocaine and
alcohol to produce a third substance, cocaethylene, which intensifies
cocaine's euphoric effects. Cocaethylene is associated with a greater
risk of sudden death than cocaine alone.

HOW COCAINE AFFECTS THE BRAIN

Cocaine is a strong central nervous system stimulant that increases
levels of dopamine, a brain chemical (or neurotransmitter) associated
with pleasure and movement, in the brain's reward circuit. Certain
brain cells, or neurons, use dopamine to communicate.

Normally, dopamine is released by a neuron in response to a
pleasurable signal (e.g., the smell of good food), and then recycled
back into the cell that released it, thus shutting off the signal
between neurons. Cocaine acts by preventing the dopamine from being
recycled, causing excessive amounts of the neurotransmitter to build
up, amplifying the message to and response of the receiving neuron,
and ultimately disrupting normal communication. It is this excess of
dopamine that is responsible for cocaine's euphoric effects. With
repeated use, cocaine can cause long-term changes in the brain's
reward system and in other brain systems as well, which may eventually
lead to addiction. With repeated use, tolerance to the cocaine high
also often develops.

HOW COCAINE AFFECTS YOUR HEALTH

Abusing cocaine has a variety of adverse effects on the body. For
example, cocaine constricts blood vessels, dilates pupils, and
increases body temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure. It can
also cause headaches and gastrointestinal complications such as
abdominal pain and nausea. Because cocaine tends to decrease appetite,
chronic users can become malnourished as well.

Different methods of taking cocaine can produce different adverse
effects. Snorting cocaine, for example, can lead to loss of the sense
of smell, nosebleeds, problems with swallowing, hoarseness and a
chronically runny nose. Ingesting cocaine can cause severe bowel
gangrene as a result of reduced blood flow. Injecting cocaine can
bring about severe allergic reactions and increased risk for
contracting HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne diseases. Binge-patterned
cocaine use may lead to irritability, restlessness, and anxiety.
Cocaine abusers can also experience severe paranoia -- a temporary
state of full-blown paranoid psychosis -- in which they lose touch
with reality and experience auditory hallucinations.

Regardless of the route or frequency of use, cocaine abusers can
experience acute cardiovascular or cerebrovascular emergencies, such
as a heart attack or stroke, which may cause sudden death.
Cocaine-related deaths are often a result of cardiac arrest or seizure
followed by respiratory arrest.