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Cocaine is a popular highly potent and addictive central nervous system stimulant drug. It is produced by processing the leaves of the coca plant, which is indigenous to the Andean highlands of South America. The main ways in which cocaine is used as an illegal drug are snorting, injecting, and smoking. The most common is snorting, which consists of inhaling cocaine powder through the nose in order to absorb it into the bloodstream through the nasal tissues. Injecting is using a needle to release the drug directly into the bloodstream. Smoking involves inhaling cocaine vapor or smoke into the lungs, where it is absorbed into the bloodstream as quickly as when it is injected. Cocaine is distributed on the street in two main forms. One is cocaine hydrochloride, a white crystalline powder that can be snorted or dissolved in water and injected. The other is crack, which is the street name for cocaine that has been processed from cocaine hydrochloride into a ready-to-use form for smoking. Rather than requiring the more volatile method of processing cocaine using ether, crack cocaine is processed with ammonia or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and water and heated to remove the hydrochloride, thus producing chips or chunks that can be smoked. This term is derived from the crackling sound heard when the mixture is heated, presumably from the sodium bicarbonate. Cocaine came into use as a local anesthetic as well as for other medical uses during the latter part of the nineteenth century. However, it soon fell into disfavor as a result of the discovery of its long-term addictiveness and toxicity as well as the discovery of alternative, less toxic local anesthetics. There are a variety of severe health effects from cocaine, both short term and from long-term usage. For example, during the hour after cocaine has been used, the risk of having a heart attack risk rises more than twenty-fold. Also, the lifetime risk of heart attack from chronic users is about seven times that of non-users. Other effects from the chronic smoking of cocaine include chest pain, lung damage, shortness of breath, sore throat, hoarse voice and dyspnea (an aching, flu-like syndrome). Chronic inhaling of cocaine powder can degrade the cartilage separating the nostrils and even lead to its complete destruction. Cocaine can also cause involuntary tooth grinding, which can damage tooth enamel and thus result in cavities and gum damage. Cocaine may also greatly increase this risk of developing rare autoimmune or connective tissue diseases such as lupus, Goodpasture's disease, vasculitis and Stevens-Johnson syndrome. It can also cause a wide array of kidney problems. In addition, chronic, long-term cocaine use may cause brain damage, although there is still much that it is not known about both its physiological and psychological effects on the brain. Created October 25, 2006. |