BODY & MIND
Club Drugs: Effects, Risks, and Addiction
Club Drug Quick Links
Crystal Methamphetamine
Ecstasy
GHB
Ketamine
Poppers
Cocaine
Heroin
Crystal Methamphetamine
Ecstasy
GHB
Ketamine
Poppers
Cocaine
Heroin
| FEATURED CLUB DRUG: COCAINE | |
| Street Name: Coke, blow, snow, C, toot, dust (happy, gold, heaven, etc.) | |
| What It Is: Cocaine is a stimulant manufactured from coca leaves—after marijuana, it's the most popular illegal drug in the U.S. It is usually sold on the street as a white powder in little gram baggies, and it is often cut with powdery fillers such as baking soda, sugars (lactose or dextrose), other stimulants like crystal meth, or local anesthetics that mimic cocaine's numbing effect. | |
| What It Does: Like crystal meth, cocaine triggers the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is central to the brain’s reward system and experience of pleasure (and addiction). It also acts as a mild local anesthetic. | |
| Dose: Powdered cocaine is usually spread out on a mirror or other flat, hard surface, divided into rows ("bumps", "lines," or "rails," and then inhaled (“snorted”). A single line is considered a dose. | |
| Duration: The effects peak after 15 minutes and last for about an hour. Being both fast- and short-acting, cocaine tolerance develops rapidly, with more lines needed to produce the same effect. Some users “freebase”—smoking crack, the reprocessed base form of cocaine, which offers an immediate, intense, but very brief high. | |
| Effects: Feelings of euphoria, energy, and enhanced desire; hyperactivity, restlessness, and increased heart rate and blood pressure. | |
| Risks: In the short term, the after-effects include depression and anxiety resulting from the depletion of the body’s dopamine supply. Chronic use can cause a wide range of physical and mental health problems—from cardiovascular effects, including disturbances in heart rhythm and heart attacks; to respiratory effects such as chest pain; to neurological effects, including strokes, seizures, and headaches. While overdose is rare, the mixture of cocaine and alcohol is the most common two-drug combination that results in drug-related death. An injected combo of cocaine and heroin, known as a “speedball,” is particularly dangerous, since the opposite effects of the drugs mask the symptoms of an overdose. | |
| Addiction: Because cocaine’s effects are so fast to hit and so quick to end, re-dosing can lead first to bingeing and finally to addiction. As with crystal meth, getting and staying clean can be especially tough because of the “crash” after a binge—prolonged overstimulation of dopamine yields a slow-to-lift depressive mood. Treatment to kick cocaine usually involves cognitive-behavioral and other psychotherapies combined with medication for depression, especially Effexor. Narcotics Anonymous, a 12-step program, has helped many former users stay clean. Three drugs, modafinil for narcolepsy, GVG for epilepsy, and the dopamine inhibitor Vanoxerine, are being studied to treat cocaine addiction. | |
