Danges of Cocaine
Cocaine Messes with the Brain!
All About Cocaine
Cocaine is a common stimulant on the street that people use to get "high." However, once started, it is difficult to quit and can cause strong addiction, negatively impacting not only the physical and mental health but also the social well-being.
Here are some statistics about cocaine:
- The highest rate of cocaine use happens with young adults, age 18-25.
- 25% of American adults age 26-34 have tried cocaine at least once during their lifetime.
- 5,000 people every day try cocaine for the first time.
- 75% of all people who try cocaine become addicted to the drug. Without help from cocaine addiction treatment or rehab, only 1 in 4 people quite cocaine on their own.
- Eight percent of all high school seniors reported using cocaine at least one during high school. This statistic is from 2006 and has remained consistent over 30 years when this information started being tracked.
How Cocaine Affects Us
The short-term effects of taking in cocaine into our body system include:
- increase in body temperature
- decreased need for food and sleep
- feeling euphoric, energetic, talkative, and mentally alert, especially to the sensations of sight, sound, and touch
- increase in heart rate and blood pressure
- Constricted blood vessels
- Dilated pupils
The long-term effects are more severe and harder to treat:
- increased tolerance
- more sensitive to cocaine's anxiety-producing, convulsant, and other toxic effects
- increased irritability, restlessness, panic attacks, and paranoia—even a full-blown psychosis
- Loss of sense of smell
- Significant weight loss and malnourishment
- Death
How Cocaine Affects Others
Cocaine not only harms your body but also the well-being of those around you:
- Social withdrawal, which may lead to loss of career, distance from family members, and chronic depression
- Threat of violence (both verbal and physical abuse)
- Decrease in tax money available for public uses other than arresting the cocaine users or implementation of rehabilitation program
- Violation of the law and serving of jail sentence
- Mental and emotional scars to those around
- Increased chance of getting divorced and abandoning the care of children
The Dangers of Cocaine - health project