The drug cocaine is considered one of the strongest stimulants: it lifts the mood, makes awake and powerful. And it is dangerous.
What is cocaine?
The drug affects neurotransmitter activity in the brain. Cocaine is extracted from the leaves of the coca bush (Erythroxylum coca). It thrives primarily on the Andean slopes of Colombia, Bolivia and Peru at altitudes of 600 to 1000 meters. The leaves contain about one percent of the alkaloid known as cocaine. Alkaloids are natural, nitrogen-containing compounds that usually react in a basic manner. Chemical processes are used to extract the alkaloid from the leaves and process it into coca paste and then cocaine hydrochloride. For the illegal drug market, this substance – which is colorless, odorless and has a bitter taste – is then mixed with extenders. Consumers buy it as a white powder that they snort through their nose, smoke, or inject into their veins.
Pharmacological action
How does cocaine work? The drug affects neurotransmitter activity in the brain. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that nerve cells use to contact other nerve cells at synapses and transmit signals. Put simply, cocaine increases the concentration of the neurotransmitters norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin (often referred to as “happiness hormones“) in the synaptic cleft. In addition, the breakdown of adrenaline slows down. The effect: heart, pulse and respiratory rates, blood sugar, body temperature and blood pressure rise, the pupils dilate, the normal sleep-wake rhythm is disturbed, and the sensation of pain is inhibited. The cocaine user feels wide awake, physically and mentally capable and persevering. Often he is euphoric, hyperactive and he tends to overestimate himself and to an uninhibited flow of speech. Sexual desire may also increase. The feeling of hunger, on the other hand, is suppressed, probably because of the high blood sugar levels. But even if the user eats as usual, he gains weight more slowly than usual – because the body’s metabolism is running at full speed, as it were. Finally, cocaine also has a narcotic effect. For example, if you put it on the tongue or on mucous membranes, numbness sets in very quickly.
Medical application and use
This numbing effect on mucous membranes has been used by medicine since 1884 century. Doctors used cocaine as a local anesthetic during operations – for example, on the eye, mouth or throat. This meant that general anesthesia with ether or chloroform, which is always associated with certain risks, could be dispensed with. Another positive side effect of cocaine is that it causes vasoconstriction, reducing the risk of bleeding during surgery. Cocaine was also prescribed for depression and mood disorders. At the beginning of the 20th century, the drug was freely available everywhere. During World War 1, an English company even developed cocaine in pill form. Tens of thousands of soldiers were supplied with it – to dampen fear and hunger, to enable them to march longer and to motivate them better. To this day, it is not known whether all the soldiers took the cocaine voluntarily or whether it was mixed into their food. The fact is that after the 1st World War there were many thousands of soldiers addicted to cocaine. The Treaty of Versailles then stipulated that the drug could only be used for scientific purposes. Cocaine is rarely used in medicine today, although it is still approved as a local anesthetic (especially for eye surgery). However, there are now many other anesthetics for which – unlike cocaine – there is no risk of addiction.
Risks, side effects, and dangers
For a regular cocaine user runs the risk of quickly becoming psychologically dependent. He has a strong craving for the drug. Other possible mental consequences of cocaine abuse: depression, concentration and drive disorders, paranoia, psychosis, personality changes and – specific to cocaine – the “dermatozoa delusion”, in which the addict has the feeling that insects are crawling around under his skin. Continuous use also has physical consequences. Often there are heart rhythm and vision disorders, liver damage, potency problems, sexual lack of interest, increased risk of stroke and cerebral hemorrhage.
