What is cocaine?
Cocaine is a stimulant drug. They speed up messages travelling between the brain and body.
Cocaine comes from the leaves of the coca bush (Erythroxylum coca), native to South America. The leaf extract is processed to produce three different forms of cocaine:
- Coke hydrochloride: a fine white powder with a bitter, numbing taste. Coke hydrochloride is often mixed, or ‘cut’, with other substances such as lidocaine, talcum powder or sugar to dilute it before being sold.
- Freebase: a white powder that is purer than coke hydrochloride.
- Crack: crystals ranging from white or cream to transparent with a pink or yellow hue. It may contain impurities.
Other names
C, coke, crack, nose candy, snow, white lady, toot, Charlie, blow, white dust or stardust.
Cocaine hydrochloride is most commonly snorted. It can also be injected and rubbed into the gums.
Freebase and crack coke are usually smoked.
Indigenous people of South America have traditionally chewed the leaves of the coca bush for their stimulant and appetite suppressant effects.
Effects of cocaine
There is no safe level of drug use. Use of any drug always carries some risk. It’s important to be careful when taking any type of drug.
Coke affects everyone differently, based on:
- size, weight and health
- whether the person is used to taking it
- whether other drugs are taken around the same time
- the amount taken
- the strength of the drug (varies from batch to batch).
You may experience:
- happiness and confidence
- talking more
- feeling energetic and alert
- anxiety
- paranoia
- irritability and agitation
- headaches
- dizziness
- feeling physically strong and mentally sharp
- reduced appetite
- dry mouth
- enlarged (dilated) pupils
- higher blood pressure and faster heartbeat and breathing
- higher body temperature
- increased sex drive
- insomnia
- unpredictable, violent or aggressive behavior
- indifference to pain
Overdose
If you take a large amount or have a strong batch, you could overdose. Call an ambulance straight away by dialling triple zero (000) if you or someone else has any of these symptoms (ambulance officers don’t need to involve the police):
- nausea and vomiting
- extreme anxiety
- chest pain
- panic
- extreme agitation and paranoia
- hallucinations
- tremors
- breathing irregularities
- kidney failure
- seizures
- stroke
- heart problems.
High doses and frequent heavy use can also cause ‘coke psychosis’, characterized by paranoia, hallucinations, unusual thoughts and out of character/behavior. These symptoms usually disappear a few days or weeks after the person stops using cocaine.
Injecting cocaine can increase the risk of:
- overdose
- tetanus
- infection
- vein damage.
Sharing needles increases the risk of:
- hepatitis B
- hepatitis C
- HIV/AIDS.
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