Risks Of Taking Cocaine
There are many serious risks with taking cocaine. Here’s what it could do to you.
- Crack and cocaine users have died from overdoses. High doses can raise the body's temperature, cause convulsions and heart failure. Risk of overdosing increases if crack is mixed with other drugs or alcohol.
- Over time, snorting cocaine will seriously damage the cartilage in your nose that separates the nostrils; and it is not unknown for heavy users to lose their cartilage and end up with just one really big nostril and a misshapen nose.
- Cocaine is highly risky for anybody with high blood pressure or a heart condition. Even perfectly healthy, young people can have a fit or heart attack after taking too much.
- Using cocaine a lot makes people feel depressed and run down. It can lead to serious problems with anxiety, paranoia and panic attacks.
- Cocaine can bring previous mental health problems to the surface. If a relative has had mental health problems, there might be an increased risk for you.
- Taking cocaine when you're pregnant can damage your baby. It may cause miscarriage, premature labour and low birth weight.
- Regularly smoking crack can cause breathing problems and pains in the chest.
- Frequent users find they begin to crave more – so it can become an expensive habit to keep.
- Injecting drugs can damage veins and cause ulcers and gangrene. Sharing needles or other injecting equipment can spread HIV and hepatitis infections.
- It's easier to overdose if you’re injecting cocaine.
- Heavy crack users may take heroin to try to dull their cravings, so they may get hooked on heroin as well.
- ‘Speedballing’, injecting a mixture of cocaine and heroin, can have fatal results.
Cocaine and alcohol
Using cocaine with alcohol (or other drugs) can substantially increase risk of side-effects. Alcohol and cocaine together can be particularly dangerous, as they mix together in the body to produce a toxic chemical, called cocaethylene.
What is cocaine and crack cut with?
Recent police seizures of powder cocaine had an average purity of just 15%. A wrap of cocaine powder can be cut with many things, such as sugar or starch.
The purity of crack depends on the purity of the cocaine used originally to produce the crack. However, recent police seizures had an average purity of 23%.
Can you get addicted to cocaine?
Coke is very addictive and it can be difficult to resist the craving for more. This powerful craving can develop because cocaine can change the way your brain works.
Although the powerful psychological dependence that can easily develop is more of a problem than the physical withdrawal symptoms, people who stop using can experience low moods and feel very rough, and this can also tempt them to take more coke.
The Have I Got A Problem website is a free online resource to help people better understand any issues or concerns they may have about mental health or addiction. The website includes resources specifically focused to; general Mental Health, Depression, Stress, Anxiety, Insecurities, Self-harm Schizophrenia, Bipolar, Anger Management, Eating Disorders, Coping, general Addiction, Alcohol, Smoking, Gambling, Drugs, Cocaine, Heroin, Marijuana (Cannabis) Ecstasy, PCP, Mephedrone, Ketamine & Crystal Meth.
The site was created to give the public information to help them understand mental health and addiction issues and to assist people in making better informed decisions about their life and personal choices.
www.haveigotaproblem.com was created and is run by 'Advising Communities’, which is a UK registered charity (Charity No. 1061055)
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