Cocaine Addiction
Posted by Nationwide Drug Intervetions Help | Filed under Nationwide Drug Interventions
The word cocaine is seen as synonymous to the word addiction. Cocaine gives the impression of negativity to people, either emotionally or ideally. This substance is known to be easily abused and thus, users eventually become addicted to it and the cycle goes on and on. Like any other drugs, cocaine addiction destroys one’s life. It changes anyone, his perspectives, his motives, perception, and behaviors.
The substance cocaine is a very potent substance. It came from the coca bush leaves. Cocaine consists of two primary forms. The first one is the. It is used for snorting up the nose. The second is freebase, better known as crack cocaine, used for smoking. A small percentage of cocaine addiction is done intravenously. When cocaine is snorted, the cocaine powder gets inhaled up into the nose where it is readily absorbed into the bloodstream. Once cocaine reaches the brain, dopamine gets released, stimulating pleasurable feelings. Crack cocaine, known as crack, is the name for the smokable form of cocaine. Crack is the street name given to the form of cocaine that has been processed into a smokable drug. Smoking crack cocaine sends large quantities of the drug to the lungs, producing an immediate and powerful euphoric feeling. The high is usually very intense, but does not last very long. The rocks of crack cocaine are ignited in a crack pipe and the following vapors get deeply inhaled.
A person abuses the use of cocaine when he takes in the drug for pleasure purposes and in inappropriate dosage. With frequent use, the person becomes tolerant with the drug and then becomes dependent with it. The person seemed to be craving for the drug every now and then. Cocaine addiction is characterized as constantly craving for the drug although the negative consequences of cocaine to the person’s body and mind. The physical signs of cocaine abuse can vary, depending on the person. For one, cocaine acts as an appetite suppressant so cocaine abusers often aren’t hungry and end up losing considerable amounts of weight.
Getting addicted to cocaine is like submitting yourself to be controlled by the drug. They would not be interested with normal activities of life because they only focus on obtaining and taking the drug. Thus, people around these addicts are affected because they interact every day. Cocaine addiction often involves not only habitual cocaine use but also a wide range of dysfunctional behaviors. This can frequently get in the way with normal functioning in the family, workplace and community. Cocaine addiction also can place people at increased risk for a wide variety of other illnesses. These illnesses can be brought on by the addiction type behaviors, such as poor living and health habits that often come with the lifestyle of an addict and the toxic effects of the cocaine itself.
Experts in the field of medicine is focusing their time on the certain drug that can cure cocaine addiction. The compound GBR 12909 was initially tested as a potential antidepressant. With GBR 12909, the patients’ cocaine-seeking behaviors were eliminated within a few hours without disturbing food-seeking behavior. Studies have shown that both GBR 12909 and cocaine slow down the action of a protein called the dopamine transporter. By reducing the transporter, both GBR 12909 and cocaine raise the levels of the pleasure-inducing chemical messenger dopamine outside the nerve cells, a process that increases and prolongs dopamine’s pleasurable effects. However, GBR 12909 acts more gradually and elevates dopamine levels less than does cocaine. By attaching to the dopamine transporter, GBR 12909 also blocks cocaine from binding there. GBR 12909’s chemical attractiveness for the transporter is 500 times that of cocaine, so it binds to the transporter and stays there for a long time. While it’s sitting on the transporter, cocaine has no access to the transporter, so the cocaine can no longer act to bring on euphoria. The therapy using GBR 12909 should be extended in order for the medication to have time to transport the dopamine transporter levels back to where they were before the patient started taking cocaine. The breakthrough in the discovery of GBR 12909 could be a gateway to help cocaine addiction victims in dealing with the problem they are so afraid to face.
When you find yourself or anyone in the condition of cocaine dependency, get medical help fast.
