“I have no need for cocaine, it leads to a life full of pain.”
AKA
Blow, bump, C, candy, Charlie, coke, snow
WHAT IS IT?
Powder cocaine is a hydrochloride salt derived from the processed leaves of the coca plant. “Crack” is a type of processed cocaine that is formed into a rock-like crystal.
THE RISKS
You may hear that it will keep you wired and ready to party all night. What you may not hear is that even the first time you snort it or smoke it, your blood vessels constrict immediately. This increases your heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature. At first, this may make you sweaty and shaky, but seizures, cardiac arrest and even death are the real gamble you take when you use this drug.
LONG-TERM EFFECTS
Because it’s so highly addictive, it’s easy to get hooked, and the long-term effects can get really ugly. Prolonged cocaine snorting can cause scabs to form on your mucus membranes, damage your nasal septum (the thin wall that separates your left and right nostrils) and eventually make your nose collapse. Smoking cocaine or crack lets the drug reach your brain quickly, and the risk of addiction appears to be higher the faster the drug reaches the brain. Smoke a lot of crack, and you can quickly become a new person—one who’s aggressive, paranoid and anxious.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Using cocaine or crack-even only once—is dangerous, and the more you use, the worse the effects are on your brain and heart. Continued use can make you depressed, agitated and manic. Cocaine-related deaths are often caused by cardiac arrest or seizures, followed by respiratory failure (meaning, you stop breathing).
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