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    Get Smart About Cocaine and Crack
    Get Smart About Cocaine and Crack
    Get Smart About Cocaine and Crack
    Ebook87 pages48 minutes

    Get Smart About Cocaine and Crack

    By Publishing Hazelden

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Learn the basic facts behind cocaine and crack, including their history and changing legal status, medical uses, signs of abuse and dependence, treatment options, prevention tools for parents, and much more.In a relatively short period, cocaine went from a low-level stimulant used by indigenous South Americans to a high-powered narcotic that’s affected nearly every major city. In this Hazelden Quick Guide, expert resources and information come together in an engaging and accessible e-book short. Topics include:• What cocaine is, where it comes from, and how crack cocaine developed• The history of cocaine and crack’s use and abuse• Changing cultural, social, and legal factors• Definitions of normal use, abuse, and dependence, with information on prevention and advice for parents• How cocaine works, including its legitimate medical uses, and what makes it so prone to abuse and dependence• Intervention and effective treatment methods• Relapse prevention tools for recovering dependents and addicts
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHazelden Publishing
    Release dateJul 1, 2014
    ISBN9781616495657
    Get Smart About Cocaine and Crack

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      Book preview

      Get Smart About Cocaine and Crack - Publishing Hazelden

      Cocaine and Crack: An Introduction

      Eventually my nose clogged up. I couldn’t breathe through it, so I couldn’t snort coke through it. When my nose shut down, I didn’t know what to do. At first I tried eating cocaine, but that made my throat really numb and it was really hard to breathe. That was kind of scary. Then my nose started bleeding, and that wasn’t a good sign. Then I tried ice picks and vacuum cleaners as creative ways to open my nose. One day I sat and picked and blew hard for a long time because I couldn’t breathe. I looked in my hand and there was this wad of pus and blood; I looked a little more and there was skin and bone—it was a chunk of my septum, that little part that divides your nostrils. Amazingly, I could breathe after that. So right away I put more cocaine in my nose.¹

      That person’s words may sound crazy, or like a horrific scene from a movie. But that person is real, and there are countless such stories. Cocaine is a powerfully addictive stimulant that, with long-term use, can create drug dependency and truly bizarre behaviors. That’s an amazing thing, given that the drug is derived from a small shrub that grows in the highlands of South America and was once used as a natural medicine and low-powered stimulant.

      Cocaine today comes in two basic forms:

      Cocaine—a white powder that can be inhaled or dissolved in water and injected.

      Crack—a form of cocaine that has been processed to make a hard rock that can be smoked. The vapor delivers a rapid, short-acting high that is quickly dependence forming.

      At one time, indigenous people chewed the leaves of the coca plant. They used it as a mild stimulant to help cope with altitude. Today, those leaves have become an $88 billion criminal cash crop, consumed by seventeen million people worldwide.²

      Cocaine is an excellent example of how a drug migrates from a relatively mild, useful, and natural plant-based medicine used by ancient civilizations to a processed medical product, to a powerfully addictive black market boom for organized crime.

      In this booklet, you will learn about

      the history of cocaine and its development as a major criminal industry

      what it looks like, how it is used, what it does to the body, and what it does to the brain

      what cocaine abuse and dependence look like, and how drug dependence occurs

      treatment options for cocaine-dependent people

      advice for parents who wish to prevent children from trying cocaine

      signs of cocaine and crack use, and what to do if you suspect a loved one is using

      In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association released the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). This manual is used by behavioral health professionals, such as psychiatrists and psychologists, as a guide to diagnose people with substance use and mental health disorders. In the latest edition, the terminology used for addiction disorders has changed. Instead of separating such problems into categories such as substance abuse, chemical dependency, or addiction, the manual now uses one term—substance use disorder—to include the full range of problematic drug use. To be officially diagnosed with an addiction to cocaine, then, someone would be classified as having a stimulant use disorder (when cocaine, amphetamines, or other stimulants are problematic). The diagnostic manual includes a list of criteria to help health care professionals determine whether a person has a mild, moderate, or severe form of the disorder.

      In this book, we have continued to use the terms abuse, dependence, and addiction as a convenience to readers, since these are the terms most commonly understood by the general public.

      From Natural Medicine to Big Business

      Cocaine is a member of the class of drugs called stimulants. The stimulants in general are known for many benefits, including their ability to increase

      alertness

      awareness of surroundings

      attention

      wakefulness

      endurance

      productivity

      motivation

      Under the influence of stimulants, people feel more energetic and powerful. Some feel a sense of confidence and even superiority. They may feel increased happiness or euphoria. They don’t feel the need for sleep, and they don’t feel the need to eat as much. Due to these effects, the drugs have been given to soldiers to heighten alertness, stave off sleep, and bolster morale in preparation for battle.

      Stimulants include such well-known drugs as

      Benzedrine, a brand name for amphetamine, which was used to treat asthma, depression, and obesity.

      Adderall, which contains the stimulant dextroamphetamine, and Ritalin, which contains the stimulant methylphenidate. These are used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy (a sleep disorder in which people are excessively drowsy during the day).

      caffeine, the world’s most widely used psychoactive drug, known for its quick-pick-me-up qualities and, among some users, an ability to enhance

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