Cocaine


Coca Leaf		From the plant calledErythroxylon coca, cocaine is a local anesthetic and centralnervous system stimulant. It can be taken by chewing on coca leaves,smoked, inhaled ("snorted") or injected.
Coca Plant

History of Cocaine

EarlySpanish explorers noticed how the native people of South America were ableto fight off fatigue by chewing on coca leaves. A medical account of thecoca plant was published in 1569. In 1860, Albert Neiman isolated cocainefrom the cocaleaf and described the anesthetic action of the drug when itwas put on his tongue. Angelo Mariani, in the early 1880's produced a"medicinal" wine, called Vin Mariani, that contained 11% alcohol and 6.5mg of cocaine in every ounce. The famous psychotherapist, Sigmund Freud,in 1884, recommended cocaine for a variety of illnesses and for alcoholand morphine addictions. Unfortunately, many of his patients went on tobecome addicted to cocaine! In 1886, John Pemberton developed Coca Cola,a drink that originally contained cocaine and caffeine. Cocainewas REMOVED from Coca Cola in 1906 (but it still has the caffeine). TheHarrisonNarcotic Act in 1914 made cocaine illegal. Finally, in 1985, crackcocaine was introduced and rapidly became a major drug problem.
CocaWine


Crack

Effects of Cocaine on the Nervous System

A dose of between 25 to 150 mg of cocaine is taken when it isinhaled. Within a fewseconds to a few minutes after it is taken, cocaine cancause:
  • a feeling of euphoria
  • excitement
  • reduced hunger
  • a feeling of strength
After this "high" which lastsabout 1 hour, users of cocaine then "crash" into a period of depression. This causes cocaine users to seek more cocaine to get out of thisdepression and results in addiction. Withdrawalfrom cocaine can cause the addict to feel depressed, anxious, andparanoid. Then the addict goesinto a period of exhaustion and they may sleep for a very long time.

Various doses of cocaine can also produce other neurological andbehavioral problems like:

  • dizziness
  • headache
  • movement problems
  • anxiety
  • insomnia
  • depression
  • hallucinations

Cocaine 
 
EmergencyRoom Visits due toCocaine and Heroin
 
Imagecourtesy ofthe Office of NationalDrug Control Policy
Death caused by too much cocaine (anoverdose) is not uncommon.  Cocaine can cause large increases in bloodpressure that may result in bleeding within the brain.  Constriction ofbrain blood vessels can also cause a stroke.  An overdose of cocaine cancause breathing and heart problems that couldresult in death.  This is what killed the University of Marylandbasketball player, Len Bias, in 1986. Comedian John Belushi also died froma cocaine/herion overdose in 1982. 
 Cocaine is highly "reinforcing":  when it is given to animals, they willgive it to themselves.  In fact, if animals are given the choice, theywill put up with electrical shocks and give up food and water if they canget cocaine.
Cocaine acts by blocking the reuptake of the neurotransmitters dopamine,norepinephrine and serotonin in the brain.  Therefore, theseneurotransmitters stay in the synaptic cleft for a longer time.  Researchhas also shown that cocaine can also cause the release of dopamine fromneurons in the brain.
Cocaine can also affect the peripheral nervous system. These effectsinclude constriction of blood vessels, dilation of the pupil and irregularheart beat.
  
The Brain on Cocaine
PET image
These two images of the brain are positronemission tomography(PET) scans of a normal person (picture on the left) and of a person oncocaine (picture on the right).  The PET scan shows brain function byseeing how the brain uses glucose, the energy source for neurons.  Inthese scans, the red color shows high use ofglucose, yellow shows mediumuse and blue shows the least use of glucose.Notice that many areas of thebrain of the cocaine user do not use glucose as effectively as the brainof the normal person.  This can be observed by the lower amounts of red inthe right PET scan.
Image courtesy of the National Institute on DrugAbuse; used withpermission. 
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 Take a shorton-line, interactive quiz about amphetamines, cocaine andmarijuana.
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 For more information on cocaine and cocaineabuse, see:
  1. ImagingStudies Illuminate Brain's Response To Cocaine
  2. Cocaine Abusefrom the National Institute on DrugAbuse. 
  3. Cocaine- from CESAR (a good resource)
  4. Cocaine - fromDrugSearch
  5. Cocaine - fromthe ADA
  6. Cocaine - fromthe Addiction Research Foundation
  7. Cocaine - fromtheNational Families in Action
  8. Addiction:Drugs and Your Brain - a Time/Cnn interview with a neuropharmacologist 
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