What are the effects of cocaine, and how is it used?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Cocaine is a naturally occurring stimulant that is extracted from the leaves of the coca plant (Erythroxylon coca). The leaves of this western South American shrub have been chewed by Colombian, Bolivian, and Peruvian Indians since antiquity for religious, medicinal, and other reasons. Allegedly, the chewing of coca leaves has enabled the Indians to work in high altitudes and on inadequate diets. The chewing of the coca leaf, which continues to the present day, should not be confused with the use of the extracted drug, cocaine. Coca leaves contain only about 0.5%-1% cocaine; the cocaine contained within them is released more slowly, and the route of administration (oral) is different from that in most cocaine use.
Because reports of native coca use generated considerable interest in Europe, efforts were made in the nineteenth century to isolate the purified psychoactive ingredient in coca leaves. When success was achieved in the 1880s, cocaine's potential value as a tonic, its general stimulant properties, its possible value for specific ailments, and its local anesthetic properties were explored. Its use as an anesthetic was particularly important because it could be used in eye surgery, for which no previous drug had been suitable. Cocaine also constricted blood vessels and limited bleeding in an anesthetized area. This property made it valuable for surgery of the nose and throat, areas that are richly supplied with blood. Although many of cocaine's uses as a therapeutic drug have been abandoned, it continues to be used as a local anesthetic.
Illicit cocaine is sold as a white, translucent, crystalline powder, frequently adulterated to about half its volume. The most common adulterants are sugars (especially lactose and glucose) and local anesthetics (Lidocaine, Procaine, and Tetracaine) similar in appearance and taste to cocaine. Amphetamines, other drugs with stimulant properties, are also used. Given the high cost of cocaine, the temptation to adulterate at each level of sale is great. The combination of high price and the exotic properties attributed to it has contributed to cocaine's street reputation as the status drug.
Cocaine is most commonly inhaled, or snorted, through the nose. It is deposited on the mucous linings of the nose, from which it is readily absorbed into the bloodstream. Repeated use often results in irritation to the nostrils and nasal mucous membranes. Symptoms may resemble those of a common cold-that is, congestion or a runny nose. Users therefore often resort to cold remedies, such as nasal sprays, to relieve their chronic nasal congestion. They may be unable to breathe comfortably without habitually using a spray. A less common route of administration for cocaine is intravenous injection. The solution injected may be cocaine or a combination of heroin and cocaine. This route of administration carries the dangers of any intravenous use. Furthermore, intravenous injection introduces unknown quantities of cocaine or cocaine and heroin directly and suddenly into the bloodstream, leaving body organs wholly unprotected from the toxic effects of the drug. Cocaine deaths from intravenous injection are more numerous than from snorting, despite the greater prevalence of the latter method.