Author: Gary Jackson

What are the long-term effects of cocaine use? National Institute on Drug Abuse NIDA

Patient confidentiality laws prevent them from sharing this information with law enforcement. Injecting it carries the highest risk of bloodborne infections, but you can also contract infections by smoking and snorting coke. This means you need more of a substance to get the same effect you once did. Healthline does not endorse the use of any illegal substances, and we recognize abstaining from them is always the safest approach.

  • Hailey Shafir is a licensed addiction specialist and mental health counselor.
  • Along with the physical risks, cocaine use can affect your life in other ways.
  • People who abuse substances often take more than one drug at the same time.
  • These unpleasant effects often make you want to use the drug again.
  • Abuse of cocaine use also increases the risk of infectious disease transmission.

Abuse of cocaine use also increases the risk of infectious disease transmission. It’s important to remember addiction is a chronic disease. It’s not a sign of weakness, bad judgement or other personal characteristics. The best way to support someone coping with addiction is to encourage them to find help.

Cognitive functions

This makes you compulsively crave or use substances like cocaine. Short-term cocaine use can increase the risk of stroke, seizures, headaches, and coma. A person may also suddenly behave in a violent and erratic way. Using cocaine can cause changes to the brain, such as in the reward system, resulting in a buildup of dopamine and making it difficult for someone to stop using the substance.

The 2021 (U.S.) National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) concludes 4.8 million people age 12 and older used cocaine in 2020. In comparison, the same survey results show 52.8 million people age 12 and older used marijuana and 1.1 million people used heroin. Many people start to build a tolerance after their first use of cocaine. A typical dose of snorted cocaine is between 30 and 70 milligrams.

Health Effects of Cocaine

It’s also important to remember cocaine use often has a ripple effect, putting stress and strain on relationships. If that’s your situation, consider participating in a support group. While cocaine and crack cocaine highs are brief, the drug may stay in your system for up to three days. Counseling and other types of therapy are the most common treatments for cocaine use disorder. Sessions with a trained therapist can help you make changes to your behaviors and thought processes. You may need to stay in a rehabilitation center (also known as rehab) for intensive therapy and support.

Smoking crack can damage your lungs and worsen asthma symptoms. If you inject it, you could develop tracks (puncture marks on your arms) and infections, such as HIV or hepatitis C. Research indicates that cocaine use can significantly increase the risk of a heart attack or stroke. Cocaine has a number of short-term and long-term health effects, including elevated body temperature, high blood pressure, anxiety, and psychosis. Prolonged use of cocaine may interfere with this natural process, resulting in a buildup of dopamine that can make the drug seem even more desirable. However, 2020 research on monkeys suggests that another neurotransmitter called glutamate may also play a role in the reward system and addiction.

What are the Risks of Snorting Cocaine?

A doctor can recommend treatment to help a person stop taking cocaine, including behavioral therapy and motivational incentives. Substance use disorder (SUD) is a mental health condition that can affect the brain and alter a person’s behavior. This means they may find it difficult to manage their use of cocaine and may experience addiction in the most severe cases of SUD. If a person uses cocaine repeatedly and at increasingly higher doses, they may start to feel increasingly irritable and restless.

  • Regular usage, even without overdosing, increases the risk of negative health consequences.
  • This can lead to a negative mood when you don’t take the drug.
  • Most deaths that are attributed to cocaine usage come from a seizure or heart attack.
  • Sessions with a trained therapist can help you make changes to your behaviors and thought processes.
  • The rate was highest in the age group (1.2 million people or 3.5%), followed by those over age 26 (3.6 million or 1.6%).
  • A person should contact a doctor if they are using cocaine to discuss the health effects of the substance and support to help stop using it.
  • The combo leads to the production of a metabolite called cocaethylene, which is considerably stronger than cocaine or alcohol alone.

People with cocaine use disorder may benefit from community-based programs. Researchers are evaluating drug treatments that help people stop using cocaine. Combining cocaine with alcohol and other substances also increases the risk of addiction. Hailey Shafir is a licensed addiction specialist and mental health counselor. She is passionate about using this knowledge to raise awareness, provide clear and accurate information, and to improve the quality of treatment for these disorders. If a person uses cocaine, they may develop substance use disorder.