What Are The Long Term Effects Of Cocaine Addiction?

Drug addiction has been the most plaguing problems of the world. The number of the drug addicts is increasing day by day, instead of decreasing. Many rehabilitation centres have opened up to cater to the problem, but the numbers have still been increasing.

One of the most widely used drugs by the addicts is cocaine. Cocaine is commonly known as crack, coke and many other street names. By the end of the last decade, only in the United States of America, the number of addicts was around 1.5 million. This number has greatly increased over the last ten years.

Initially, cocaine was used for the medical use. It was used as anaesthesia during surgeries. But now, it has been rated as schedule 2 drug, which means that it is has great a level of abusive use. For medical purposes, however, its use is still allowed.

Like any other drug, the main function of cocaine is to stimulate the brain, and give feelings of euphoria. The user very quickly forgets the pain or fatigue, and feels energised. Many people, mostly teens, use it for a little fun, but slowly it becomes a habit, and eventually they end up being drug addicts.

People may not be aware of the physical damages that the use of cocaine causes, apart from being a nuisance to the society. Cocaine directly affects the brain. So, it causes damage to all the activities that are being performed by the brain, and that definitely means every activity, as brain controls all the systems of the body.

The short term physical affects that cocaine may cause include decrease in appetite, an increase in the heart rate and blood pressure and constriction of the blood vessels. It may even cause poisonous reaction, if an overdose is taken.

If a pregnant woman uses cocaine, it can affect the newborn baby in many ways. The birth defects in babies are most of the times due to drug addiction of the mother. The long-term physical damages of cocaine are very scary. Paranoia is a mental illness, which is very common in cocaine addicts. Weight loss is another commonly seen physical symptom in cocaine addicts. Similarly, insomnia is very widespread in the users. The blood vessels constrict with the use of cocaine, and it can lead to strokes, or heart attacks. Heart attack is very frequent in addicts, because by using it, the blood pressure reaches at alarming level. As cocaine is also used by injecting method, the exchange of needles among addicts can also cause AIDS.

Medical research tells us that the use of cocaine can decrease the level of specific protein named PSD-95.

Therefore, a cocaine user may lose his/her memory, or spoil his/her learning capability.