Drug Index

Cocaine

Fine white crystalline powder often diluted with sugar, cornstarch, talcum powder or with substances which imitate its numbing effects, such as benzocaine. Can be sniffed, smoked or injected. As well as being sniffed through the nose, it can also be absorbed through other mucous membranes such as the mouth. "Crack" is a smokable, freebase form of cocaine which has become increasingly available in recent years. It is made by adding baking soda to a cocaine solution and allowing the mixture to dry.

Medical Uses

Derived from leaves of South American coca bush. Practice of sniffing cocaine began around turn of the century, when it was also consumed in the form of tonics and beverages. By 1911, cocaine was legally restricted in Canada. It is still used as a local anaesthetic for some surgery, but has been largely replaced by less toxic substances.

Short Term Effects

Effects resemble those of amphetamines with a shorter duration. The person feels euphoric, energetic, alert; has a rapid heart beat and breathing, dilated pupils, sweating, pallor, and decreased appetite. Largely doses can cause severe agitation, paranoid thinking, erratic or violent behaviour, tremors, twitching, hallucinations, headache, pain or pressure in the chest, nausea, blurred vision, fever, muscle spasms, convulsions and death. Impurities in street cocaine may produce a fatal allergic reaction. People may experience depression, extreme tiredness and stuffy nose as a "hangover" from cocaine. The use of "crack" produces immediate and very intense effects.

Long Term Effects

High-dose, chronic users, who alternate cocaine "binges" with crashes (periods of abstinence) may show mood swings, restlessness, extreme excitability, restlessness, sleep disorders, suspiciousness, hallucinations and delusions, eating disorders, weight loss, constipation and impotence. Characteristic signs of chronic cocaine sniffing are stuffiness and runny nose, chapped nostrils, perforation of nasal septum. Cocaine abuse is also associated with cardiac arrhythmias, myocardial infarctions, strokes, seizures and sudden deaths. People who inject cocaine are at risk for HIV and hepatitis.

Heavy use of cocain by pregnant women is associated with reduced fetal weight and an increased risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth and malformation. Newborns exposed to cocaine in the uterus may also experience abnormal sleep patterns, poor feeding and irritability for several days or weeks after birth

Tolerance and Dependance

Chronic use results in tolerance. Cocaine can produce very powerful psychological dependence leading to extremely compulsive patterns of use. In particular, the dependency-producing properties of cocaine are believed to be more powerful than any other psychoactive drug. Physical dependence may also develop. Withdrawal symptoms may include fatigue, long but disturbed sleep, strong hunger, irritability, depression, violence.

Legal Status

In Canada, Cocaine is governed by the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act applicable to Schedule I. Unlawful possession is a criminal offence punishable on indictment by imprisonment for up to seven years and on summary conviction for a first offence to a fine of up to $1,000 or imprisonment for up to six months, or both. A subsequent offence is punishable upon summary conviction by a fine of up to $2,000 or imprisonment for up to one year, or both. Trafficking, possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession for the purpose of exporting, production (cultivation of Erythroxylon coca), import and export are indictable offences punishable by up to life imprisonment.

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