The Drug
Cocaine is a white powder processed from the leaves of the South American coca plant. But after suppliers have mixed it with other, similar looking powders, the user can't be sure what he or she is buying. These unidentified powders dilute and contaminate the drug and make it more unpredictable than it already is. Furthermore, they can have dangerous side effects and may themselves be fatal.
Crack
This smokable form of cocaine is made by heating a solution of powder cocaine, baking soda, and water. The flakes or "rocks" that remain after the cooking process can be transparent, beige, or dirty white. Like powder cocaine, crack contains impurities that increase its health risks and make it difficult for users to determine how much of the drug they're really ingesting.
How It Is Used
- 3 Minute
- Snorting: The most common way of using cocaine is by sniffing it into the nose. One popular technique is to form it into lines on a mirror and sniff it through a straw or rolled-up dollar bill. The drug takes effect within 3 minutes after snorting.
- 20 Second
- Shooting: A riskier technique is to dissolve cocaine in water and inject it by needle. This takes effect in about 20 seconds. Shooting puts impurities into the blood, and shared needles can spread infectious diseases, including hepatitis and AIDS.
- 10 Second
- Smoking: The fastest way to get cocaine to the brain is by smoking it in a freebase form such as crack or rock. This creates a very intense "high" in less than 10 seconds. Smoking cocaine can cause addiction in just weeks.
THE ROAD TO ADDICTION
Some people say they became addicted to cocaine the first time they used it. But, for most people, the road to addiction is made up of progressive stages of dependency, taking from a few weeks to a year or more. The journey begins with the user in control of the drug and ends with the drug in control of the user. When a person uses cocaine compulsively and can't stop, even though it is ruining health, family, or career, that person is addicted.
Experimentation
The person experiments with cocaine for fun, usually in social situations.
Situational Misuse
The user turns to cocaine for that extra kick to help with a challenging situation, such as staying up all night to meet a deadline.
Habitual Abuse
The user depends on the drug regularly to cope with normal events, such as getting through a day at the office.
Addiction
The addict "hits bottom." Without treatment, total dysfunction or death is likely.
The user loses control over his or her drug use and can't stop taking the drug despite the harm it is causing. The person chooses cocaine over virtually everything else in life.
A HARMFUL CHEMICAL DEPENDENCY
Cocaine is a powerful drug that overstimulates the central nervous system and produces an artificial euphoria. Even the occasional user takes dangerous chances, but chronic use can create a harmful dependency that affects behavior and multiplies health risks. To make matters worse, cocaine tricks people into feeling better than they are, making it possible for them to put on a "superhuman" exterior, while inside they may be suffering.
Immediate Effects
Cocaine triggers many of the same effects as adrenaline, including increased heartbeat, respiration, body temperature, and blood pressure. Within seconds or minutes (depending on method of use), users experience a rush of energy and well-being, which many rely on to help them cope with challenges. But the high from powder cocaine wears off in less than an hour, and crack's euphoric effects last only about 5 minutes. The user is left feeling agitated, depressed, and wanting more.
Effects of Chronic Use
Chronic use can produce cocaine dependency, behavior change, and weight loss. Cocaine also interferes with sleep, causing moodiness and irritability. To counteract these effects, many people compound the cocaine habit by abusing alcohol or other sedatives. Chemically, chronic cocaine use can lower the threshold for brain seizures and alter the brain's pleasure centers so that the user may need cocaine just to feel normal. Those who smoke crack can also suffer chronic sore throats and lung damage.
Risk to Life
Cocaine fatalities are on the rise, even among first-time users. The drug is known to cause toxic reactions, brain seizures, heart attacks, and cardiorespiratory collapse, leading to sudden death for some normal, healthy people. Users with heart conditions, epilepsy, or high blood pressure are especially at risk. Also, many chronic users develop multiple drug dependencies and severe mental disorders that can require psychiatric care. People who inject the drug risk getting infectious diseases, such as hepatitis, and needle sharing among users has become a major factor in spreading AIDS.
EFFECTS ON THE FAMILY
When cocaine controls someone in the family, life for that family can't be normal. Dependence on a drug makes users behave in ways that hurt the very people they are closest to. It dominates their thoughts and priorities, occupies their time, money, and attention, and threatens their values and behavior. The effects of these changes ripple through the family, often causing the nonusers to develop their own physical, psychological, and emotional problems as they struggle to adapt. In this way, the entire family falls under the controlling influence of the addiction
Suspicion and Insecurity
Chronic suspicion about the addict's behavior leads to frequent conflicts over his or her drug use. Money in particular becomes a problem for most families. Over time, family members begin to feel increasing insecurity because they never know what problems the addict's drug use might cause them next.
Isolation and Hurt
Because the addict is preoccupied with drug use, he or she often withdraws from participation in the family in order to spend time alone or with other drug users. This growing isolation can throw a chill into family relationships and deeply hurt the people the addict is closest to because they believe they are causing the isolation.
Fear and Guilt
Family members commonly feel fearful and guilty because the addict uses cocaine. They fear the possible consequences for the addict, as well as for the family as a whole. And to make matters worse, they often blame themselves for the addict's illness and start believing that the drug abuse must have been caused by some failure of their own.
Resentment and Disappointment
Because cocaine is such a high priority for the addict, family members may be forced to make many painful and unreasonable compromises. The joys of normal family living are sacrificed to a chemical dependency. As a result, family members feel resentful and disappointed that the drug has caused such deprivation.
UNDERSTAND FAMILY ROLES:
Enabling
In their desire to be loving, supportive, or helpfull family members and friends often unknowingly do things that actually contribute to the addict's drug use. This kind of behavior - making it easy or possible for the addict to use drugs - is known as enabling, and it takes a variety of forms. Some of the most common forms of enabling include: denying the existence or seriousness of the problem, taking over responsibilities that rightfully belong to the addict, rescuing the addict from troubles caused by his or her drug use, and reinforcing the addict's desire to use the drug.
Denying
When drug addiction strikes close to home, families often understandably grope for a reason to believe it's not so. They invent false explanations for the evidence or dismiss the drug use as being insignificant. This way they avoid seeing or accepting the painful truth that the drug use exists or is a problem, or that it is causing other problems they may be having. Unfortunately, denial prolongs the drug use and delays treatment
Taking Over Responsibilities
People close to a drug addict often find themselves taking over the addict's responsibilities and obligations. Sometimes they do this to cover for the addict during a bad time but often it's the only way to assure that important things will get done. In addition, family members and friends frequently act as caretakers; they attend to such fundamental tasks as waking the addict in time for work or school, and paying the addict's bills.
Rescuing
Most addicts have a circle of rescuers they can rely on to step in and save the day when things get rough. For instance, when the addict can't make it to work or is having financial difficulties, a spouse, sibling, or friend will come to the rescue by making excuses or lending money. The effect of these rescue missions is to shield the addict from having to deal with the problems caused by his or her drug abuse, making it that much easier to keep on using.
Reinforcing
There are many ways in which family members and friends can unintentionally reinforce an addict's drug use. Whenever they approve of cocaine use for special occasions, whenever they encourage performance or behavior for which the addict has come to rely on drugs, whenever they participate in social relationships that are based on cocaine sharing, the people close to the addict unknowingly give the addict the message that it's all right to use drugs.
UNDERSTAND FAMILY ROLES: WHAT YOU CAN DO
FREEING THE FAMILY
As long as the addict manipulates the feelings, thoughts, and actions of the entire family, the addiction is in control. But when family members get help in overcoming the disease, and change their behavior to stop enabling the addict's drug use, cut the bonds of addiction that are controlling the family.
Get Help
Reaching outside the family for help is the first step in breaking the hold of cocaine addiction. Family members need outside guidance and support and often benefit from therapy themselves. A professional therapist trained in drug and alcohol dependency can help family members understand how they are controlled by the addiction and how they can cut themselves free.
Stop Enabling
When family members stop enabling, they cut themselves loose from the controlling influence of the addiction, and they make it much more difficult for the addict to use drugs. This brings some normalcy back into the household and frees the family to take positive steps toward helping their addicted member into recovery.
FREEING THE ADDICT
The family can play a decisive role in initiating the recovery process for the cocaine addict. By intervening in the addiction cycle of drug abuse, and by helping the addict get help in overcoming his or her dependency, family members can get the addict to join them on the road to recovery.
Intervene
Intervention by the family can be a powerful technique for overcoming the cocaine addict's denial and resistance to treatment. With all members of the family present, each one tells the addict about specific instances when his or her cocaine use brought trouble and hurt. Intervention is a process that should be planned and carried out under the guidance of a professional intervention specialist.
Help The Addict Get Help
Just as the family members need help, so does the addict. But facing the realty of cocaine dependency and getting help for it can be a fearful proposition for an addict. That's why family support is critical. With all members of the family contributing to the effort, the addict, too, can cut free from the bonds of addiction.
Where To Get Help
People looking for help with a chemical dependency problem will find plenty available. Counseling, intervention, treatment, and support services are available from professionals and self-help groups. For professional help, look in the yellow pages under "drug abuse" or "alcoholism," or call your community mental health association. You can find local treatment centes by using Treatment center locator (For US). You can also get advice and referral by calling the national hotlines: (800) - COCAINE or (800) - 662-HELP.
To talk with others struggling with similar issues, you may search for peer support groups in you area. Read information on mutual support groups http://www.cocainehelp.org/mod-subjects-viewpage-pageid-61.html
THE ROAD TO RECOVERY
Those addicted to cocaine can recover by learning to reshape their lives without drugs. Family members can initiate this change by getting help for themselves and then intervening in the addict's drug abuse cycle. The recovery process begins with getting help. But with cocaine addiction, crack use especially, relapses may occur. The user usually will require long-term continued support to remain drug-free.
Getting help from a professional drug dependency counselor allows family members to learn ways to free themselves and the addict from cocaine addiction.
Intervention by family members (with professional assistance) gets the addict to join them on the road to recovery.
Professional evaluation reveals the addict's needs and provides course of action.
Professional treatment is available on either an inpatient or out-patient basis. Treatment may take place in either a hospital or treatment center and involves group or individual therapy.
Self-help and mutual support groups provide continued support to help addicts remain drug-free. These groups support the addict in making lifestyle changes, such as establishing new, drug-free friends and activities, necessary to maintaining abstinence. Read information on mutual support groups http://www.cocainehelp.org/mod-subjects-viewpage-pageid-61.html
Drug-free living is the goal of the recovery process, and any notion that the addict can become a controlled user has no basis. Nonetheless, cocaine addiction is a persistent and often relapsing illness and the temptation to make one more try at controlled use lurks everywhere along the road to recovery. This is why even after prolonged abstinence, the addict needs continued support to remain drug-free.
DRUG FREE LIVING:
Cocaine addiction is a disease that takes control of the entire family. But it is possible to cut free, and family members can take the initiative. By first getting help to free themselves, and then help to free the addict, family members can put the entire family on the road to recovery and into the world of drug-free living.
Reproduced from:
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