17 Facts About Cocaine That You May or May Not Know

1) In 2008, approximately 6% of high school seniors admitted to using cocaine at least once in their lifetime.

2) The effects of cocaine, both powered cocaine and crystallized, are short-lived which can lead to extensive use, including drug binges. The high from snorting powered cocaine typically lasts 15 to 30 minutes whereas the high from smoking crack cocaine lasts only 5 to 10 minutes.

3) Smoking crack actually allows the drug to reach the brain quicker than snorting, which explains why the high is much shorter. Studies show that because the high is shorter and crack reaches the brain quicker, crack cocaine is more addictive than powered cocaine.

4) The “high” produced from snorting or smoking cocaine includes sweating, rapid heart rate, and increased blood pressure. Risks include seizure and cardiac arrest.

5) People who smoke crack cocaine or snort cocaine have a propensity to become very anxious, paranoid, and aggressive once their high wears off, typically within two hours. Because of that, they tend to crave the drug to appease these feelings of uncertainty and fear.

6) Cocaine is the second most-used illicit drug in the United States. Nearly 2.1 million people in America currently use cocaine. Just over 700,000 people nationwide smoke crack cocaine.

7) Cocaine can also be found in a liquid form. Users will sometimes inject it for that immediate high. People who use intravenous drugs like cocaine are at a much higher risk of contracting diseases transmitted by blood and bodily fluids, including hepatitis and HIV.

8) As an amphetamine, cocaine is a dangerous drug. When mixed with alcohol or other drugs, it can be even more dangerous, and yes, even deadly. In fact, when alcohol and cocaine are mixed, it produces a substance in the liver called cocaethylene. Cocaethylene significantly increases the risk of sudden death more than cocaine alone.

9) Approximately 35.9 million Americans age 12 and older have tried cocaine at least once in their lifetime.

10) Cocaine is the most powerful stimulant found in nature.

11) World-famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud suggested that cocaine could be used to treat depression, alcoholism, and morphine addiction.

12) Crack cocaine first came onto the scene in the 1980s and became popular quickly because it was much cheaper and easier to come by than powered cocaine. It became a hit especially with young, poor, and working class people.

13) Cocaine use is highest among people ages 18 to 25

14) In the United States, approximately 400,000 babies are born to mothers addicted to cocaine. Conflicting studies suggest this may or may not automatically make the babies addicted to the drug. Some doctors feel babies can recover from it. Others aren’t so certain.

15) Cocaine overdose is the most common reason for drug-related emergency room visits, accounting for 31% of ER visits.

16) 10% of people who try cocaine, both crack cocaine and powered cocaine, will continue using it and eventually develop an addiction to the drug

17) One study reported that trace amounts of cocaine could be found on as many as four out of every five dollars in the United States.