What are the long-term effects of cocaine use?

Cocaine is a powerfully addictive drug. Once having tried cocaine, an individual may have difficulty predicting or controlling the extent to which he or she will continue to use the drug. Cocaine's stimulant and addictive effects are thought to be primarily a result of its ability to inhibit the reabsorption of dopamine by nerve cells. Dopamine is released as part of the brain's reward system, and is either directly or indirectly involved in the addictive properties of every major drug of abuse.

Long-term effects of cocaine abuse:

• Irritability
• Mood disturbances
• Restlessness
• Paranoia
• Auditory hallucinations

An appreciable tolerance to cocaine's high may develop, with many addicts reporting that they seek but fail to achieve as much pleasure as they did from their first experience. Some users will frequently increase their doses to intensify and prolong the euphoric effects. While tolerance to the high can occur, users can also become more sensitive (sensitization) to cocaine's anesthetic and convulsant effects, without increasing the dose taken. This increased sensitivity may explain some deaths occurring after apparently low doses of cocaine.

Use of cocaine in a binge, during which the drug is taken repeatedly and at increasingly high doses, leads to a state of increasing irritability, restlessness, and paranoia. This may result in a full-blown paranoid psychosis, in which the individual loses touch with reality and experiences auditory hallucinations.

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More About Cocaine:

• What is cocaine?
• What is the scope of cocaine use in the United States?
• How is cocaine used?
• How does cocaine produce its effects?
• What are the short-term effects of cocaine use?
• What are the long-term effects of cocaine use?
• What are the medical complications of cocaine abuse?
• Why would anyone become addicted to cocaine?
• Is cocaine addiction serious?
• Are there any other problems that can occur from crack or cocaine addiction?
• What is crack?
• History of Cocaine
• Cocaine's Role in American History
• Cocaine Addiction Index

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