Cocaine Abuse

Smoking cocaine, known as freebasing, fuels cocaine abuse, often leading to cocaine addiction. Cravings brought on by cocaine abuse can lead to binges in which the drug is taken repeatedly at increasingly higher doses. Such bingeing, typical of cocaine addiction, is fueled by the user’s desire to maintain the initial high that results from cocaine abuse.

Signs of cocaine use include hyperactivity, increased mental agitation, a runny nose or nosebleed, rapid heart rate, and tremors. The intoxicating effects of cocaine appear almost immediately, then disappear within a few minutes to an hour. Crack cocaine abuse is a cheaper form of freebasing in which the drug is combined with baking soda and cooked into small white rocks. Street dealers often cut cocaine with adulterants like cornstarch.

Sources: National Institute on Drug Abuse, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration