Cocaine is basically a term used to describe an extract obtained from coca plant. It is usually classified as a drug as it is used as a stimulant and also used to suppress ones appetite. It is an addictive drug which has been ban in almost every country unless it is being handled by medicinal practitioners or the government.There are many ways in which cocaine is administered into the body. One of the major administrations used by its abusers is smoking the cracked cocaine. This is the most hazardous form of using cocaine because by smoking it, it directly enters the brain. People who try cocaine for the first time using this method have a high chance of being immediate addicts as compared to the others. The name is derived from the cracking sound produced when it is heated.
Crack cocaine use is dated back to as early as 1970's when this method was devised.Today,crack cocaine is widely in use because it is relative cheap to produce as compared to powdered one. This therefore poses a challenge to the entire world since it is likely that innocent persons will easily be lured into its use.
Before we take a look on how is crack cocaine used? We first need to know the tools and equipments used. Cocaine paraphernalia include a razor blade, a scaling paper, a soda cane and cracking pipes and a cigarette lighter or any source of heat. Most of these paraphernalia are used for producing crack cocaine to make it ready for smoking. An aluminum foil can be used as a substitute of a spoon. It can be used to hold the crack cocaine that is being heated. The empty beverage can is used as an ash tray.
Using crack cocaine is a simple technique that any person can learn in just a single trial. After the original cocaine powder has been processed to crack cocaine, it is ready for use. Crack cocaine is usually yellow in color and compact. As a single compact stone, it is crushed into small fine powder weighing fractions of a single gram. Once crashed, a small gram of crack cocaine is put in a spoon or an aluminum foil. Heat is applied below the spoon or foil so as to burn the crack cocaine. After some seconds, the heated cocaine will start to emit smoke. This is the smoke that is then inhaled. The cocaine user will then point a pipe towards the smoke and start to inhale it. In extreme situations some addicts will mix it with other dangerous drugs like heroin and bhang. In so doing, they increase the effects of the drugs in their body.
A cocaine addict is at risk of experiencing various bodily phenomenons. A person who has induced cocaine into his/her body will alter the operation of the brain. Dopamine is a chemical element found in the brain that is directly linked to pleasure and once momentum. Cocaine use affects the rate at which the brain interacts with this chemical. This occurrence leads to an abrupt change in ones pleasure evident in form of euphoria feelings. Symptoms of a cocaine user include increased blood pressure, constricted blood vessels and relaxed and enlarged pupils. These events will normally last for approximately thirty (30) minutes. The aftermath of this is that different victims will experience different situations. The most common effect being feeling of restlessness. Others become even more anxious than when under the drug effects.
How can one be salvaged from this addiction menace? Once an addict decides to quit it, he/she will have to cope with the withdrawal symptoms. Increased withdrawals symptoms is much evident within people who abused it over a prolong period of time. The symptoms include a continuous craving, anxiety, a feeling of irritation and many more other feelings. At this point, one is required to undergo a treatment.
Once one has admitted to its use and he/she is ready to undergo treatment, a non drug treatment method can be used to restore that person to a drug free lifestyle. For example, an addict may be booked for a counseling session that will be preceded over by professional guidance and counseling team. This will be a routine endeavor that will take place over a period of time until when the addict fully accept to reform. Although still in research, there are high hopes that addicts can participate in physical exercise as a substitute of drug abuse. This is so because initial results have shown that people who are undergoing addiction treatment and participate in exercise have positive results. This is mainly due to the fact that after joining these activities they tend to reduce cravings for the associated drugs.
Cocaine abuse is a global problem that needs everyone's intervention so as to fully kick it out of this world.