Cocaine is a highly addictive drug, which can lead to major medical complications and health problems, some of which are long-term. The textbook “Drugs and Human Behavior” by Tibor Palfai and Henry Jankiewicz explains that the side effects of cocaine became apparent as popularity, dependence, potency and availability—in the form of crack—increased. While cocaine addiction side effects take their toll on the entire body, the central nervous system, nasal membranes and pregnancy are particularly affected.
Central Nervous System Disruptions
The National Institute on Drug Abuse states that cocaine users change the brain long-term as chronic drug use dwarfs the brain's pleasure receptors. This makes it difficult to feel pleasure or derive joy from any activities other than cocaine use.
Cocaine disrupts the central nervous system causing increased respiration and blood pressure, mania, restlessness and paranoid psychosis. Cocaine can stimulate the brain's emetic center causing vomiting, notes “Drugs and Human Behavior.” Additionally, NIDA notes more serious neurological side effects that can include strokes, seizures, headaches and even coma.
Cardiopulmonary Problems
Cardiopulmonary side effects are among the most common with cocaine use and include irregular heart rhythm, heart attacks and respiratory problems, notes NIDA. “Drugs and Human Behavior” explains that smoking the freebase can result in chronic chest congestion and permanent lung impairment. In rare instances, sudden death can occur on the first use of cocaine or unexpectedly thereafter; cocaine-related deaths are often a result of cardiac arrest or seizures followed by respiratory arrest.
Nasal Membrane Damage
When sniffed, cocaine can damage the nasal membranes by vasoconstriction, which lowers blood supply to the tissue, and can lead to swelling and tissue death over time, according to “Drugs and Human Behavior.” Sniffing cocaine also causes nasal tissues to dry out, crack and bleed. In the chronic cocaine sniffer, the nose becomes perpetually runny and the membrane is in a constant state of itchy inflammation with bleeding, notes “Drugs and Human Behavior.”
Pregnancy Problems
NIDA explains that many scientific studies have documented the effects of cocaine on pregnancy. Babies born to cocaine-addicted mothers may be premature, have a low birth weight, smaller head circumference and be shorter than babies born to mothers who do not abuse the drug. After birth, tremors, seizures, motor and brain function abnormalities are present in babies born to mother who abuse cocaine. These effects usually pass and resolve after about six months, notes “Drugs and Human Behavior.” There is ample evidence for risk of behavioral and developmental problems in children of cocaine-abusing mothers but, in general, cocaine does not appear to be a major cause of birth defects and infants are not normally born drug dependent, states “Drugs and Human Behavior.”
References
- "Drugs and Human Behavior"; Tibor Palfai and Henry Jankiewicz. 1997.
- The National Institute on Drug Abuse: Research Report on Cocaine
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