What is cocaine?
Cocaine is a lethal narcotic drug. It is illegal but has a huge number of users all over the world. It is an extract derives from the leaves of the coca plant. It is available either a powder or as crystals. It is either snorted, consumed orally or even injected. It is highly addictive and people can get addicted to it even after just one use.
Ill-effects of cocaine on health
Because it is a highly addictive drug, it is very easy to get into it but extremely difficult to get out of the addiction. This drug has many physical, physiological and psychological effects on the user which are both immediate and long term.
Immediate effects of cocaine
- Increased heart rate and blood pressure as well as body temperature and breathing
- Sleep disturbances
- Anxiety and depression
- Paranoia and hallucinations
- Intense craving for the drug
- Erratic behavior
- Convulsions and seizures, even death due to overdose
Long term effects of cocaine
- Permanent and irreversible damage to blood vessels, increasing risk of stroke and heart attack
- Excessive loss of weight and loss of appetite
- Inability to breathe
- Multiple organ damage, even failure
- Intense paranoia and hallucinations
- Severe anxiety, irritability and depression
- Sexual malfunctions, including impotency and infertility
- Addiction and tolerance to the drug, necessitating greater amount of drug to be used every time
Effects on children of addicts
Children are possibly the greatest and worst sufferers of cocaine usage. This is especially of those children who are born to mothers who abused this drug while they were pregnant. They suffer from all kinds of problems.
Some problems that can be caused due to abuse of this drug during pregnancy are premature birth and low birth weight. Along with this other serious developmental disorders like stunted growth and improper development of the nervous system due to damage to the brain.
This leads to other even more complicated problems. Most babies that are born premature do not make it beyond the first month. Those that survive face other problems that can last a lifetime. Some of these are abnormal physical growth, brain damage and mental retardation, which make their whole life a struggle.
Along with this, there is also an enormous risk that children of addicts may become addicts themselves very early on in life. This happens due to the prenatal exposure to the drug which might become ingrained in their brain even before birth and they may be born as addicts. That is how strong this drug can be.
This is is why it is important to know before you even think about getting into drugs as they have far reaching effects, some of them fatal. Therefore, it is best to stay away from all kinds of drugs altogether.
