Some users find that the drug helps them to perform simple physical and intellectual tasks more quickly, while others can experience the opposite effect. As cocaine travels through the blood as well as the brain, the abuse of cocaine causes effects upon the whole body. Cocaine is responsible for more U.S. emergency room visits than any other illegal drug. Cocaine abuse damages the brain, heart, blood vessels, and lungs – occasionally leading to sudden death. Injecting— also known as “skin popping”— or smoking cocaine causes nearly immediate effects.

Among the activities are increased production of genetic transcription factors, including ΔFosB; altered gene activity; altered production of potentially many proteins; and sprouting of new dendrites and dendritic spines. We do not yet have complete answers to these questions, but we have learned a great deal. We now know that cocaine affects brain cells in a variety of ways. With repeated exposure to cocaine, these short- and intermediate-term effects cumulatively give rise to further effects that last for months or years and may be irreversible.

What Is Cocaine?

cocaine addiction treatment, an illegal street drug often called “blow,” “coke,” and “crack” on the streets, is a recreational drug that is created by purifying an extract from the leaves of theErythroxylumcoca bush. Different processes produce the two primary forms of cocaine we see on the street. Powdered cocaine, known as “blow” or “coke,” is often snorted, but is easily soluble in water and can be injected. Crack cocaine, or “crack” or “rock” on the streets, is created using a chemical process that produces a freebase form of cocaine that is smoked. The immediate effects, or the high produced by cocaine usually wear off between 30 minutes to two hours after use.

For example, ΔFosB, or any of the hundred or so proteins it regulates, represent possible drug targets. The same is true for numerous additional molecular changes that have been implicated in cocaine addiction. Glutamate receptors and receptors for the brain’s natural opioid-like substances (e.g., κ opioid receptors) are two examples. A third limbic region, the frontal cortex, is where the brain integrates information and weighs different courses of action.

Psychosocial treatment

Nerve cells originating in the VTA extend to the region of the brain known as the nucleus accumbens, one of the brain’s key pleasure centers. In studies using animals, for example, all types of pleasurable stimuli, such as food, water, sex, and many drugs of abuse, cause increased activity in the nucleus accumbens. Dr. Thomas received his medical degree from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. In his post-graduate clinical work, Dr. Thomas later applied the tenets he learned to help guide his therapeutic approach with many patients in need of substance treatment. In his current capacity as Senior Medical Editor for American Addiction Centers, Dr. Thomas, works to provide accurate, authoritative information to those seeking help for substance abuse and behavioral health issues.

The frontal cortex acts as a brake on the other regions of the limbic system when we decide to forgo a pleasure in order to avoid its negative consequences. Activity here can help a nonaddicted person heed the disastrous prognosis of continued cocaine abuse and suppress drug-taking urges emanating from the NAc, hippocampus, and amygdala. Once someone becomes addicted, however, the frontal cortex becomes impaired and less likely to prevail over the urges (Nestler and Malenka, 2004; Volkow, Fowler, and Wang, 2003). Cocaine produces psychoactive and addictive effects on the regions of the brain that regulate motivation and pleasure. When taken, the brain produces dopamine – a neurochemical that causes euphoria and feelings of well-being.

Cocaine’s Effects on the Brain

Most drugs cause addiction over time, but cocaine addiction can occur after using it for the first time. Cocaine may be used in its pure form or used in the form of crack. The way cocaine use gets portrayed in popular media can lead to the mistaken impression that you can take it without much effect.