Is cocaine addictive ? defining the nature of cocaine / crack addiction

[FemFoison]

Hey there.



I've been lurking for a while here, and I usually find if I wait long enough someone else asks whatever I'd been wanting to. What can I say? I'm shy.



Despite that, I have two linked questions.



1) If coke is / is one of your primary drugs of choice, how much do you do per day? Or even, how often? I've read studies that said cocaine "abusers" will snort 2-3 lines per day, and from my own experience that seems like a ridiculously small amount to be considered abuse/addiction. For me there is a marked distinction between weekend and weekday use, but it is consistent enough to quantify.



2) I'm writing an article for a University science magazine analyzing the question of addiction - whether there is a chemical process that can be identified and, if so, how it varies from drug to drug (e.g. stopping use of cocaine does not lead to withdrawl as stopping use of heroin does, an opium "addiction" creates a far different cycle of chemical responses than a meth "addiction, etc). At any rate, I'm not planning on coming down on one side or the other - it is meant to be objective. I have my personal opinion, but nevertheless I wanted to know how you all felt about it, especially with cocaine - does a habit constitute an addiction? Have you ever been addicted to one drug, but not another, and noticed a difference in your use of one or the other? Also, I have a ton of sources I'm busy pouring through, but if any of you have suggestions on particular books or articles (more specific than just websites or journals) I can never have enough information.



As a matter of introduction, since it seems polite, I'm a 22 year old, female student of linguistics, biology, english literature, neuropsychology, philosophy, and film. That ought to suffice for now, I hope.



(:

[Zach Swan]

1) Coke is the drug of choice for the person whom I speak of on this forum. Yes, IMHO there is a substantive difference between weekend and weekday use. I thinkCHCL usage typically starts as a weekend thing, but when one finds themselves doing it on weekdays too, they've either "crossed the line" or soon will. The consumerunder discussion here,at one time consistently did 2 to 3 eight-balls per week (7 to 10.5 grams). Now the usage is typically one eight-ball per week, consumed between Friday and Sunday. 2 to 3 lines per day? Guess that would be nice. I suppose they could be Hollywoods though. My opinion is that doing a line is kinda like having a potato chip -- ya cain't have just one (or three as the case may be.)


2) I think there exists what I call a Cocaine Consumption Continuum. Incidental experimentation on one end and addiction on the other end. "Habit" is somewhere in between. There is definitely a difference between habit and addiction, although I think it may be barely distinguishable in some.


Habit is when you just have fun doing it so you score for the weekend, but can (and perhaps occasionally do) quit either "for a break" or permanently. When the white girl gets her claws into you though, she doesn't let go nearly as easily. You tell yourself "I'm not going to score this week" but the urge can't be resisted. You tell yourself "I've got a gram left -- I'm going to leave it in the drawer for the weekend" then an hour later you're carving rails and soon you don't give a shit that you'll be exhausted at work the next day -- you have to keep doing it till you run out. That's addiction in the world I'm familiar with.


To your final question (addicted to one, but not another; notice difference in your use of one or the other) : cocaine is this person's only "addiction." While they have used thc related products, X, and evenhillbillyHin their life, they never became "addicted" toany of those substances-- always easily doing without them. More interestingly they used to drink booze a lot, and still do while using, but cocaine use has made drinking in isolation (meaning without simultaneous consumption of pharmaceuticals) uninteresting, and one could almost draw the conclusion that use of cocaine caused reduction/elimination of liquor abuse.


Good luck with your paper. Hope you get some interesting data, but don't be surprised if responses are limited. Sometimes we're skeptical about revealing life stories to people with only one post in their history. You're not the only one lurking ;-(


zs

[chronic777]

Ive found cocaine to be addictive form the first line i ever did!


I didnt feel addicted or have craving but all i wanted to do was try it again.


I feel its not phsyically addictive, it just clings onto certain thoughts in your head so your costantly reminded,everytime i sniff my nose i think of coke, everytime i start speaking really fast i think of it, evrytime i see a speck of white powder i think of cocaine.


And it just calls you back and back again, theres a point every day where you wanna get one. I just remind myself of how pointless it is buying some cut bullshit . The only time i ever get coke now is when i see my mate cut it right infront of me. I


used to feel such cravings for it, now its like i know the addiction feeling and i just acknowledge it and move on and can deal with it like a human being in control of his own decisions.

[chronic777]

And no it definatly isnt my drug of choice, i thought it was, but knew it never would be deep down, its too self destructive (which is why i used to do it, i used to not give a shit about my health)


My choice drugs are


mushroomz and weed, which i dont consider "drugs" as theyre naturally picked from gods green earth hope i helped.

[no idea]

can coke just be a "when i'm going out" drug?

swim has only used it 5 times, every weekend bar one for the last 6 weeks. swim is fine with it, likes how he feel on it, can sleep after, dont feel too bad the next day, and swim only *want* it when its offered to me, and i'm going out. BUT my DH wants it all the time, find him coming home in the middle of the day after having a line at a mates place. This makes me angry as i think if we are going to do this, then it's to be a weekend only thing.

is he addicted? or is he just greedy, or chasing the high?

any opinions would be appreciated. new to this and have no idea.

[Mike177]

Wile Coke is not phyisicly addictive it is without a doubt quite phycologicly addicting. If your freind starts useing coke dayly it would be a good thing to confrot him before he gets worse, when you addicted to coke thats really all that matters. and coke heads are known to get angry quite easaly and somtimes vilont when confronted or depribed of coke. just be safe and i hope you can work all of this messyness out

Mike

[Woodman]

Originally Posted by no idea

i've only used it 5 times, ... BUT
my DH wants it all the time, i find him coming home
in the middle of the day after having a line at a mates
place.

...is he addicted? or is he just greedy, or chasing the
high?

He wants it ALL the time.
He seems to be chasing a high.

Yup, I'ld say he's addicted.

[joevette]

Is cocain addictive physically or phsycologically? How often would you have to use to become addicted?

[discobloodbath]

Everybody is different so it all depends on the person and their reaction to the drug... some can use it countless times and stop on a dime , others enjoy it so much the first time that they cant help but keep using. (taking something that has the potential to make u feel great is sometimes hard for a person to resist)


this is from erowid:
One of the most problematic aspects of cocaine is its addictive qualities. While cocaine is not believed to be physically addicting, it is, without a doubt, psychologically addicting. Those who use cocaine heavily or regularly frequently encounter great difficulty ceasing use.

Many people find themselves drawn to overusing both crack and powder cocaine. Initial tolerance develops rapidly, especially with heavy use, though tolerance appears to level off relatively quickly (users do not generally require more and more material over time, once they have reached heavy use).

[joevette]

Thanks, I don't get addicted to things in general so maybe juditious weekend use would be fine.

[discobloodbath]

just be careful and dont over do it if u do it.. the few times i've done it i always do baby lines thru the night..(if its all going up there so i take my time) i've taken too much once before and it was a very scary experince so i try make sure that doesnt happen again.. so be safe

[Darcy]

What happened to you disco? I wouldn't know much about "too much" and I
want to know what to look for in case that ever happens to me, which I
hope never does. I also am one of those high tolerance people that
don't NEED it all the time. I always let a few days pass before getting
more so that my tolerance will go down and I can enjoy it in small
ammounts instead of doing the whole gram in one evening.

[CABS205]

Well, for me...It took awhile for me to do it a lot...Then by the time I knew it, I was addicted. I did a lot! I'm both physically and psychologocially addicted. How much do you actually do?

[discobloodbath]

it was the second time of a weekend binge and at one point after doing i dunno how much i started to get hot and sweaty than suddenly get chills. I couldnt stand because i would get really lighthead and dizzy and wanted to hurl. My hands couldnt stop shaking and my head hurt like hell... i think i did too much plus i had a little bit of a panic attack once things started to get out of control.

Here in case anyone wants to know here are the symtoms of an over dose this is from a book i have:

Physical: Fever, Rapid or irregular heartbeat, Shallow breathing, high blood preasure, enlarged pupils, dry mouth, sweating, tremors, stroke, heart failure.

Mental signs: Confusion, Agitation, paranoia, hallucinations, impulsive behavior, unresponsive coma.

"With any sign of cocaine overdose, the user should be taken immediately to a hospital. Monitoring may be required even if the person appears to have recovered, since seizure can occur hours later."

god this a great book covers everything in such detail.. very impressed

[discobloodbath]

i only found this little bit that briefly mentions amount but barely

"It is impossible to determine the amount of cocaine needed for an overdose; it can be cause by snorting as little as one-fiftieth of a gram. Between 2 and 10 percent of those taken to the hospital for cocaine overdose have seizures, which can occour as long as 12 hours later. Seizures can happen at any time with the first use, the twentieth, or the hundredth, and will eventually strike most users"

[CABS205]

Oh, okay...That's why I you're asking these questions...LOL! I'm stupid...Um, if you're that worried...maybe you shouldn't do it..


I remember my first time, my coworker/friend offered me some (I actually thought he was giving me weed), I didn't want to look like I was chicken, so I did it. I didn't listen, using both nostrils...I just used me right one...And the whole night, my right nostril was numb and then I got a nosebleed. You would've thought that would of scared me, nope....


Try key shots, if you're scared of an overdose. Those are nothing...Then when you're more comfortable, less paranoid about it, then try a line....


Just to warn you....After a month, I did get addicted. I'm cutting down now, and I'm actually happy about that.


It depends on the person. If you're like me...I smoked weed (was addicted, then got bored with it), then moved on to a stronger drug, coke... Another thing, if you have a really really special relationship. And they're not supportive of you doing this, don't do it. A drug isn't worth the pain you're causing the love of your life, family, friends. I lost a lot because of this drug, and I'm slowly trying to gain them back. Saddly, I don't know if my girlfriend will come back to me.


Again, do more researching on this drug, if you really want to try it. Go to the library, there's a lot of cool books about this drug. Good luck!


Sorry, I wrote so much! If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.

[trevdog15]

Last night my buddy and i tried coke with 3 of our friends that have already done it a few times. At first i took 3 small lines and could barely feel anything at all. About 30 mins later we took a nice sized line and i was lit up. Only did one more nice sized line and my girlfriend told me to stop. Within 30 mins i NEEDED another one. It scared me a little. All i could think about was doing another line. Now that im sober the next morning i have no craving for one whatsoever. But still last night it was a little scary how much i wanted one. So i decided to pop a percocet with my friends to calm us all down. Worked like a charm. What a great night. I think we may do coke about once a month from now on as long as we don't do it alone. Something tells me if i did it alone in my room i may not stop.

[augustine]

Yeah, it can be tough resisting that next line but you just gotta stay strong if you really think you shouldn't. The way I do it, I just promise myself I won't for the rest of the day or whatever, and you just gotta never break that standard, or you've got more questions to answer to yourself. You know what they say, you are your harshest critic.

Like you said, the craving passes and the down might be bad, but doing more doesn't bring you back up to that first rush of the night, at least for me, so if I think about that, I don't really find it worthwhile to do more. I've only been doing it for a couple months now, so I can't really say how long you gotta wait before you can get there again.

When my friends and I first started, we just wanted to try it out and do it every once in a while, but lets say it hasn't turned out that way. I mean, none of us are in a bad place at all, its just pretty hard to make it a once-in-a-while thing, so just be careful with it. It might be a good idea to have the friends you're doing it with or your girl look out for you and vice versa.

[Nicaine]

OK, after a week or 2 of experimenting, SWIM thinks he can do it occasionally. Used to be all or nothing, week-long runs or stay away completely. The trick seems to be Wellbutrin (bupropion), which sorta is to cola like a nicotine patch is to cigarettes. The downside is that seizure risk is probably doubled, so it's helpful to have downs/benzos around, use 'em, and to take it easier on the cola & don't sniff any huge ones.

SWIM wouldn't recommend this brew of chemicals but it seems to work... just be careful & don't take any Wellbutrin for a day or two before you drink cola. Then be sure to wait at least 4 to 8 hrs. after partying before starting the Wellbutrin again.

Note, this post not to be taken as advice!!! Just SWIM's personal experience, so far, be sure to read the tiny fine print legal disclaimer below (if your eyes are bad use a magnifying glass):

----------------



----------------

Have fun & stay safe...Edited by: Nicaine

cocaine is a very addictive drug, but not in the way you might think!



you will not get addicted on your first line, nore will u get addicted
on your third or fourth, but if you start to use cocaine lets say every
couple of weeks, sooner or later, it taps in to your dopomine ( natural
reward ) system!



so your brain soon gets use to the cocaine, and needs cocaine to
experince pleasure, so sooner or later, your just need the drug to feel
normall!

[Nicaine]

Partially true, IMO. In my opinion, cola "addiction" is probably 75% psychological and 25% brain-chemistry related. Not that psychological dependence is anything less... if anything, it's far more powerful and long lasting.

It takes about 1 to 3 weeks to recover from all brain chemistry issues. That aspect alone makes it easier to overcome this dimension of dependence.

Psychological dependency can last any length of time at all. From one day to forever.

As far as how long it takes to get addicted? To powder? Let me venture a rough estimate -- about one month of fairly heavy use. Once weekly use won't cause any addiction in most cases. Twice weekly use is beginning to ask for it though. More often than that is begging for a dependency of some sort.

All just IMHO.Edited by: Nicaine

[frosty]

The thing about coke addiction at least for me is that cocaine is
sneaky addictive. After the initial withdrawl I never have any symptoms
like you do with nicotine or something...except that it always shows
back up....it all started the third time I did it at the end of
November I've averaged 2-3 days a week since then with up to 6 day
binges...its ridiculous...at least it hasn't adversely affected my
life....well I don't have any money saved but all my bills are paid.

[lilsteve]

When my friends split an 8ball (their first coke ever), they spent the
entire night discussing how addictive it was, and when was the next
time they should be able to do it without getting hooked. Nobody seemed
to notice that right there was the psychological addiction. Rather than
taking advantage of their burst of energy, they sat around planning
when they could take it again.



It was all very hysterical/distressing for me at the time.

[motorhead]

Sometimes i like to think about the nature of drugs. I beleive that anyone can become addicted to any drug. The intense, yet visciously brief high of coke makes it a double edged sword many cannot resist. Cocaines nature is to turn youon yourself, make you selfish, and to plant the words "more, more, more...." into your brain.

[Softrat]

I have never done coke, but from what I have heard cocaine is not physically addictive at all. It is all psycholocial habitualtion. Habituation is a property of a person, not a drug.


The fact the cocaine effects the dopamine system means it is pleasureful, not addictive. Anything that is pleasent, not just drugs, may be effecting the dopamine system. If a person uses coke to excess cause they like it that is fundamentaly a different phenomenon than addiction.





Even if cocaine caused a reduction in dopamine with excessive use this would not be the same thing as a true addiction cause the person would still feel like crap even if they continued to use the coke. Also the stoping of the cocaine would not cause additional sysmtoms of pain or sickness, it would in fact casue the person to gradualy start feeling better.