Marijuana, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamines, anabolic steroids, and club drugs like Ecstasy and LSD are only a few among a long list of popular drugs among drug addicts. Misuse of prescription medicines, including opioids, is another means of drug addiction, which is especially dangerous for young people. Until young adults attain their mid-twenties, their brains go through the development process, impacting most of the prefrontal cortex, responsible for decision making. When young adults take to drugs, it affects brain development, impacting their decision-making process. This can provoke them to lead a reckless life and drive them toward risky acts like dangerous driving.
Substance abuse remains a persisting trend among young adults and as of 2018, there are 34.1 million young adults addicted to drugs in the United States alone. Marijuana and alcohol are the most abused substances, with cocaine coming a close second among young adults. This rising trend of substance abuse and addiction is leading to an increased overdose problem in America, particularly with cocaine and fentanyl.
What is cocaine?
Not many people are familiar with cocaine except for its name because most drug addiction cases result from marijuana, tobacco, and alcohol. Cocaine, which the addicts fondly call coke or blow, is a product obtained from the coca plant leaves in South America and is a potent central nervous system stimulant. Cocaine belonging to the group of luxury drugs is a massive attraction among young adults, and it even attracts teenagers that constitute a significant number of cocaine users in America.
The varied attraction of cocaine
Young adults usually start taking cocaine in their early twenties. Its attraction lies in giving a sense of importance to a person and stimulating their brain that allows them to work without a break while remaining awake at night after a hard day’s work. For teens, the attraction of cocaine is in its ability to suppress appetite, which can help lose weight.
Why teenagers like cocaine
As cocaine has brain stimulating properties, it attracts teens as they become hyperactive due to the enhanced energy that even elevates mood. Taking cocaine is like taking some prescribed drugs like Ritalin and Adderal used for treating ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder that improve their ability by increasing focus on academic performance and school projects.
The dangers of cocaine
Cocaine is a fine white powder that one can take in the form of an injection or snort through the nose. Immediately it mixes with the bloodstream and brain, producing a high that can last up to 30 minutes but be even as brief as 5 minutes. Despite its high addictive quality, users often fail to understand that they are developing an addiction. It tends to make them ignore the consequences, thereby developing a craving for it. The psychological addiction to cocaine is the most challenging part to overcome, although there are physical signs of addiction.
How cocaine works and its effects
Cocaine increases dopamine release in the body, which reaches the brain and affects the parts that control pleasure. This creates high, which are intense feelings of energy and alertness. It can generate extreme happiness, and young adults develop feelings that make them experience a fantasy world. But on the other side, it can build anger and paranoid feeling while decreasing appetite.
Among various side effects of cocaine are headaches, mood problems, convulsions and seizures, cardiovascular problems and heart disease, sexual problems, bowel decay, lung damage, nosebleeds, and smell loss.
Cocaine develops instant cravings, and the more cocaine you take, your brain keeps adapting to it. As a result, to keep up with the same kind of experience every time, you must keep increasing the intake, which poses the greatest danger for addicts as they are sucked into a vortex of deadly addiction that is hard to get rid of. What might start as experimenting with cocaine can turn you into a hardcore addict.
Treatment for cocaine addiction
Like any other drug rehabilitation programs, you must stay at an inpatient drug rehab to undertake a program that helps recover from the addiction. The program consists of counseling and other therapy carried out by a trained therapist to change your thought process and change your behavior. Considering that the level of cocaine addiction can become intense in a short time as it is almost impossible to resist the cravings, outpatient rehab programs do not suit cocaine addicts.
Psychotherapy is most effective because cocaine addiction is a type of mental illness that best responds to such therapy. Sometimes psychotherapy alone might work, and at other times it might require some medications, depending on the situation. The psychotherapist knows the easy to identify the thought process of addicts and then isolate the troubling thoughts to allow the brain function usually. Talk to the professionals to decide which the best treatment for your condition is.
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