Cocaine Drug Rehab Programs

Cocaine is a strongly addictive stimulant drug that comes from the leaves of the coca plant, with the majority of the supplies coming from South America . Some forms of cocaine are used in medicines, such as local anesthetics for eye, ear, and throat surgery. This medicinal use is a small part of the overall production of cocaine. Most cocaine is used as a street drug and most everyone reading this material is trying to find a solution for a cocaine habit or addiction. National Drug Rehab Treatment Centers is a free service that will help you find a drug rehab for any alcohol or drug addiction problem you or a loved one may be having. It is easy to confuse the different terms used in this field, describing the different types of drug rehab centers, drug rehabilitation centers, and substance abuse treatment programs. For the problem that you are addressing, should you be looking for an Outpatient, In-patient, Residential Treatment Center, Long term or Short term treatment and what modality of treatment is the most effective and what are the cost related to these forms of treatment or rehab?

Pure cocaine was first used in the 1880s in eye, nose, and throat surgeries as an anesthetic and for its ability to constrict blood vessels and limit bleeding. However, many of its therapeutic applications are now obsolete because of the development of safer drugs.

Cocaine is the most potent stimulant of natural origin. This substance can be snorted, smoked, or injected. When snorted, cocaine powder is inhaled through the nose where it is absorbed into the bloodstream through the nasal tissues. When injected, the user uses a needle to release the drug directly into the bloodstream. Smoking involves inhaling cocaine vapor or smoke into the lungs where absorption into the blood stream is a rapid as injection.

According to the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, approximately 35.3 million Americans aged 12 and older had tried cocaine at least once in their lifetimes, representing 14.3% of the population aged 12 and older. Approximately 6.1 million (2.5%) has used cocaine in the past year and 2.4 million (1.0%) had used cocaine within the past month.

Data from the 2006 NSDUH also indicate that there were 977,000 persons aged 12 or older who had used cocaine for the first time within the past 12 months; this averages to approximately 2,700 initiates per day. This estimate was not significantly different from the number in 2005 (872,000).

Among students surveyed as part of the 2007 Monitoring the Future study, 3.1% of eighth graders, 5.3% of tenth graders, and 7.8% of twelfth graders reported lifetime use of cocaine. In 2006, these percentages were 3.4%, 4.8%, and 8.5%, respectively. Regarding the ease by which one can obtain powder cocaine, 19.0% of eighth graders, 30.0% of tenth graders, and 41.2% of twelfth graders surveyed in 2006 reported that powder cocaine was "fairly easy" or "very easy" to obtain. Statistics provided by the ONDCP website: http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/drugfact/cocaine/index.html

Cocaine is usually sold on the street as a fine white powder and is generally either sniffed into the nose or injected by needle into a vein, with the latter being the type of administration that is most common with cocaine addiction. When cocaine is boiled or cooked with sodium bicarbonate, it is converted into a freebase form called crack cocaine and is more addictive that before and is relative cheap per dose and devastatingly expensive during addiction. This can then be smoked and results in a brief, intense high.

What is going on in the body?

 Those with Cocaine addiction introduce the drug into the body through many types of routes. It can be rubbed into the mucous tissues of the body, inhaled by smoking or snorting, infected into one’s veins, or the cocoa leaves can be chewed to release the active substances into the membranes of the mouth and throat.

Cocaine passes quickly into the brain and causes a buildup of dopamine by blocking the normal recycling process. These high levels of dopamine stimulate the nerve cells and cause a feeling of euphoria.

Since Cocaine is a fat-soluble compound, the body has the “wisdom” to store this drug in the fat tissue of the body so that it can be released in measured doses that the liver and kidneys can then metabolize and expel. This phenomenon causes the cocaine user to have cocaine in his blood and brain for months and even years after he has quit using the substance. This causes the user to crave the drug long after it’s ingestion and is one of the major reasons why so many cocaine drug rehabilitation centers are not successful in graduating persons with long-term success in staying drug-free. There are drug rehab treatment centers that address this toxic nature of the body and their outcomes are far better than those drug rehab treatment centers that justify this physical phenomenon as part of the addiction disease.

The effects of cocaine can be felt in literally seconds and provide a dramatic high that last three to five minutes. This is seen most dramatically with crack cocaine. A craving for more of the same immediately follows this feeling of euphoria. This is the rush that is the driving force in all addictions, but it becomes a psychotic compulsion when dealing with cocaine and especially crack cocaine.

Dependency develops in less that two weeks of moderate use and some research indicates that psychological dependency develops after the first use. Tolerance develops quickly, which is the need from more cocaine for the same effect, and the desire for more and more cocaine is an endless struggle and becomes the reason for the financial problems that are evident in all cocaine and crack cocaine users.

 In the short-term, with a normal dose, one feels energetic, restless talkative, euphoric, with an increase in pulse rate, temperature, blood pressure, metal alertness, followed by a temporary decrease in apatite.

In large doses one will feel bizarre, and, perhaps violent a paranoid feelings, muscle tremors, dizziness and a sense that the room is spinning. People with cocaine addiction may also experience hallucinations, strong addiction and cravings, will begin to neglect everything except their habit, intense paranoid ideation, a feeling that reality isn’t real, extreme irritability, and, of course tolerance and the need from more and more cocaine. Weight loss is also associated with cocaine addiction in the same manner that it is with amphetamines. Once the drug is removed, the person suffering from cocaine addiction may have extreme depression, anxiety, nightmares and other sleep disorders.

The main risk of addiction is the unrealistic behaviors that cause one to irresponsibly spend money and violate ones ethical code.

 Long-term use will cause physical decline due to the lack of good nutrition and sleep. One can also experience abnormal heart conditions, breathing problems, heart attacks, problems with the nasal septum or passages, an increased risk for infections, thinking problems, seizures and strokes.

Important and unique information for anyone that wants to find a cocaine drug rehabilitation center:

In seeking advice for these conditions, find a program that demonstrates a high success in rehabilitating clients with cocaine addiction. That is all you are really looking for, but don't be fooled by programs that tell you that it is a disease and a disease of relapse. You should look for a drug rehab center that doesn’t see this addiction as a disease or a moral problem, but has the technology to address the cocaine addiction and can demonstrate its drug rehab center's success statistically and through testimonials from graduates of the program that can speak to you directly. As mentioned earlier, these program universally employ the biophysical approach to handling the accumulation of the cocaine in the fat tissue of the body and represent successful outcomes far above 50% of those that complete the program.