Cocaine is one of the most addictive drugs on the street and in many ways the most dangerous. It directly stimulates pleasure centers in the brain, creating an overwhelming desire for the same experience again and again.

Its powerful jolt to the central nervous system also triggers a rapid heart rate, constricted blood vessels, and elevated blood pressure. Even in young, well-conditioned bodies, these events can cause stroke, seizures or cardiac arrest.

• When the drug wears off, cocaine users become anxious, irritable, depressed, and desperate for the next dose. Bigger and more frequent doses are needed to produce the same effect, and progression from first use to desperate addiction can be rapid.

• All of cocaine's routes of entry into the body pose unique hazards. Snorting cocaine up the nose can lead to destruction of the septum (the structure separating the two nasal passages) and eventual collapse of the bridge of the nose. Injecting cocaine into the veins can transmit dangerous microorganisms, including the viruses that cause hepatitis and AIDS, when needles or syringes are shared with other users. The cheapest form of cocaine, at five to 15 dollars per dose, is crack, which produces a response so sudden and powerful that addiction frequently begins with the first dose. Crack is a form of freebase cocaine, a purified version of the drug that can only be smoked. (When heated, it produces a crackling sound; hence its name.)

Amphetamines ("speed") and their derivatives, whether swallowed, smoked, or injected, rev up the central nervous system and produce a sense of energy, excitement, and invincibility. But with this come a number of serious risks and consequences. Excitement may deteriorate into excitability, irritability, paranoia, delusions, and even violent behavior.

• When these drugs wear off, profound fatigue and depression are left in their wake. Tolerance results in a need for higher doses, and so addiction is not unusual. Chronic use leads to physical deterioration caused by malnutrition (from decreased interest in food) and loss of sleep. Heavy use can result in permanent brain damage, stroke, or heart attack.

• The potential for abuse of these drugs has recently increased for two reasons:

  1. The widespread use of Dexedrine and Ritalin in treating attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has placed more of these stimulants in circulation, thus increasing the likelihood of potential misuse through sharing with or selling to others. (Those with ADHD who receive proper doses of these drugs appear to have little risk of addiction to them.)

  2. The abuse of a form of amphetamine known as methamphetamine (also called "ice," "crank," "crystal meth," and "poor-man's coke," among other names) has reached epidemic levels. Methamphetamine is relatively cheap to manufacture in home laboratories, and an inexpensive dose gives users a more sustained high than cocaine. Teenagers and young adults use this drug to boost mood and self-confidence, suppress appetite to lose weight, and enhance sexual experiences. But ongoing use commonly leads to insomnia, agitation, psychosis, and violent behavior. Methamphetamine-induced emergency-room visits, crimes, and deaths have increased dramatically, and some experts fear use of this drug will become a plague dwarfing the cocaine epidemic that began in the 1980s.

—The Focus on the Family Physicians Resource Council, U.S.A.

Adapted from Parents' Guide to Teen Health,
a Focus on the Family publication.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.