Known as coke or crack, cocaine is processed from the leaves of the coca plant. It’s usually in the form of a white powder that is often mixed with a variety of other white powders.
It can be ingested in multiple ways – snorting, injecting, or smoking. Cocaine creates a strong wakefulness feeling and is an appetite suppressant. Cocaine can be detected by a drug test for up to 4 days in urine. You can test for cocaine in a 5 or 10 panel drug test
What Is Its Origin?
Cocaine is derived from coca leaves grown in Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia. The cocaine manufacturing process takes place in remote jungle labs where the raw product undergoes a series of chemical transformations. Colombia produces about 90 percent of the cocaine powder reaching the United States. Most of the cocaine entering the United States comes through Mexico.
Snorted in the form of powder or smoked in the form of crack, cocaine has an immediate effect on the human nervous system and makes its users crave more and more for its euphoric effect.
What is Cocaine?
Cocaine is an intense, euphoria-producing stimulant drug with strong addictive potential. Cocaine is an extract of coca leaves and is highly addictive. Originally used by doctors to treat pain during medical procedures, its misuse today is rampant.
Common street names
•Coca, Coke, Crack, Flake, Snow, and Soda Cot
Recognizing Cocaine Use
The following patterns can be observed in cocaine users:
How cocaine affects the human body
Physiological effects of cocaine include increased blood pressure and heart rate, dilated pupils, insomnia, and loss of appetite. The widespread abuse of highly pure street cocaine has led to many severe adverse health consequences including cardiac arrhythmias, ischemic heart conditions, sudden cardiac arrest, convulsions, strokes, and death. In some users, the long-term use of inhaled cocaine has led to a unique respiratory syndrome, and chronic snorting of cocaine has led to the erosion of the upper nasal cavity.
Soon after consumption, cocaine provides an instant surge in energy levels. It makes people hyperactive and boosts sexual urges.. The effects are temporary though, and after a few minutes, the user experiences an energy crash.
What does it look like?
Cocaine is usually recognized as a white, crystalline powder. Often diluted (“cut”) with a variety of substances (like sugar and local anesthetics) Cocaine is “cut” to stretch the amount of the product and increase profits for dealers. In contrast, crack cocaine base looks like small, irregularly shaped chunks (or “rocks”) of a whitish solid.
Dependence
Tolerance to cocaine’s effects develops rapidly, causing users to take higher and higher doses. Taking high doses of cocaine or prolonged use, such as binging, usually causes paranoia. The crash that follows euphoria is characterized by mental and physical exhaustion, sleep, and depression lasting several days. Following the crash, users experience a craving to use cocaine again.
How Do You Conduct a Cocaine Drug Test?
Unless specifically excluded cocaine drug testing is included in just about every drug test panel.