Fact Sheet - Cocaine

• Regardless of how cocaine is used or how frequently, a user can experience acute cardiovascular or cerebrovascular emergencies, such as a heart attack or stroke, which could result in sudden death.

• The faster the body absorbs cocaine, the more intense the high and the shorter the duration of action.

• The high from snorting cocaine may last 15 to 30 minutes, while the high from smoking may last 5 to 10 minutes.

• Bingeing on cocaine can cause a period of full-blown paranoid psychosis in which the user loses touch with reality and experiences auditory hallucinations.

• Cocaine use can disturb the rhythm of the heart and induce heart attacks, respiratory failure, strokes, and seizures.

• Chronic cocaine use tends to decrease appetite, which may lead to malnourishment.

• Individuals repeatedly snorting cocaine may experience nosebleeds, problems with swallowing, hoarseness, a chronically runny nose, and a loss of their sense of smell.

• Nearly 50% of all men arrested in Atlanta, New Orleans, and Chicago in 2003 tested positive for cocaine use.

• Many cocaine addicts report that they seek, but are unable to achieve, as much pleasure as they did from their first exposure.

• Some cocaine users will increase their doses to intensify and prolong the euphoric effects.

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