This stops the signal between the two brain cells.

Dopamine is usually released in response to a potential reward stimulus – such as looking at a great meal – then recycled back into the brain cell that released it. Cocaine addiction is a long-term, chronic, relapsing disease that is caused by changes in the structure and function of the brain leading to, among other problems, intense drug-seeking behaviors and cravings.Ĭocaine works as a stimulant that affects the central nervous system by increasing the levels of dopamine, a neurotransmitter, in the brain. This type of behavior can lead to cocaine addiction. This type of cocaine usage means that a user takes cocaine often in a relatively short period of time to sustain the high caused by the cocaine. The duration of the high achieved by using cocaine in either form is relatively short, so many people who abuse cocaine do so in a binge and crash pattern. Smoking crack creates a high that lasts 5 to 10 minutes. This rock is heated in a glass pipe, a “crack pipe,” to create an inhalable smoke that is absorbed into the bloodstream through the lungs. The high achieved by snorting powdered cocaine lasts between 15 and 30 minutes, while the high achieved from injecting cocaine is more intense, but a shorter lasting high.Ĭrack cocaine, also called “freebase,” “rock,” or “crack,” is created through a chemical process in which a freebased crystalized rock is produced. Powdered cocaine, also called “blow” or “coke,” is able to dissolve in water and is often used by snorting or injecting the drug. Each form of cocaine causes a different type of high experienced by the user. Two major forms of cocaine are available on the street: powdered cocaine and crack cocaine. Cocaine use often leads to cocaine addiction and long-term use of cocaine can cause life-threatening heart conditions, effect the brain, and leave users emotionally and mentally exhausted and overwrought. Cocaine, a purified extract of the Erythroxylum coca bush, is anything but glamorous. Known as a high-end designer street drug, cocaine is often referred to as the “caviar of street drugs,” and played up in the media as being the drug of choice for the rich and famous, which can make cocaine appear to be glamorous.

The symptoms of crack addiction