Reduce your risks with cocaine

Author: KnowYourStuff

Cocaine! “Coke” to its friends, “Nose Beers” to its mates, and “Booger Sugar” to the joker in the back of the class that thinks he’s funny.

Cocaine is a stimulant drug that increases the rate at which messages travel between the brain and the body. It is made from the leaves of the coca bush, which is native to South America.

Cocaine has two main forms, the salt and the freebase:

The Salt form 

Cocaine HCl is the white powder form most people are familiar with  

The Freebase forms 

There are two types of freebase, distinguished by the way they are made. 

Freebase Cocaine uses flammable chemicals, is slightly sticky or wet, and is not recommended for smoking.

Crack Cocaine it does not use flammable solvents, and the end product is generally crystals that could be used for smoking

Get your coke checked

Yes, we say this every time, but that’s for a reason. While the cocaine supply in Aotearoa has been improving in recent years, with less adulteration, we’re still seeing samples cut with or swapped out for other substances like anaesthetics and creatine. Better safe than sorry, eh?

What to expect so it isn’t unexpected

Snow can be a sassy mistress and affects everyone differently based on their size, weight, and health. Other things to take into consideration are tolerance, whether any other drugs have been taken (including alcohol, caffeine, or medication), or whether the cocaine has been cut with fillers or has any added psychoactives.   

Cocaine is a stimulant, which means that it can make the user feel more energetic and confident. Because it has an effect on the cardiovascular system, if you have a history of heart problems in your family you might want to think twice about trying cocaine as it can lead to cardiac events. Any chest tightness or pain in your arm happening after you’ve had your cocaine needs immediate medical attention.

Other physical effects include dehydration and teeth grinding. Some of the mental effects of cocaine include a euphoric, almost manic sense of excitement and alertness. Other mental effects include disinhibition, ego inflation, racing thoughts, and time feeling like it’s going much faster than it is in reality. 

Some of the undesirable effects can include anxiety, depression, irritability, respiratory depression, headache, and tactile hallucination (where people feel things on their skin that aren’t there).  

Overamping

Overamping is not the sound an amp makes when you thrash out on the stage; it's what happens to your body when you take more stimulants than you can process. Signs of overamping include:

• A very high temperature

• Racing or irregular heartbeat

• Seizures

• Difficulty breathing

• Extreme agitation or paranoia

• Loss of consciousness

If you or anyone in your crew experiences any of these symptoms, get to the medics or call an ambulance immediately

Dependence and potential harm

Cocaine has a very high re-dose compulsion because it wears off quickly. It’s also one of the easier drugs to build a tolerance to. These two factors mean that people quickly need to increase their dosage to keep feeling the same level of effect. If they’re a cocaine enthusiast and doing it on the regular, things can slide into a psychological dependence. Having a break of about 3 weeks between cocaine episodes will beat the tolerance and bring most people back to baseline. 

Cold Turkey

If cocaine addiction occurs and a person decides to completely stop, they may experience a “crash.” This is generally followed by symptoms of paranoia, depression, anxiety, and mood swings. In extreme cases people can also experience psychosis.

CK, Calvin Klein (coke and ketamine)

According to Erowid, this combo mixes the introspective nature of ketamine with the stimulant effects of cocaine. The thing about CK is that both ketamine and cocaine have a high re-dose compulsion, and you can accidentally snort your way through your entire bag without meaning to, which is a good way to wind up in A&E. Sorting out what you intend to take, keeping it on you, and leaving the rest at home will save your stash (and your body).

Less is more

It’s super important to get your dose right if you’re taking more than one substance at a time. Start with half of your normal dose for each substance and see how you go. And yes, weigh your dose properly. Go get milligram scales. We’ll wait.

Cocaethylene (coke and alcohol)

Cocaine and alcohol combine in the body to create a completely new compound called cocaethylene. This compound has a longer half-life than cocaine and alcohol, so it stays in the body longer, and has been linked to a higher mortality risk than cocaine or alcohol by themselves.