Teenage Cocaine

Cocaine is one of the most dangerous drugs available to teenagers. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, about six million people over the age of 12 have used cocaine at least once in the past year. Cocaine is highly addictive, and has serious long-term health effects including: headaches; abdominal pain and nausea; decreased appetite (often resulting in malnutrition); irritability, restlessness, anxiety and paranoia; paranoid psychosis (loss of touch with reality and auditory hallucinations); and increased risk of HIV and other diseases.

While cocaine is not one of the more widely abused drugs by teenagers, teen cocaine abuse does exist. In a recent study, 3.4% of tenth grade students and 5.2% of high school seniors reported using cocaine in the past year. One of the most risky effects of teen cocaine usage is that the body can develop a tolerance to the drug, and the user needs increasingly larger doses of the drug to achieve the same feeling. This can increase the chance of an overdose, as the user takes successively greater amounts of cocaine in an effort to get high. In certain cases, first-time users of cocaine have suffered from sudden death, the possibility of which dramatically increases when alcohol is simultaneously consumed.

Cocaine can be taken in a variety of ways, including smoking, injection and snorting. Snorting and injecting cocaine are the two most common methods of taking cocaine. Short-term effects of teen cocaine use include: elevated heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature, intense feelings of euphoria, feelings of high energy, distorted sensory perception, shaking, intense “low” feelings as the drug wears off and user “crashes.” Short-term health effects of cocaine use can affect performance at school, work and in extracurricular activities. Long-term health effects of cocaine can be even more hazardous. If a user takes cocaine for a long period of time or in high dosage amounts, they may experience the following health effects: seizures, stroke, respiratory problems, heart attack, brain damage, infections due to needle sharing amongst those who inject cocaine and violent behavior. Other major heath problems from prolonged cocaine usage include loss of smell, nosebleeds, and a chronically runny nose due to snorting and severe bowel gangrene from swallowing.

It is important to know the warning signs of potential cocaine usage, as teenagers are at high risk of developing an addiction or dependence on the drug. Some of the warning signs are as follows, but are not limited to:

  • Red, bloodshot eyes from periods of non-use
  • Runny nose or frequent sniffing
  • Change of eating habits and loss of weight
  • Change of sleeping habits (ie. sleeps all day and is up all night)
  • A change in friends and groups of different ages
  • A change in behaviors, such as flunking out of school or not going to school
  • Frequently needing money and stealing it to support their habit
  • Losing interest in the things they used to like to do, such as family activities
  • Acting withdrawn or depressed; tired and careless about personal appearance