Cocaine: what are the effects?
Immediate effects
The effects of cocaine can last anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours, depending on how the cocaine is taken and the person taking it. When the immediate ‘rush’ of the cocaine has worn off, the person may experience a ‘crash’. Other immediate effects that may be experienced include:
- physiological arousal, including increased body temperature and heart rate;
- enlarged pupils;
- exhilaration;
- anxiety;
- dry mouth;
- increased breathing rate;
- increased talkativeness or quiet contemplation and rapture;
- feelings of great physical strength and mental capacity;
- increased libido and elevated sexual arousal;
- feelings of wellbeing;
- anxiety, agitation and panic;
- paranoia;
- upredictable violent/aggressive behaviour;
- feeling more awake and alert, reduced need for sleep;
- increased performance on simple tasks;
- headache;
- increased blood pressure and heart rate (after initial slowing);
- reduced appetite;
- increased body temperature; and
- indifference to pain and localised pain relief.
In greater quantities
The immediate effects of cocaine intensify when the drug is taken in greater quantities. People may also experience tremors, muscle twitches, nausea and vomiting, rapid and weak pulse, arrhythmia, chest pain, heart attack, hyperthermia, seizures and stroke.
High quantities and frequent, heavy and long-term use of cocaine can lead to a ‘cocaine psychosis’, which is characterised by paranoid delusions, hallucinations, bizarre, aggressive or violent behaviour. These symptoms usually stop a few days after the person takes cocaine, although some people may need treatment. Some people take cocaine in high-dose ‘binges’, which means that they take cocaine repetitively over several hours or days. The binge is followed by the ‘crash’, whereby a person experiences feelings of intense depression, lethargy and hunger.
Overdose
The risk of overdose is high, since the strength and mix of street cocaine is usually unknown. An overdose of cocaine can result in increased heart rate and body temperature, seizures, heart attack, brain haemorrhage, kidney failure, stroke and repeated convulsions. All of these can lead to coma and death.
Long-term effects
Long-term effects of cocaine use include:
- insomnia;
- depression;
- anxiety, paranoia and psychosis;
- eating disorders and weight loss;
- sexual dysfunction;
- hypertension and irregular heart beat;
- sensitivity to light and sound;
- hallucinations — some people may even experience sensations of insects crawling under the skin; and
- cerebral atrophy (wasting of the brain) and impaired thinking.
For more information, please click on the Australian Drug Foundation's DrugInfo Clearinghouse web site link below.
Last Reviewed: 21 March 2007
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