Freebase cocaine strips the substance from additives, leaving the (almost) pure form of cocaine. Cocaine in its purest form is potent and highly addictive. Risk of overdose is high for abuse of freebase cocaine, along with a myriad of health effects. Treatment for cocaine addiction is available, and can help those addicted rearrange their lives to leave addiction behind.

Freebase cocaine is a solid form of the drug— its base form. The process of making freebase cocaine involves removing hydrochloride, resulting in the solid form. Cocaine is smoked as a solid, called crack cocaine. Abusing freebase cocaine, “freebasing,” allows people to experience the drug in its purest form.

As you might guess, this produces immediate effects that are highly addictive.

Why “Freebase” Cocaine?

Once the base of cocaine has been freed, stripping away the additive, what’s left is a form of the drug that is pure. In this solid, crystal form, cocaine has a low melting point, which makes it optimal for smoking.

Any time you smoke a substance, the effects will be more immediate than consuming it orally. This is also true with smoking freebase cocaine. A person desiring an immediate high would use a small pipe to inhale the reduced vapors of the drug.

What Happens When You Take “Freebase” Cocaine?

Once you inhale the vapors, the effects are felt within seconds. The rush, or surge of euphoria, follows, lasting minutes. The rush is what gets people: it is intense, powerful, and short-lived.

After the quick rush comes the high, lasting about 30 minutes, and characterized by immense energy, sometimes clear focus, and a hypersensitivity to sight, sound, and touch. The come-down—the period following the high—lasts longer, is just as intense, and far less desirable.

When people “come down” off the high they may feel a number of extremes, such as the following:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Fatigue
• Irritability
• Paranoia

These feelings are severe enough to make people not want to experience them again. Avoiding the awful comedown and/or withdrawal can cause people to keep abusing cocaine, especially once they develop addiction.

Long-Term Effects

Abuse of freebase cocaine can result in several long-term effects to health. Malnourishment can occur with lack of appetite, both from the effects of cocaine and from binges. During a binge, a person abusing cocaine may take several consecutive doses. This allows the person to maintain a continuous high.

But binges can be dangerous due to risk of overdose from increased amount of cocaine in the body during a short period of time. In addition, cocaine abuse can cause someone to be irritable and restless, or even extremely paranoid.

Paranoia may be one of the more severe results of cocaine abuse. It occurs especially after binges, and may be responsible for resulting hallucinations and delusions. Years of prolonged abuse can also damage nerves, affecting movement, and may even lead to Parkinson’s disease.

What Happens When You Become Addicted?

When you continually abuse an addictive substance, you increase the risk of developing addiction. Freebase cocaine is highly addictive, and abusing it is dangerous. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) explains, “repeated use of cocaine can cause long-term changes in the brain’s reward circuit and other brain systems, which may lead to addiction.”

Addiction changes the way a person’s brain responds to feelings of pleasure (reward). Abusing freebase cocaine leads to an excess buildup in the brain of the chemical dopamine. The brain eventually adapts to this change, no longer responding to the drug’s effects.

Because the brain so enjoyed the first and any subsequent rush feelings associated with abuse, it craves that feeling. Cravings can become so intense that they disrupt your daily functioning. Life with addiction becomes all about seeking a way to fulfill and ease the cravings.

When people try to ignore these cravings or have no access to cocaine, they may experience withdrawal. This process can be physically challenging, as the body responds to the brain’s urges. Withdrawal may be characterized by:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Fatigue
• Increase in appetite
• Insomnia
• Muscle pain
• Thoughts of self-harm
• Troubling dreams
• Slowed thought process
• Suicidal thoughts

To relieve the troubling process of withdrawal, those who are addicted may begin taking more frequent or higher doses. This can lead to overdose, which is an increased health risk, and can be fatal.

Risks Of Overdose

Part of the reason freebase cocaine is so dangerous is that it is nearly pure. Many types of the drug are mixed with something, making them less potent. Freebase cocaine is both pure and smoked to ensure a quick onset—both of these factors increase risk of overdose.

This is especially true when a person is addicted and starts increasing doses or dosage frequency. It could be easy to take too much of the drug. Also, people who typically take crack cocaine or the powdered form may not realize the potency of freebase cocaine. When switching to smoking freebase, then, they may take too much even the first time.

Overdose is a medical emergency, and should be treated that way. Symptoms of cocaine overdose include convulsions, increased heart rate, hyperventilation, and coma.

Some of the health consequences of cocaine abuse can lead to overdose as well. These include irregular heart rhythm, heart attacks, seizures, and strokes, according to the NIDA.

Treatment For Cocaine Abuse

There are currently no medications available for the treatment of cocaine abuse. However, several forms of therapy have proven effective. The NIDA states that one of the best forms of treatment available is cognitive behavioral therapy.

This evidence-based method helps addicted individuals free themselves from the routine of addiction. Once a person’s life changes for drug abuse, it is often hard to break that cycle. Cognitive behavioral therapy helps people build healthy lifestyle habits, free from drug abuse.

Other treatment approaches may include:

• Dialectical behavioral therapy
• Dual diagnosis
• Gender-based treatment
• Adventure therapy
• Wilderness therapy

Aftercare is also important in treating cocaine abuse and addiction. Seeking out support groups, taking part in 12-Step programs, and living in drug-free, residential communities are all viable aftercare options for those recovering.

Treat Cocaine Abuse And Addiction

Millions in the United States struggle every year with cocaine abuse and addiction. In 2014, 1.5 million people were currently using cocaine, as reported by the NIDA.

If you have watched someone close to you fall deeper into the cycle of addiction, you know how hard it can be to break free. But treatment can help pull you or your loved one out of the habit of abuse and into a new lifestyle. Contact us today at DrugRehab.org to hear more about rehab centers, talk to someone about cocaine addiction, or learn about treatment options.

For More Information Related to “Freebase Cocaine” Be Sure To Check Out These Additional Resources From DrugRehab.org:

• Common Street Names For Illegal Drugs
• How Long Does Cocaine Stay In Your System?
• Types of Addictions: Cocaine
• Cocaine And Alcohol: A Deadly Combination
• How Much Does a Drug and/or Alcohol Intervention Cost?
• Is Cocaine Physically Addictive? Is It Mentally Addictive?

Sources

Center For Abuse Substance Research—Cocaine
Drug Free World—Effects Of Cocaine
National Institute On Drug Abuse—DrugFacts: Cocaine

Like most drugs—legal or illicit—cocaine can have detrimental physical effects on the human body, especially the cardiovascular system. A powerful stimulant, cocaine has long been used by healthcare professionals for legitimate medical purposes, but its popularity as a street drug has revealed the often devastating results of its abuse and even occasional use.

History Of Cocaine

Long before cocaine’s explosive popularity as a recreational drug in the 1970s and 1980s, South American indigenous people knew well the powerful stimulant properties of the drug derived from the native coca plant. As long ago as 5,000 years, the Incas in the region of the Andes Mountains chewed on raw coca leaves to derive short-term cardiovascular benefits such as increased heart rate and rapid breathing—distinct advantages in the high altitudes of the Andes. Spanish conquerors later forced native laborers to chew coca leaves to increase their productivity in silver mines.

German scientist Albert Niemann is credited with successfully extracting and isolating cocaine from the coca plant and spurring the medical use of the drug beginning in the late 1800s. Perhaps the most famous—some would argue “notorious”—promoter of cocaine (for both medical and recreational use) was Sigmund Freud. Freud promoted cocaine use for a myriad of maladies and downplayed its dangers, even stating, “For humans the toxic dose (of cocaine) is very high, and there seems to be no lethal dose,” according to The Foundation for a Drug-Free World.

The widening use of cocaine during the early 20th century, in everything from Coca Cola to snake-oil elixirs, gave rise to a reported death toll of more than 5,000 individuals in 1912. The drug legally was outlawed in 1922 for anything but medicinal purposes.

How Cocaine Affects The Heart

Modern cocaine use and abuse is an attempt to replicate the results that those South American ancients achieved, but via more intense and dangerous methods. Rather than chewing relatively low-dose raw leaves, cocaine today is ingested in much more pure, and dangerous, forms through snorting, smoking, and injecting, allowing it to impact your system in a wider range of ways.

The greatest danger to the heart in someone who uses cocaine results when the heart is simultaneously forced to work harder while being denied the necessary blood flow to meet the increased output. The seeming irony of this medical condition is created because cocaine inhibits the absorption of norepinephrine within the body’s neurons. By blocking or inhibiting norepinephrine, the force of contractions in the heart increases, raising the pulse or heart rate and, thus, blood pressure levels. All of these factors result in an increased workload for the heart muscle and a corresponding need for more oxygen.

But, as mentioned, cocaine also causes a blood flow reduction by constricting capillaries and reducing blood flow to the heart. So cocaine is at the same time restricting blood flow (and needed oxygen) to the heart while forcing the heart to work much harder.

Problems Caused By Increased Heart Work And Blood Flow Restriction

Several serious heart conditions can result from a heart that’s working too hard and at the same time being denied required oxygen, including:

• Myocardial infarction — Often simply called a heart attack, myocardial infarctions are common among cocaine users of all ages and no matter the history of abuse. First-time users may suffer a heart attack as easily as a seasoned user. Even ex-users are at risk due to past damage done to the heart. But young users are more likely to suffer an attack; in as many as 25 percent of heart attack victims under age 45, cocaine is a factor.
• Coronary artery aneurysm — The enlarging of coronary arteries typically is due to balloon-shaped distensions and are often precursors to a heart attack.
• Stroke — Usually caused by lack of blood flow, stroke for cocaine users may be up to seven times the rate than for nonusers.
• Cardiac arrhythmia — These heart rhythm problems are common among active cocaine users and may cause cardiac arrest.
• Aortic dissection or acute aortic dissection — Another condition that greatly affects younger victims, an aortic dissection is a tear or rupture of the aortic wall.
• Myocarditis and cardiomyopathy — Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart and can lead to heart muscle damage and cardiomyopathy. With cardiomyopathy, the heart muscle can become thick or rigid, or, occasionally, damaged muscle tissue is replaced with scar tissue. This can lead to heart failure, usually in older users and even among former users.

Short-Term Vs. Long-Term Cardiovascular Problems

As already evidenced, many heart problems caused by cocaine use can be both acute and chronic. While some conditions favor younger users—heart attack, for instance—others can occur more often in older users or ex-users. These older users usually are, or were, chronic users and their heart problems reflect that long-term abuse—an enlarged heart or damaged heart muscle tissue. Of course, older and long-term users may also suffer acute or sudden conditions, such as a heart attack. But these episodes often are the result of an already damaged heart due to chronic use.

Most cocaine-related deaths occur in young people between the ages of 18 and 29. As many as 47 percent of all chronic cocaine users of all ages have enlarged hearts, many without being aware of it according to study findings presented by Medical News Today. The acute dangers of cocaine use became widely reported in 1986, when 22-year-old basketball star Len Bias died of cardiac arrest after a night of what many witnesses called “normal” cocaine use. Although Bias’ death was attributed to various cocaine-related factors, including cardiac arrest, cardiac arrhythmia, and cocaine intoxication, the consensus was that the superbly conditioned athlete suffered from electrical abnormalities of the heart induced by cocaine consumption.

There is a relationship between acute and chronic heart problems and acute and chronic cocaine use. Sudden and acute heart problems, especially among younger users, often are the results of high, or acute, levels of cocaine ingestion. Among long-time users of cocaine, chronic heart problems are more common than among younger users.

Many of the acute problems in young cocaine users become chronic problems in older users or older ex-users. This is especially true of cardiovascular problems. While a young user is more likely to die from a cocaine-induced heart attack, an older user is more likely to develop long-term problems such as contracted blood vessels and capillaries, myocarditis and cardiac necrosis (damaged heart muscle).

One problem in determining conclusively the effects of cocaine on the heart, especially in older users, is demographic and lifestyle challenges for medical professionals. While many younger users may present with heart-related problems during an emergency room visit (making a diagnosis easier), older users frequently have led unhealthy lives apart from cocaine use. They often suffer from various maladies that can make direct correlation between cocaine and heart problems difficult.

Death Is A Real Danger

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, drug overdoses attributable to cocaine use showed a steady rise from 2012 through 2014, after a general downward trend over the previous seven years. Nearly 7,500 cocaine-related deaths were reported in the peak year of 2006. Males accounted for more than three times the death totals of women.

It’s Not Too Late To Get Help

If you or someone close to you is experiencing problems, we’re here to help. We can help you protect yourself and your heart, so that you may live a healthier, drug-free life. Drugrehab.org can offer assistance in directing you to resources and treatment options. We can also help you discuss various financial options. Contact us today.

For More Information Related to “Cardiovascular Effects of Cocaine: Acute and Chronic Heart Problems” Be Sure To Check Out These Additional Resources From DrugRehab.org:

• What is “Freebase Cocaine”?
• Common Street Names For Illegal Drugs
• How Long Does Cocaine Stay In Your System?
• Types of Addictions: Cocaine
• Cocaine And Alcohol: A Deadly Combination
• How Much Does a Drug and/or Alcohol Intervention Cost?
• Is Cocaine Physically Addictive? Is It Mentally Addictive?
• The Difference Between Amphetamines And Cocaine
• Cocaine Use And Depression
• Understanding Cocaine’s Effect On The Brain

Sources

National Institute on Drug Abuse — What is cocaine?
National Institute on Drug Abuse — Cocaine: Research Report Series
Circulation — The effects of acute and chronic cocaine use on the heart
U.S. National Library of Medicine — Myocardial necrosis and cocaine. A quantitative morphologic study in 26 cocaine-associated deaths
Circulation — Cardiovascular Effects of Cocaine