What cocaine does to you depends on:
- How much you take.
- The type of cocaine you take.
- Your height and weight.
- Your general health.
- Your mood.
- Your past experience with cocaine.
- Whether you use cocaine on its own or with other drugs.
- Whether you use alone or with others at home or at a party, etc.
Immediate effects:
The effect of a small amount of cocaine can last from a few minutes to a few hours.
- Feel good and confident.
- Be excited or upset.
- Take more risks than usual.
- Be less hungry.
- Feel alert and energetic.
- Feel aggressive.
- Want to have sex.
Effects on your body may include:
- Your heart beats faster.
- Your body temperature rises.
- The pupils in your eyes get bigger.
- You move more quickly than usual.
If you take a large amount you might:
- Feel dizzy.
- Get headaches.
- Feel restless.
- Become violent or aggressive.
- Find it hard to concentrate.
- Lose interest in sex.
- Not feel like doing anything.
- Have chest pain.
- Have a heart attack.
- Have convulsions.
- Overdose
- Have psychosis – a serious psychological problem when you hear voices, imagine things, get frightened that others want to hurt you.
Long term effects:
If you use cocaine often and for a long time you may:
- Become dependent.
- Become aggressive, violent or have more arguments than usual.
- Have relationship, work, money, legal or housing problems.
- Snorting cocaine can lead to nosebleeds, sinus problems and damage inside the nose.
- Injecting cocaine with used needles or other equipment makes you more likely to get infected with HIV, hepatitis B or C, Blood poisoning and skin abscesses.
- Smoking freebase cocaine (crack) can cause breathing difficulties, a long-term cough, chest pain and lung damage.
