Cocaine

The most potent stimulant of natural origin, cocaine is extracted from the leaves of the coca plant (Erythroxylon coca). Pure cocaine, the principal psychoactive ingredient, was first isolated in the 1880 s. It was used as an anesthetic in eye surgery for which no previously known drug had been suitable.

Illicit cocaine is usually distributed as a white crystalline powder, often diluted by a variety of other ingredients, the most common of which are sugars such as lactose, inositol, mannitol, and local anesthetics such as lidocaine. The frequent adulteration is to increase volume and thus to multiply profits.

The drug is most commonly administered by being "snorted" through the nasal passages. Symptoms of repeated use in this manner may resemble the congested nose of a common cold. The intensity of the psychological effects of cocaine, as with many psychoactive drugs, depends on the rate of entry into the blood. Intravenous injection or smoking produces an almost immediate intense experience. Cocaine hydrochloride, the usual form in which cocaine is sold, while soluble in water and sometimes injected, is fairly insensive to heat.

"Crack", or cocaine base in the form of chips, chunks or "rocks", is usually vaporized in a pipe or smoked with plant material in a cigarette or a "joint".

Дата добавления: 2015-09-01