Cocaine is an alkaloid which is found in leaves of the South American shrub Erythroxylon coca. It is an extremely powerful reinforcing psychostimulant. Cocaine induces a sense of exhilaration in the user by primarily blocking the reuptake of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the central part of your brain.

The effects of cocaine are immediate, extremely pleasurable and brief. Cocaine and crack cocaine will both produce intense but short-lived euphoria and can make users feel energetic. Mich like caffeine, cocaine produces wakefulness and reduces hunger. Psychological effects include feelings of well being, an increased sense of power mixed with anxiety and restlessness. As the drug wears off these temporary sensations of mastery are replaced with intense depression which will cause the user to ‘crash’. It is typical for a user to sleep for several days after using cocaine.

In pre-Columbian times, the coca leaf was officially reserved for Inca royalty and the natives used coca for mystical, social, religious, nutritional and medicinal purposes. In 1551, the Bishop of Cuzco outlawed coca use on pain of death because it was considered ‘an evil agent of the Devil’. Catholic artist Don Diego De Robles declared that "coca is a plant that the devil invented for the total destruction of the natives." But the invaders soon discovered that without the Incan "gift of the gods", the natives could barely work the fields - or mine gold. So it came to be cultivated even by the Catholic Church. Coca leaves were distributed three or four times a day to the workers during brief rest-breaks.

Cocaine addiction is a very serious matter, and can occur very quickly and be extremely difficult to break. Animal studies have shown that animals will work very hard (press a bar over 10,000 times) for a single injection of cocaine, choose cocaine over food and water and take cocaine even when this behavior is punished. Animals must have their access to cocaine limited in order not to take toxic or even lethal doses. People addicted to cocaine behave similarly. They will go to great lengths to get cocaine and continue to take it even when it hurts their school or job performance and their relationships with loved ones.

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