Cocaine
What is it?
Cocaine is a white powder that is refined from the coca plant. This plant grows in South America. The powder can be sniffed or snorted through a straw or rolled-up banknote and is absorbed through the nasal membranes. Cocaine is sometimes mixed with other chemicals to form crack, a smokable form of the same drug. Burning cocaine powder destroys the drug. Burning crack produces a smoke containing cocaine which usually has a purity of 90%. When the smoke is inhaled it passes into the bloodstream through the lungs and quickly reaches the brain.
What does it do?
Cocaine is a short-acting powerful stimulant and is highly addictive. The effects of cocaine powder are similar to amphetamines: talkativeness, confidence, reduced appetite, euphoria and increased energy. These effects last for about 30 minutes. Once the drug starts to wear off, it's common to experience a compulsion to take more coke to avoid coming down. Crack takes people higher (the effects are even more intense), but it is extremely short-acting. Someone using crack will experience peak effects after several minutes and find themselves coming down after ten to 15 minutes. What goes up must come down, and the higher you go, the further there is to fall.
Common after-effects are low energy, hunger and tiredness. Anxiety, irritability and paranoia are also fairly common side-effects. As with all drugs, someone taking large doses or using cocaine regularly will suffer a more extreme comedown than an occasional user. The comedown from crack is far more distressing than the comedown from cocaine powder. Mood swings, irritability, anxiety and paranoia are common. Some people who use crack regularly have developed a dependence to opiates after using heroin to take away the side effects of their crack use.
What are the risks
Regular cocaine use will lead to interrupted sleep patterns, anxiety and paranoia. Someone regularly using cocaine will find themselves feeling unable to cope without the drug They'll get very stressed out and irritable when they're not using. Someone using cocaine every weekend, for example, will soon start to find that the weekdays become something to get through until the next weekend. There is no medically accepted physical dependence associated with cocaine. Someone using it regularly will not become as physically sick as someone withdrawing from heroin. People often experience a compulsion to take more though, and can start to feel unable to have a good time unless they are using cocaine. Cocaine has an image of being a drug for rich people, and unless you're extremely wealthy using cocaine regularly will certainly create a big hole in your bank balance. A cocaine habit can become very expensive, very quickly, especially so for crack. A rock of smokable cocaine can cost £15 - £20, and it's not difficult to get through several hundred pounds' worth of the drug in an evening. Some people use cocaine during sex. Aside from the psychological experience - confidence and euphoria - cocaine is also a local anaesthetic. Rub it on your teeth and gums and they'll go numb - that's why it's been used in dentistry. Cocaine can prolong sex by reducing sensitivity, increasing the time it will take for a man to orgasm and ejaculate. It all depends on where you rub the coke. Prolonged fucking can increase the risk of catching STIs including HIV. Condoms can tear so make sure you have spares, and plenty of water-based lube.
Legal status
Cocaine is a class A drug. If you're found in possession of a class A drug for personal use and sentenced in a magistrate's court, the offence carries a maximum sentence of six months' imprisonment and a fine of £2000. The same maximum sentence applies for supplying the drug if tried at a magistrate's court. If you're found guilty of simple possession of a class A drug and sentenced at crown court, the offence carries a maximum sentence of seven years' imprisonment and an unlimited fine. For supplying or trafficking, the maximum sentence at crown court is life imprisonment and an unlimited fine. A charge of possession of a drug with intent to supply can be brought by the police. This includes giving a substance away for free, and can be for any amount of cocaine that the court feels is too unreasonably large to be for personal use only.
For a legal alternative to recreational drugs, try some of our Herbal Stimulants, all of which give you the same high but with none of the side-effects.
This online advice guide is an extract from the book TOGETHER, by kind permission of Patriic Gayle and Gay Times Books. The book itself is over 300 pages long and contains:
several chapters more useful advice and information
more in-depth information in some chapters
more pictures and tables
further contacts at the end of each chapter
a comprehensive listing of gay and health organisations
Described by Qx magazine as a 'Gay Bible', Together Book is a practical reference work no bookshelf should be without.
Available from Prowler Stores and all good bookshops, or click the link below for price and ordering details.
Cocaine is a white powder that is refined from the coca plant. This plant grows in South America. The powder can be sniffed or snorted through a straw or rolled-up banknote and is absorbed through the nasal membranes. Cocaine is sometimes mixed with other chemicals to form crack, a smokable form of the same drug. Burning cocaine powder destroys the drug. Burning crack produces a smoke containing cocaine which usually has a purity of 90%. When the smoke is inhaled it passes into the bloodstream through the lungs and quickly reaches the brain.
What does it do?
Cocaine is a short-acting powerful stimulant and is highly addictive. The effects of cocaine powder are similar to amphetamines: talkativeness, confidence, reduced appetite, euphoria and increased energy. These effects last for about 30 minutes. Once the drug starts to wear off, it's common to experience a compulsion to take more coke to avoid coming down. Crack takes people higher (the effects are even more intense), but it is extremely short-acting. Someone using crack will experience peak effects after several minutes and find themselves coming down after ten to 15 minutes. What goes up must come down, and the higher you go, the further there is to fall.
Common after-effects are low energy, hunger and tiredness. Anxiety, irritability and paranoia are also fairly common side-effects. As with all drugs, someone taking large doses or using cocaine regularly will suffer a more extreme comedown than an occasional user. The comedown from crack is far more distressing than the comedown from cocaine powder. Mood swings, irritability, anxiety and paranoia are common. Some people who use crack regularly have developed a dependence to opiates after using heroin to take away the side effects of their crack use.
What are the risks
Regular cocaine use will lead to interrupted sleep patterns, anxiety and paranoia. Someone regularly using cocaine will find themselves feeling unable to cope without the drug They'll get very stressed out and irritable when they're not using. Someone using cocaine every weekend, for example, will soon start to find that the weekdays become something to get through until the next weekend. There is no medically accepted physical dependence associated with cocaine. Someone using it regularly will not become as physically sick as someone withdrawing from heroin. People often experience a compulsion to take more though, and can start to feel unable to have a good time unless they are using cocaine. Cocaine has an image of being a drug for rich people, and unless you're extremely wealthy using cocaine regularly will certainly create a big hole in your bank balance. A cocaine habit can become very expensive, very quickly, especially so for crack. A rock of smokable cocaine can cost £15 - £20, and it's not difficult to get through several hundred pounds' worth of the drug in an evening. Some people use cocaine during sex. Aside from the psychological experience - confidence and euphoria - cocaine is also a local anaesthetic. Rub it on your teeth and gums and they'll go numb - that's why it's been used in dentistry. Cocaine can prolong sex by reducing sensitivity, increasing the time it will take for a man to orgasm and ejaculate. It all depends on where you rub the coke. Prolonged fucking can increase the risk of catching STIs including HIV. Condoms can tear so make sure you have spares, and plenty of water-based lube.
Legal status
Cocaine is a class A drug. If you're found in possession of a class A drug for personal use and sentenced in a magistrate's court, the offence carries a maximum sentence of six months' imprisonment and a fine of £2000. The same maximum sentence applies for supplying the drug if tried at a magistrate's court. If you're found guilty of simple possession of a class A drug and sentenced at crown court, the offence carries a maximum sentence of seven years' imprisonment and an unlimited fine. For supplying or trafficking, the maximum sentence at crown court is life imprisonment and an unlimited fine. A charge of possession of a drug with intent to supply can be brought by the police. This includes giving a substance away for free, and can be for any amount of cocaine that the court feels is too unreasonably large to be for personal use only.
For a legal alternative to recreational drugs, try some of our Herbal Stimulants, all of which give you the same high but with none of the side-effects.
This online advice guide is an extract from the book TOGETHER, by kind permission of Patriic Gayle and Gay Times Books. The book itself is over 300 pages long and contains:
Described by Qx magazine as a 'Gay Bible', Together Book is a practical reference work no bookshelf should be without.
Available from Prowler Stores and all good bookshops, or click the link below for price and ordering details.
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