Known as a party drug, cocaine stimulates the body, creating a rush of euphoric happiness and energy. However, this party drug can overstimulate the body, cause an overdose, and there is no known medication to stop it.

If you or your loved one are addicted to cocaine, it is critical to get treatment immediately. At Atlanta Recovery Place, we offer Georgia outpatient treatment options for individuals struggling with cocaine use. Our individualized programming ensures you get the treatment you need to address your specific addiction concerns. Speak with a counselor to see how our specialized care program can help you today.

What is Cocaine?

Cocaine is a fast-acting stimulant. Surgeons can use cocaine medically to numb areas for surgery, but recreational use is illegal. It is made from the coca leaves grown in Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia. According to the DEA, Columbia produces about 90% of the cocaine powder that reaches the United States.

Cocaine is a fine white powder also known as blow, coke, or snow. In powder form, cocaine can be snorted up the nose, rubbed on the gums, or mixed with water and injected with a needle. Dealers can also make cocaine into small white rocks, called crack, to be smoked through a pipe or sprinkled in a cigarette.

What are the Symptoms of Cocaine Use?

Cocaine causes an intense high. This euphoric “rush” happens very quickly, but it’s also burned through the body at a similar rate. Smoking or injecting cocaine causes the quickest high, while snorting cocaine takes longer to create a drug buildup in the brain. Cocaine highs last anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on how the drug enters the body. Because the drug wears off so quickly, individuals often take multiple hits of the drug in a short period to maintain the high. Binging is extremely dangerous because it creates a buildup of the drug in the body that may be too much for it to process.

Individuals who use cocaine can expect to experience extreme happiness and energy, mental alertness, hypersensitivity to light, sound, and touch, irritability, and paranoia. However, if an individual binges on the drug, as is typical, individuals can expect to experience more unpredictable and violent behaviors.

Long-term use of cocaine can lead to constricted blood vessels, dilated pupils, nausea, increased body temperature in blood pressure, fast or irregular heartbeat, tremors and muscle twitches, restlessness, loss of smell, nosebleeds, problems swallowing, asthma, respiratory distress, severe bowel decay from reduced blood flow, increased risk of contracting HIV or other blood-borne pathogens, and collapsed veins. These Health concerns are just some of the possible effects of cocaine use. However, cocaine is also a drug that can cause an overdose. 

A cocaine overdose can cause irregular heart rhythms, heart attacks, seizures, and strokes. Other symptoms of cocaine overdose include difficulty breathing, high blood pressure, high body temperature, hallucinations, and extreme agitation or anxiety. Cocaine Is also uniquely dangerous because individuals have the same amount of overdosed risk from the first dose or the 10th—the risk of overdose increases in individuals who combine cocaine with other drugs and those with heart problems.

How Addictive is Cocaine?

Cocaine is highly addictive. When an individual binge uses cocaine, the amount used to get high increases because the body develops a tolerance to the cocaine in an attempt to regulate the body’s functions. Through this process, cocaine can alter the brain. 

Cocaine withdrawal symptoms can be incredibly unpleasant for someone who is used to experiencing the euphoric high and happiness of cocIn addition, detoxification from regular cocaine use often includes feelings of depression and fatigue because the individual’s body is processing at an average pace, which is much slower than when their body had cocaine in it.

Is There Outpatient Treatment for Cocaine Addiction?

There is outpatient treatment for cocaine use. Atlanta Recovery Place, a Georgia treatment facility, offers high-quality outpatient care for individuals struggling with addiction and mental health concerns. Our evidence-based outpatient treatment facility creates individualized treatment plans to help you achieve lasting recovery.

Clients struggling with substance abuse can access partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient, and outpatient treatment. We also offer sober living and dual diagnosis treatment for clients struggling with additional mental health concerns. We have been helping clients recover and rebuild their lives for nearly ten years. Our program focuses on family healing and developing a supportive community that promotes positive and healthy interactions.
Contact Atlanta Recovery Place today to learn more about why people choose our program for lasting recovery.

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