Posts Tagged cocaine addiction

Mother of Girl Killed in Crash Faces Drugged-Up Driver

Posted by Drug Free in Drug Addiction on May 24th, 2011

There’s no way a mother can easily accept the death of her child. This is what Jennifer Mirra had to face when her daughter, Melissa Ehmer-Mirra, died in a minivan crash in Queens. The incident involved a drugged-up driver, who received her sentence in court, with Jennifer in the audience carrying a picture of her child taken from the morgue files so that the defendant can clearly see the devastation she caused.

Sheila BetheaThe accused, Sheila Bethea, was driving a minivan on October 26, 2009 carrying five kids, including Ehlmer Mirra. She was speeding at 75mph in a 45mph zone, and took heroin and smoked crack cocaine earlier in the day. When the van crashed, Melissa was killed as well as another 15-year-old kid, Katherine Willis.

In a report from the NY Daily News, Bethea pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 2 to 7 years imprisonment. She is 46 years old.

In court, Bathea refused to look at Mirra’s mother and faced Queen Supreme Court Judge Dorothy Chin-Brandt. She tells the judge that she tried to pass the minivan along St. Albans Street despite a double-parked car scenario and that she was eventually side-swept. All of the five kids in the van were not wearing their seatbelts. Bethea confirmed that her mother, Genevieve Bethea, served as foster mother to the kids in accordance to a contract she signed with the Administration for Children’s Services.

Bethea was holding back her tears when she asked forgiveness from the two families that were still grieving. “God knows this was a bad accident,” Bethea said. “I’m suffering just as much as these parents are. It was an accident – a horrible accident.”

The families of the two minors who got killed in the accident filed lawsuits against ACS officials for failing to safeguard the kids under their care.

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Cocaine: Different Forms and Types of Administration

Posted by Drug Free in Drug Addiction on January 8th, 2011

To effectively fight drug abuse, we need to understand the drugs that are most commonly abused — cocaine being one of them. Cocaine comes in many forms and it can be administered in different ways.

Forms

sniffing cocaineSalts – Cocaine may come in different salts like hydrochloride and sulfate.

Freebase – This comes in a base form (not salt form). Smoking this form of cocaine has an extra effect brought by releasing methylecgonidine into the user’s sytem.

Crack – It is a cheaper form of cocaine. It is also a free-base cocaine but it contains sodium bicarbonate making it impure. It is administered usually through smoking. The term crack cocaine is derived from the crackling sound it creates once heated.

Coca leaf infusions – This is used in countries that produced coca-leaf for the purpose of herbal medicine. It is usually known as coca tea and been popular in Peru and Bolivia because of its medicinal powers such as treatment for malaise, mild stimulation and mood enhancement.

Types of Administration

Oral – This is done either through the following: rubbing the powder along the gum line, through a cigarette filter , or wrapping the cocaine in some kind of rolled paper then swallowing it.

Chewing – This is done with coca leaves mixed with an alkaline substance like lime.

Insufflation or sniffing – This is one of the most known and used method of administering cocaine.

Injection – This method gives the highest blood levels of drug in the quickest time.

Inhalation – This is also known as smoking which is done through inhaling the vapor the smoke by sublimating solid cocaine through heating.

Suppository – This is also referred to as plugging which is the insertion of cocaine through an oral syringe into the anus or vagina.

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Amphetamines versus Cocaine: The Effects

Posted by Drug Free in Drug Addiction, Drug Facts on November 18th, 2010

In a previous post, we shared with you the symptoms that may point to amphetamine and cocaine abuse. For this post, we will dwell on the effects that these substances can have on the people who abuse them.

According to the Concepts of Chemical Dependency by Harold E. Doweiko, the effects of amphetamines on a user vary in relation to the user’s mental state. These effects can also be influenced by how much amphetamine the user takes, the potency of the form of the drug that the user takes, and how the user takes it.

cocaine addictionAt low to moderate dosage levels, amphetamine users can experience any of the following effects, as enumerated in an article on TestCountry: “alertness, an elevation of mood, feeling of mild euphoria, less mental fatigue, and an improved level of concentration.” All these effects are essentially positive, and if taken by an individual or patient who really needs it, amphetamine is helpful. When the dosage taken by an individual constitutes abuse, however, the abuser may suffer from episodes of hypertension, pulmonary edema, tachycardia, arrhythmias, and even sudden cardiac death.

The effects of abusing cocaine, also according to Doweiko’s book, include impulsiveness, irritability, confusion, and paranoia, as well as an increase in blood pressure. Taking cocaine in high dosage levels, such that the cocaine in the blood reaches toxic levels, can lead to the following effects, as enumerated in the article: “cardiac arrhythmias, rhabadomyolysis, convulsion, strokes, and possible death from cardio respiratory arrest.”

Cocaine users generally feel the effects of the drug anywhere from a few minutes up to an hour. The effects of amphetamines, on the other hand, can last longer than the effects of cocaine, sometimes up to several hours.

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Amphetamines versus Cocaine: Symptoms of Abuse

Posted by Drug Free in Drug Addiction, Drug Facts on November 16th, 2010

In several of our previous posts, there are two substances that have been deemed as the most commonly abused: amphetamines and cocaine. These two substances have several things in common; they both lead to tolerance and psychological dependence, and are classified as stimulants of the central nervous system. An article on Tescountry.com shares a comparison between the two drugs, and for this post we will only dwell on the symptoms of their abuse.

drug abuseAmphetamines arrived in the market in the 1930s, mainly as a medicine for the treatment of nasal congestion. During the Second World War, amphetamines were used by soldiers to keep themselves alert; the drug was also prescribed for weight loss. Nowadays, though, amphetamines have limited use, mainly for the treatment of ADHD, narcolepsy, and Parkinson’s disease.

Those who abuse amphetamines exhibit various symptoms, which have been classified into four: behavioral symptoms, psychiatric symptoms, physical symptoms, and life-threatening symptoms. Amphetamine users tend to be irritable and confused, and exercise poor judgment. They alternately exhibit euphoria and anger.

Amphetamine users tend to suffer from depression and other such mood disorders, including paranoia. Physically, one can notice weight loss and dilated pupils in someone who is suffering from amphetamine abuse. Amphetamine abuse can sometimes lead to seizures and cardiac arrhythmias, among other life-threatening conditions.

Cocaine users essentially exhibit similar symptoms as those who abuse amphetamines. They also suffer from various mood and anxiety disorders, and have episodes of delirium, hallucination and delusion. They too tend to have dilated pupils, and have increased heart rate and blood pressure. Those who abuse cocaine may suffer from insomnia and compulsive behavior.

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Crack Cocaine: Shorter But Stronger High

Posted by Drug Free in Drug Addiction, Drug Facts on November 13th, 2010

For the most part, crack and cocaine is used interchangeably, with crack deemed only as a slang term that is used to refer to cocaine in general. It may, however, be helpful for parents to know more about the form of cocaine that is crack. The term cocaine normally conjures up images of white crystalline powder that is snorted by its users. Crack, however, assumes a different form altogether.

cocaineCrack is the end result of processing cocaine hydrochloride with ammonia or baking soda, and water; this process yields a rock crystal. Crack is used by heating the rock crystal, and inhaling the cocaine vapor or smoke that is produced.

The vapor then goes directly into the lungs. According to an article on the National Institute on Drug Abuse, inhaled cocaine is absorbed in to the bloodstream as rapidly as injecting it directly into the blood stream. The effects of cocaine, which include increased energy and mental alertness, and reduced fatigue, become more intense when cocaine is absorbed into the bloodstream and delivered to the brain faster.

Crack cocaine, therefore, has the ability to deliver a stronger high when compared to snorting powder. The high that is produced by inhaling cocaine, however, is shorter. It may last only between 5 to 10 minutes. Since the high brought about by crack does not last long, the user needs to take it again. This causes abusers to binge, defined as taking the drug repeatedly, and at increasingly higher doses, within a relatively short period of time. This binging leads to irritability, restlessness and anxiety.

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Crack Cocaine: What You Need to Know

Posted by Drug Free in Drug Facts on November 5th, 2010

There is a multitude of stories, both shared and untold, that may have a common denominator: crack. There may be young women who would turn to prostitution for a few bucks, just so they could buy crack; or men who would dip into their children’s savings to finance their addiction to cocaine. The stories are endless.

crack cocaineBut what is crack? A post on DrugFree.org shares information about the substance. Cocaine goes by a number of names. Aside from crack, other slang terms that refer to it are as follows: Big C, Blow, Coke, Flake, Freebase, Lady, Nose Candy, Rock, Snow, Snowbirds, White Crack.

Cocaine is essentially a drug that is extracted from the leaves of the coca plant, and is known to be one of the most addictive of illicit drugs. Cocaine that can be found on the street comes in two forms: cocaine hydrochloride and crack. Cocaine hydrochloride is a white crystalline powder, while crack is cocaine hydrochloride that is processed with ammonia or baking soda, and water. This process yields freebase cocaine in the form of chips, chunks or rocks.

Cocaine is used in several ways. It can be snorted, or dissolved in water and then injected. Crack can also be smoked. Its users experience a high that will leave them more energized and less tired, and they can also experience mental clarity. These feelings, however, do not last for long; snorting cocaine will leave users high for 15 to 30 minutes, while smoking crack can only bring a high that will last for 5 to 10 minutes. What will follow is depression and irritability.

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