Cocaine is prepared from the leaf of the Erythroxylon coca bush, which grows primarily in Peru and Bolivia. It acts as a powerful stimulant that speeds up the central nervous system and as an anesthetic that numbs whatever tissue it touches, such as the inside of the nose.

Pure cocaine was first extracted in the mid-19th century and was introduced as a tonic in patent medicines to treat a wide variety of real and imaged illnesses. Later, it was used as a local anesthetic, but today has little clinical application, having been largely replaced by synthetic local anesthetics such as lidocaine.

Common Names: coke, blow, snuff, snow, crack, C, rock

Appearance & Use: Cocaine is a fine white crystalline powder often diluted with sugar, cornstarch, calcium powder and other substances. It can be sniffed, smoked or injected. Cocaine is also converted back into its base form, eliminating adulterants and increasing its potency. This technique, know as freebasing, has become widespread with the appearance of small ready-to-smoke chunks of cocaine base known as crack.

Immediate Effects: Short-term effects appear soon after a single dose and may include euphoria, increased alertness, rapid heart beat and breathing, high body temperature, dilated pupils, sweating and decreased appetite.

Large doses can cause violent behaviour, tremors, twitching, hallucinations, pain or pressure in the chest, nausea, blurred vision, fever, muscles spasms, convulsions and death. The high generally lasts 20-60 minutes and is followed by a depression which users remedy with further doses.

Long Term Effects: With repeated use over time, users experience restlessness, extreme irritability, insomnia, suspiciousness, hallucinations, delusions, weight loss, constipation, impotence, and difficulty urinating. Snorting coke leads to congestion, a runny nose and perforation of the nasal septum.

Crack use increases the risk of abnormal heart rhythms, high blood pressure, stroke or death and lead to the coughing of black phlegm, wheezing, irreversible lung damage and hoarseness of lips, tongue and throat.

Tolerance and Dependence: There has really been no observed tolerance to cocaine’s stimulant effects; users may keep taking the original dose over extended periods and still experience the same euphoria. Yet some users frequently increase their dose to intensify and prolong the effects.

Among heavy cocaine users, an intense psychological dependence can occur, where they suffer severe depression if they are not taking the drug. Presently researchers cannot agree what constitutes physical dependence on cocaine, but physical withdrawal symptoms may include sleep and eating disorders, depression and anxiety and the craving for cocaine.

Cocaine and the Law: Cocaine is regulated under Canada's Narcotic Control Act. A first offence for possession carriers maximum penalty of $1000 fine and 6 months imprisonment. For subsequent offences, the maximum penalty is a $2000 fine and 12 months imprisonment.

Importing, exporting, trafficking and possession for the purposes of trafficking, on the other hand, carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.