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Cocaine dependence (or addiction) is a mental desire to use cocaine often. This is different from cocaine use in the fact that it requires long-term drug use for an extended period, even with damaging effects. Damaging effects include mental and emotional effects as well as physical effects. The “high” of cocaine creates an intense feeling of happiness and extremely high amounts of energy. Cocaine use can result in withdrawal, overdose, and even death. With long-term cocaine use changes are seen in the reward and motivation center of the brain.

Statistics (numbers? Im not sure)

Illegal drugs use costs the United States close to 200 billion dollars every year. Cocaine deaths are estimated around 6,000-10,000 every year.

Signs and symptoms

Many long-term cocaine abusers display manic behaviors including aggression, paranoia, and a feeling of something moving under the skin (formication)

Risk

Different mental illness’s can play a large role in an individual’s chance of becoming cocaine dependent, opposed to being able to stop after short-term use. Other things such as environment, socioeconomic status, health, and perceived worth can also effect an individuals chances of becoming cocaine dependent.

Dependence in the brain

Cocaine dependence has effects on the brains ability to process natural rewards, such as sugar and exercise. The reward system of the brain is activated by increases in dopamine. Reward is strongly linked to desire (motivation). When an activity is performed and rewarding it is then strengthened in the brain as a good activity. Cocaine turns on this pathway in the same way as a natural reward, but at an extremely more intense level. With long-term use these intense levels produce changes that cause natural rewards to decrease in their ability to turn the pathway on. This decrease in value of natural rewards causes the brain to seek out activities that are rewarding, increasing the desire for cocaine as the only way to produce reward, or happiness.

Tolerance

Cocaine dependence results in tolerance, or needing more of the drug to produce the “high”. Cocaine tolerance is a large indicator of addiction. Tolerance increases if drug use is continued at the same rate.

Withdrawal

Long-term cocaine use can make it very difficult to stop using. If a cocaine-dependent individual stops taking the drug, they may experience withdrawal symptoms including extreme desire for cocaine, paranoia, anger, psychosis and depression. Some users may experience stomach or body aches. Cocaine withdrawal symptoms usually last anywhere from 1-2 week to a month however the mental desire to use cocaine may not go away, or may only disappear temporarily.

Treatment

Currently there is no medicine to treat cocaine dependence, however many other options exist to help those suffering such as psychotherapy, cognitive behavior therapy, 12-step program, and cocaine anonymous