The effects of cocaine are very severe and very addictive. How cocaine affects the brain is something that scientists started studying when cocaine was first discovered.
Cocaine affects the system faster than most drugs and it also makes the user "come down" off of the drug faster than most. Which means that users often "crash" when they come off the drug. Desperate for another high, the user will make getting their next fix of the drug before their family, job, or anything else that would normally be important to them.
Cocaine causes the body to release hormones like dopamine (which affects the pleasure center of the brain) and neropinephrine (which is a stimulant). With both of these hormones affecting the brain the user will likely keep running past the normal point where they would stop and rest. The hormones do not get reabsorbed by the body but keep sending mixed signals so that the body does exaggerated things like having more energy than normal.
Often users will have great feelings like euphoria and energy. This is part of the reason why the chemical is so addictive. Crack cocaine users will sometime keep on getting high for days on end until they finally crash. The body can only take so much.
The body gets a tolerance to cocaine quickly making the user need more and more. On top of which, relapse is very common because the brain remembers the feelings of euphoria so badly and wants the feeling again.
Because of the stimulant properties the drug, when repeatedly used, can cause heart problems. It also causes mental problems, like paranoia. The body becomes weak and yet the mind keeps having triggers that cause the user to want to keep doing the drug. Cocaine is very addictive and it is hard to overcome this addiction. It is important to see signs of cocaine use early so that you can get the user drug rehabilitation as soon as possible.
