Cocaine the Long-Term and Short-Term Essay

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The good news for those keeping an eye on the health of students in secondary school is that there has been a "…significant decline in the 30-day prevalence of powder cocaine use among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders from its peak use in the late 1990s" (nida).

Sexual Addiction

Author Paul Earley writes in the Cocaine Recovery Book that cocaine stimulates the part of the brain that stirs a sexual feeling along while decreasing a person's inhibitions. So, given the heightened sexual arousal, and a decrease in inhibition, the cocaine addict can become addicted to sexual behaviors that can be "…compulsive and bizarre… [and hence the person may] progress from compulsive and ritualistic sex to shame and remorse" (Earley, 1991). In fact Earley asserts that some male cocaine addicts try to get females addicted to the drug, engendering "…a dual addiction to sex and cocaine" (147).

Treatments for Cocaine Addiction

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, there are no FDA-approved medications that are used to treat cocaine addiction. Some medications do show promise (albeit they have not been approved for use) and those include: vigabatrin, modafinil, tiagabine, disulfiram, and topiramate (nida). What the NIDA says regarding cocaine is that the drug is a "…complex disease that involved biological changes in the brain as well as myriad social, familial, and other environmental problems" (nida).

Doctor Howard Markel writes in his book that there are12-step programs available to cocaine addicts, including "Rational Recovery" and "Women for Sobriety" along with some religious groups.

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What is important to the recovering cocaine addict, Market explains, is the role of family members during treatment; "…partners, family members, even close friends in addiction treatment…can facilitate recovery" (Markel, 2012). The patient must first recognize the problem and then agree to try to maintain abstinence, Markel explains; the counselor / therapist must help the patient develop "…the necessary psychosocial skills and spiritual development to continue in recovery," which isn't several months or a year -- it's a lifelong process (Markel). Markel presents the case that along with addiction counseling, adding psychotherapy can be effective, but first the patient must take recovery a day at a time and focus "primarily on the present rather than the past" (Markel).

In conclusion, the best way to avoid getting out of a cocaine habit is to never take that first dose, as Sigmund Freud discovered. Meanwhile, even though the drug produces euphoria and temporarily makes the user feel good -- and albeit there is a certain degree of intellectual clarity during the experience of the high -- addiction is very hard to break. In fact there are no proven drugs to use to break the habit and moreover, cocaine causes nosebleeds and can also cause stroke, heart attacks, and paranoia.

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