Description

Educate your audience about the many dangers of Crack and Cocaine with this engaging information card. In the United States, over 1.1 million people abuse or are dependent on cocaine. Cocaine can pose a high risk for addiction because its effects happen so quickly. With this handout, you’ll have no problem conveying to your audience the dangers that come with cocaine and crack use.

The card begins by noting that cocaine is a purified extract from the coca plant. Its chemically processed to produce both powdered cocaine and crack cocaine. Crack cocaine, on the other hand, has a crystal or rock like form.

Cocaine changes the brain’s chemistry, allowing some neurotransmitters to build up. Which then results in a feeling of euphoria or being “high”. Users snort the drug or rub it onto mucous membranes, like the gums. Powdered cocaine may also be dissolved in water and injected. Crack cocaine is heated and then the fumes are inhaled. These drugs are so dangerous because while the highs are intense, they are also relatively short lived, lasting only 5 to 30 minutes. Users are likely to take the drug more frequently in order to maintain their feelings of euphoria. And with increased use, tolerance and addiction can happen quickly.

Signs of Cocaine Use or Abuse:

In the short term, cocaine causes increased energy, feelings of euphoria, dilated pupils, stokes, headaches, seizures, bizarre or violent behavior, and death. With long-term use, the drug results in tolerance, addiction, psychosis, bowel gangrene, malnourishment, brain damage, and death. These serious side effects are responsible for 450,000 to 550,000 emergency department visits every year as well as 5,000 deaths each year. Cocaine users frequently mix the drug with alcohol, making them 25 times more likely to experience sudden death.

In conclusion, the card provides a list of signs of cocaine use or abuse. Which includes a constant runny nose or sniffling, erratic mood swings, dilated pupils, extreme weight loss, withdrawing from friends and family, and sudden financial problems.

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If you like this information card, then check out more of our Cocaine and Crack Prevention materials here.