Cocaine is the main alkaloid of Erythroxylon coca leaves, a shrub from South America (Andes), subtropical and tropical regions. In Bolivia, Juanico Coca is a variety with a higher cocaine content than Truxilo coca in Peru. And today we even learn what the chemical formula of cocaine is. South American Natives have been chewing coca leaves for thousands of years to reduce the feeling of fatigue and hunger and eliminate the unpleasant effects caused by altitude (nausea, dizziness). We will also understand what cocaine looks like. The plant used to be considered a gift from the gods and was used during religious rituals and funerals. Then they did not know that cocaine was a drug. Although the properties of coca leaves as a stimulant and suppressor of hunger have been known for many centuries, the isolation of cocaine alkaloid was carried out only in 1855. Knowledge of chemistry at that time was insufficient, proper transportation did not develop in Europe, and the leaves lost freshness during the journey. Cocaine alkaloid was first isolated by the German chemist Frederich Giedke.
Substances in Products
A "Coca Leaf Potion" was included in the original John Stitt Pemberton recipe for Coca-Cola in 1886. Another product, Peruvian tea juice, contains about 5 mg of cocaine per sachet. Cocaine has also proven itself in medicine, from colds to complex illnesses. He was completely legal and not forbidden.
The chemical formula of cocaine:
base: C 17 H 21 NO 4 , hydrochloride: C 17 H 22 NO 4 Cl.
Cocaine is considered to be a Colombian product in the world, but the leaves are mainly collected in Bolivia and Peru. Now we will tell you what cocaine is made of. Getting cocaine from coca leaves is a relatively simple process. It is important for him to know what the chemical formula of cocaine is. After harvesting, the leaves are treated with water, and after alkalization, they are extracted with kerosene. The extracted extract is treated with sulfuric acid, then lime and ammonia are made alkaline to precipitate cocaine base. People in these parts know cocaine production very well. The resulting “paste” is then purified by treatment with dilute sulfuric acid and potassium permanganate. After decantation, the resulting solution is treated with ammonia, whereby basic cocaine is obtained, which is extracted with ether or acetone, then treated with hydrochloric acid and converted to hydrochloride. We understood what cocaine is made of. From 150 kg of sheet you can get 1 kg of coke. What does cocaine look like? It is an odorless and colorless white powder. An important question is how long cocaine is excreted from the body. In the urine, a drug can be detected within three to four days.
Nervous system
The chemical formula of cocaine is methylbenzoyl-ecgonin. Synthesizing it is not as difficult as it seems. It is also called the tropane alkaloid. Cocaine uptake, in terms of use, has a limited rate of local vasoconstriction, which it causes. Liver metabolism is catalyzed by an enzyme called CE and is intense when coke is taken with alcohol at the same time. Cocaine metabolism products are more lipophilic, more closely related to the central nervous system and more toxic, which explains the increase in mortality when cocaine and alcohol are consumed simultaneously.
The main metabolite of urine during checks is benzoyl-ecgonin. The initial test for detecting a cocaine consumer is to detect it in the urine. To search for cocaine, hair or saliva is also checked.
So what are the types of this drug?
1. Coca leaves - you can chew (fresh) or smoke (dried and crushed).
2. Cocaine paste is a product of the first stage of extraction of cocaine from coca leaves. It contains 50-90% cocaine sulfate and toxic impurities. It is a white, beige or cream powder. It is usually moist and has a characteristic odor. It can be smoked mixed with marijuana or tobacco.
3. Cocaine hydrochloride is a white crystalline powder with a bitter taste, the pure analgesic effect of which firmly "holds" the consumer. Very soluble in water and alcohol, insoluble in ether.
4. Cocaine base - obtained by precipitation from an aqueous solution of hydrochloride, replaced with a base (alkalinity). The cocaine base is extracted with diethyl ether, which crystallizes into cocaine. This mechanism of action of cocaine appeared in the mid-70s.
5. "Crack" - a type of cocaine base obtained from alkalizing the hydrochloride with an aqueous solution of NaHCO3 and NH3, heating the mixture, followed by cooling and filtering the precipitate. It is processed in blocks. Type of drug in the form of cubes or yellowish-white pebbles. Its name comes from the sound (cod) that it makes when smoking.
Cocaine purity
It is preferable for the consumer to smoke a cocaine base (due to the lower evaporation temperature). The purity of the substance cocaine, the properties of the powder on the market vary widely. In the jungles of South America, it has a high degree of purity (80-90%). Impurities are obtained mainly from solvents used in the extraction of drugs. Further dilution is done in order to benefit from the market or to include the addition of local anesthetics, the synthesis of which is not subject to legislative control (lidocaine, procaine and others) or inert substances (lactose, glucose). Amphetamines are sometimes added, they are cheaper. In all these cases, the appearance changes slightly. After dilution, the concentration of cocaine in the drug market in the world is approximately 30-50%.
Ways to use
They are as follows:
- Chewing leaves.
- You can sniff - cocaine hydrochloride is used in absorption from the nasal mucosa. Dose fractionation is carried out using a sharp object (razor blade, plastic card) in a line available for use. A typical dose (“path”) for use through the nose contains 20-30 mg or more (up to 100 mg) 3-5 cm long, lies on a smooth surface (usually a mirror, glass) and “sniffs” through a straw or homemade paper the receiver. For example, from a bill. This whole arsenal is called "attributes." The strength of the effects works quickly (3-5 minutes), reaching a maximum in 15-20 minutes and lasts for about 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Smoking - the base of cocaine or “crack” is smoked using glass pipes and other methods. The drug evaporates at a lower temperature, and the latency of the effect is short (8-10 seconds). But the duration of the effect is also short (about 15 minutes). The "high" state of euphoria is followed by rapid depression, which forces the dose to be repeated, sometimes up to several times, with prolonged smoking. Under the temperature, cocaine is not produced intensively, diverging in the air, so most of the drug is lost due to its high temperature.
central nervous system
The forms of cocaine bases are more suitable for smoking (more lipophilic), because they deliver the drug to the central nervous system much faster than through the nose (about 5-8 seconds). The basis of cocaine in smoking produces a very intense, but short-lived euphoria.
Injection is a consumption regimen with the highest potential for dependence. Approximately 18% of consumers resort to injection, the latency of the effects is 15-30 seconds. This category of consumers has the highest mortality, especially when the consumer uses very dangerous combinations, such as cocaine and heroin, called the "speedometer." They have a synergistic effect and respiratory depression.
Oral use is a less common method. Cocaine is consumed in the form of hydrochloride. Cocaine offers a subjective sensation of increased productivity and physical strength. And also it objectively increases endurance and the maximum level of stress resistance to the complete depletion of the consumer’s mental reserves. With the continuous action of cocaine, the need for sleep is ignored, the feeling of hunger disappears. So a person can refuse to eat for a long time. The feeling of fatigue disappears, and the mood improves. All of this can be maintained for a limited time. Weight loss, fatigue, exhaustion, physical degradation, and ultimately functional failure are the consequences of prolonged use of cocaine. There is also a serious psychological addiction that no other substance establishes as much over time as cocaine.
Euphoria and pleasure
The delay as well as the duration of exposure are largely dependent on the route of administration. The faster the absorption, the more euphoric the effect. In case of smoking or injection, you get a wave of euphoric, explosive, “sudden” pleasure, but the duration of action is shorter.
As for the mechanism associated with the development of addiction, it is believed that the cognitive potential of cocaine is associated with its ability to block the reuptake of dopamine. Cocaine acts as a monoamine transport blocker, which has a similar relationship to the transport of dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. Blocking the reuptake of dopamine in the centers of the body's scheme underlies the potential for cocaine abuse, while blocking the reuptake of norepinephrine is associated with the production of toxic effects.
Diseases and disorders
Fatal cases are often recorded among “packers”. This is due to drug smuggling. A person swallows balls or packets of high purity and quality cocaine for transportation. It can achieve the absorption of toxic amounts of cocaine if the digestive juices corrode the package. This is fatal in 90% of cases. Death occurs through:
- Blocking the reuptake of catecholamines at the periphery, which leads to sympathetic stimulation with vasoconstriction, tachycardia, hypertension and mydriasis. The most severe manifestations of sympathetic stimulation occur with cardiovascular rhythm disturbances (ventricular fibrillation), ischemia or myocardial infarction, hypertension (even when the plasma concentration is associated with the euphoria of effects, cocaine produces an increase of 30-50% in heart rate and blood pressure.
- Toxic manifestations of the central nervous system - muscle stiffness or hyperactivity and cramps. Hyperthermia is usually associated with rhabdomyolysis, myoglobinuria and renal failure (possibly caused by cerebral infarction or intestinal perforation).
Any dose is potentially toxic. A dose of 1-1.2 g of nasal cocaine is usually a lethal dose, but mortality has also been reported at doses of 20 mg. In practice, toxic doses are difficult to predict due to differences in diluents, forgers and the percentage of cocaine in street trading. On the other hand, there are differences in individual tolerance.
Static characteristics
These include the following:
- experimental (recreational) consumption;
- regular consumption - the consumer begins to leave school or work more and more, worries about the loss of the source of drug purchases;
- daily use - the consumer loses motivation, study or work becomes indifferent;
- addiction - the consumer can not cope with everyday affairs without drugs, denies the problem; physical condition worsened, consumption became uncontrolled.
Chronic cocaine use is characterized by:
1. Mental dependence is, in fact, the only characteristic necessary and sufficient for determining addiction. Physical dependence and tolerance may be present, but not one of them is neither necessary nor sufficient in itself to define addiction. Psychiatric addiction is the psychological need to take a drug caused by thirst (intense desire to retreat from exposure to a psychoactive substance). It causes recurrence after long periods of abstinence. Chronic cocaine consumption is explained by the extremely high potential for addiction associated with a beneficial effect - positive reinforcement - (getting the desired effect) and less negative training (avoiding withdrawal symptoms). The use of cocaine with crack, as well as injection, is associated with a more rapid development of dependence on the onset of consumption.
2. Tolerance is characterized by the need for significantly increased doses to achieve greater euphoria or the desired effect with a significant decrease in the effect of continued use of the same amount. Tolerance develops for pleasant mental effects. Most consumers increase their doses to enhance and prolong the euphoric effects. This can lead to the consumption of several grams of cocaine per day.
3. Physical dependence - in the case of cocaine use, physical dependence is low, but this is “compensated” by an extremely strong mental dependence. Cocaine creates a strong mental dependence and a powerful tendency to increase the dose due to low physical dependence or pronounced tolerance to the substance. Cocaine addiction is the most eloquent example of an exclusively psychological dependence, which, in terms of its destructive effect, is comparable to the psychological and physical dependence on the use of opiates.
4. Withdrawal syndrome - relatively unmarked, apathy and depression predominate in it. It develops in three stages: depression (psychomotor agitation, anorexia, fatigue, lazy desire), accompanied by a period of anxiety, numbness, onric activity and increased drug use. At the withdrawal stage, symptoms gradually decrease with an increased risk of relapse.
5. Euphoria. After a dose, a novice has a sensation of nasal and cold anesthesia. But immediately there is a feeling of euphoria with an obvious increase in mental abilities and courage, self-confidence. The euphoria produced is active, described by the phrase “joy in motion”, in contrast to passive euphoria of opiates. The consumer feels courageous, courageous, energetic, more clear. He captures and feels an urgent need for movement and speed. This stimulation of "dynamism on credit" quickly goes away, being replaced by a state of apathy, depression and sadness, fear. The pupils enlarge, the eyes become glassy, ​​and the individual needs a second dose (usually higher) to prolong this condition. Under these conditions, auditory, visual, olfactory and tactile hallucinations and a delusional state of a tendency to action and movement can be observed. Tactile hallucinations - skin and mucous membranes - are a characteristic feature of cocaine intoxication. Chronic cocaine users experience an abnormal sensation of shredded glass, parasites under the skin. Cocaine, the consequences of its use and its traffic are severely prosecuted by the authorities.
Health problems
In the chronic use of cocaine, the consequences for a long time are associated with a wide range of serious disorders:
- leads to perforation of the nasal septum (local vasoconstriction causes damage to the nasal mucosa);
- hyperthermia (through psychomotor agitation);
- in case of infiltration - soft tissue necrosis;
- cocaine smokers can have a serious lung disease;
- disorders in the reproductive system - in men, gynecomastia and impotence are manifested, and in women, a violation of the cycle, galactorrhea, infertility. This can lead to placental abruption in the second or third trimester of pregnancy;
- various cognitive deficits of the body;
- neurological disorders with changes in performance and reduced response time in motor functions;
- convulsions, intracranial hemorrhages, ruptures;
- mental disorders - anxiety, depression, psychosis (with hallucinations);
- tachycardia, hypertension, aortic dissection;
- in case of severe intoxication, the QT interval widens, dysrhythmia, hypotension with a direct myocardial effect. Increases platelet aggregation and reduces endogenous thrombolysis and, together with vasoconstriction in the coronary arteries, can cause acute myocardial infarction;
- at the level of the gastrointestinal tract: intestinal ischemia, perforation;
- renal failure due to rhabdomyolysis or hypotension;
- increased risk of spontaneous abortion, sudden death of a child, delayed development of motor activity and cognitive development in the first years of life.