Cocaine

The book I read to research this post was Cocaine by John C Flynn which is an excellent book which I bought from a secondhand bookshop. John is a professor who specializes in drug addiction. Coca leaves as a way to get high were first used by the aztecs around 5BC. They also thought it was an aphrodisiac. In around 1860 a method of synthesizing a white powder which was a lot weaker than modern cocaine was first developed. In the late 1960's modern cocaine was developed. It acts primarily on cocaine receptors in the brain to get you high. It's worth noting no drug works on every receptor in the brain and the receptors reacts differently to different drugs. Also the receptors vary in their characteristics from person. That is why drugs often affect different people in different ways. Another problem is often harmful substances are mixed in with the drug so the dealer can maximize his profits which there have been cases where people have died from these chemicals. Also often people snort or inject cocaine as well as other drugs. If you have it orally it goes straight to your liver before it reaches the brain and that neutralizes some of it which is good if there is harmful chemicals with it but it also tries to neutralize the cocaine. When you snort or inject it, it goes straight to the brain which is potentially more harmful but means you get more high. One thing it says in this book is that telling people not to get high on drugs is a bit like telling people not to have sex in that there is always going to be people doing it because it's enjoyable. I think it is important to educate about drugs so they can at least make an informed choice. A final thing worth noting is often users don't know how pure a drug is and there is the potential to overdose if it is pure or almost pure.