The Affects of Cocaine

Cocaine is an extremely detrimental drug to the body. Cocaine causes addiction, which can eventually lead to a bodily dependency on the drug, causing permanent mental and physical damage, as well as death. Short term cocaine affects include symptoms such as increased blood pressure, dilated pupils, constricted blood vessels, loss of appetite, and increased energy. The thing that causes cocaine to be so addictive is the rewarding response shortly after intake. People often take it because of the short term affects; high energy levels, mental alertness, and the overall euphoric feeling it gives them. However, as the body becomes more and more tolerant of this, a higher dose is needed to reach the level of high of which was achieved during the first use. The problem with this is the bad affects of cocaine are still active, while the "good" affects are not. This causes physical changes as well as mental, and eventually the body grows a dependency to cocaine, making a person nearly unable to stop taking cocaine even though there is no longer a euphoria involved.