Exact Answer: 5 to 30 Minutes

Cocaine is an addictive drug that is made from cocoa leaves. Its origin is believed to be from South America. There is a big role of cocaine in the medicine industry, for example, to provide anesthesia to the patients.

However, recreational use of cocaine is illegal. Recreational use is to use the drug to achieve an altered consciousness or a half-drowsy state of mind. The cocaine drug dealers sell is a powdered substance, white in color, and is mixed with things like talcum powder to increase profits. Cocaine is also popularly known by a lot of names which include crack, snow, blow, coke, etc.

How Long Does A Coke High Last

How Long Does A Coke High Last?

Some of the methods of injecting cocaine into the body include snorting the powder through the nose, rubbing it on the gums, or injecting it through a syringe into the bloodstream. Some people also take rock-solid cocaine and heat it to inhale the smoke and “get high” from it. This is called rock crystal.

Cocaine, after entering the body, works by increasing the dopamine levels in the brain, and hence the person loses the state of bodily movement, control, and sense of consciousness.

Eventually, people get addicted to it and go back seeking the “high”, and gradually, that turns into people feeling dejected and impatient if they do not take it into their body. The period of the cocaine high depends on the method being used to inject it and the body it is injected into. The method which would have the cocaine enter the body faster would also wear off quicker than the others.

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As injecting the drug into the bloodstream is the fastest method to get high and lose consciousness, the effect also wears off after around 5 minutes. Smoking cocaine makes the high last for about 5 to 15 minutes, whereas gumming the drug gives a high of 15 to 30 minutes. Lastly, snorting cocaine is the slowest method and hence, the high lasts for about 15 to 30 minutes too.

Method of entering the bodyPeriod of High
Snorting15-30 Minutes
Gumming15-30 Minutes
Smoking5-15 Minutes
Injecting5 Minutes

Why Does A Coe High Last from 5-30 Minutes?

Cocaine affects the body by messing with the chemical in the brain called dopamine. Dopamine is a brain chemical linked with movement and pleasure. The brain uses dopamine to communicate through the brain cells, usually, dopamine is released by one cell and is recycled back to the cell to shut off that particular signal.

What cocaine does, after entering the body, is that it stops the dopamine to get recycled, hence creating many signals at once in the brain. As the brain cannot handle so many signals at once, the normal communication gets disrupted, achieving the “high.”

After a point of time, with repetitive use of the drug, the brain gets addicted to it as it gets used to the excessive dopamine when the drug is injected. Hence, people go back to achieve the “high” and eventually get addicted to the drug.

Cocaine has different reactions on different people. While some people would get more mental alertness and do normal work easily, others feel their consciousness in a drowsy state and would not be able to focus on the tasks. It can also make the person feel extremely happy and full of energy during the period it stays inside the body.

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Some people even experience themselves turning violent and unknown paranoia. Others can also experience irritability. However, if used over a long period repetitively, cocaine ends up doing damage to the body. Some health conditions due to injecting cocaine could include nausea, increased blood pressure, restlessness, fast heartbeat, etc. It can even cause things like nosebleeds and asthma during the use of it.

Conclusion

Cocaine is a drug that is used for various medical purposes, and recreational use of cocaine is illegal. It provides a “high” or drowsy state of consciousness to a person when it enters the body. It works by messing with the brain chemical known as dopamine; it prevents it from being recycled to the cell that produced it and the signal, hence creating a not of signals in the brain.

This disrupts the normal communication n of the brain and proves what is called a “high” to the person. The period the high of cocaine would last depends upon the method used to make it enter the body, the faster the method is the slow that high would last. The high lasts between 5 minutes, by smoking, to 30 minutes, by gumming or snorting. However, if the drug is taken for a longer period, it can have serious health effects on the body such as increased heart rate, restlessness, etc.

References

  1. https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/cocaine
  2. https://drugpolicy.org/drug-facts/cocaine/what-is-cocaine
  3. https://www.mirecc.va.gov/cih-visn2/Documents/Provider_Education_Handouts/Cocaine_Information_Sheet_for_BHPs_Version_3.pdf