Your brain has a natural substance called dopamine. Dopamine is in charge of controlling your reward system and movements. Your reward system gives you a satisfying feeling when you do a rewarding activity like winning a job proposal, the feeling you get after a morning exercise, etc.

Cocaine increases the level of dopamine and tops the rewarding feeling such that nothing you do ever matches the sense of using cocaine.

Under normal circumstances, dopamine recycles back to the cell that produced it and shuts off the signal connecting nerve cells. In contrast, cocaine prevents this process, causing large amounts of dopamine between nerve cells and avoiding communication between the two nerve cells.

These large amounts of dopamine highly reinforce behaviors associated with drug-taking, such as cocaine. When you continue using cocaine, your brain adapts and becomes tolerant to the drug. As a result, you continue using higher and stronger doses to achieve the previous "high" feeling.

Effects of Cocaine Abuse

Some people report that cocaine helps them perform simple mental and physical tasks more quickly; others report experiencing the opposite side effects. Large quantities of cocaine may lead to unpredictable, bizarre, and violent behaviors. It is risky to abuse cocaine since its effects happen almost immediately and disappears between a few minutes and one hour.

Short-Term Effects

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Some short-term effects of abusing cocaine include:

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• High blood pressure.

• Nausea.

• Irregular or fast heartbeats.

• Raised body temperature.

• Constricted blood vessels.

• Muscle cramps and tremors.

• Hypersensitivity to touch, sound, and sight.

• Mental alertness.

• Paranoia, unreasonable and extreme distrust.

• Irritability.

• Extreme energy and happiness.

• Dilated pupils.

Long-Term Health Effects

Long-term health effects of using cocaine before depends on the 

methods of using the drug;

General long-term effects of cocaine include:

• Collapsed veins.

• Scarring.

• Movement disorders like Parkinson's disease.

• Malnutrition due to decreased appetite.

• Cocaine binges cause extreme restlessness and irritability.

• Severe paranoia leading to auditory hallucinations.

Snorting cocaine leads to:

• Nose bleeds.

• Loss of smell.

• Problems with swallowing.

• A frequent running nose.

Smoking cocaine may cause:

• Coughs.

• Asthma.

• Higher risk of developing infections like pneumonia.

• Distress.

Putting cocaine into your gums may:

• Cause severe bowel decay.

• Reduce blood flow.

Injecting cocaine into your bloodstream:

• Poses a high risk of developing blood-borne diseases like Hepatitis C.

• Causes soft tissues or skin infections.

• Increases the chances of contracting sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV.