Is It Addictive?

But can they break the habit whenever they wish? One user wrote: “I used to smoke two packs of cigarettes a day. I broke that habit the first time. I tried to get off coke 32 times.” While using cocaine may not technically be considered physically addicting, there is rising evidence of psychological addiction.

Says Dr. Robert L. DuPont, Jr., former director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse: “Of all the drugs, it is the most powerful in conveying a feeling of well-being. A cocaine user wants more of it all the time, and when he stops taking it, he feels depressed and exhausted. So he tries to go on redoubling what he takes.” The mental and physical letdown that occurs when the drug wears off exerts a tremendous motivation to repeat the use of it. Cocaine can become severely habit forming.

Writer Tom Henderson, once addicted to cocaine himself, explains: “Coke tickles those pleasure centers like almost nothing else, and once they’ve been so tickled, they take over.” Dr. David Smith of San Francisco stated: “Addiction is compulsion . . . and continued used in spite of the consequences. Cocaine is very addicting.” (Time, April 11, 1983) There are many cases of persons who just cannot give up their frequent use of cocaine, even though it may mean loss of job and financial ruin. Says Dr. Charles Schuster, head of the University of Chicago’s Drug Abuse Research Center: “This is an extremely seductive drug. It’s so good that you shouldn’t even try it once.”

The “snorting” method can lead to the other common forms of use, injection and smoking, in order to get a bigger, better and faster “high.” These forms are considered the most dangerous and addicting, as the drug quickly makes its way to the brain. Although a rapid “high” is produced, it is often followed by a crash, or a period of extreme discomfort. Then more has to be taken to relieve the discomfort.