Cocaine
Press play
to watch the FRANK cocaine advert.
The British Heart
Foundation are fully supportive of the FRANK campaign warning about the
dangers of cocaine to the heart.
Cocaine is not a safe party drug.
Cocaine is often seen as party drug, but
the dark reality is that there are risks every time that you take
it,whether the first or the hundreth.
Cocaine can be deadly for the heart, it
has been associated with heart attacks, abnormal heart rhythms and
strokes. All of these can lead to death.
Find out the facts about cocaine
What is
cocaine?
Cocaine is a white powder that is divided into
small lines and usually snorted up the nose through a straw or
rolled up bank-note. It has become more popular partly due to the
drug becoming cheaper.
What class of illegal drug is
Cocaine?
Class A. In the UK Cocaine is a class A drug.
different kinds of illegal drugs into three different categories.
There are 3 different classes of illegal drugs in the UK. A, B and
C carry different levels of penalty for possession and dealing.
Drugs classified ‘A’ have the strongest penalties.
To find out more about the fines and prison sentences you can get
for carrying drugs, visit talktofrank
Why does anyone take
cocaine?
People can feel more confident and awake on it, but the effects
don’t last long, and the ‘come down’ from the high can make you
feel really miserable and worried. This is why people take more and
more and can become addicted
How
does it affect the heart?
• Cocaine is a risk to
your heart every time you take it, whether the
first time or the hundredth. But the more you take
something that is risky the more likely something will happen to
you.
• It increases your heart rate and
blood pressure. High blood pressure increases the risk of
heart attack and stroke.
• Cocaine - associated chest pains
are quite common, and as it can be difficult to know if they are
coming from the heart or the chest wall, many young people having
them end up in A&E departments, especially on a Friday and
Saturday night.
• A number of younger people
have had heart attacks linked to taking cocaine, even
though they did not have heart disease
• Cocaine – associated heart
attacks are likely to be because cocaine can cause spasm of
the arteries that feed the heart with blood. Cocaine may
also cause the blood to become stickier, making a blood clot
forming in one of these arteries more likely. There is a risk of
developing a stroke, as cocaine increases the risk
of blood clots developing.
• Cocaine can also cause dangerous
ventricular arrhythmias. These can cause the heart
to stop pumping (cardiac arrest) and death to
occur.
• Cocaine can cause myocarditis –
this is where the heart muscle becomes inflamed. You could also get
cardiomyopathy, this is when the heart muscle becomes damaged and
this is usually a long term condition, which can lead to
arrhythmias and heart failure.
• Injecting cocaine increases the
risk of endocarditis – a serious
heart condition, which many people with congenital heart disease
are already more susceptible to. There is also obviously a risk of
HIV or Hepatitis for anyone injecting drugs.
• Cocaine taken any
way can cause aortic dissection which can often be
fatal.
• You can die from an overdose, especially if
you mix Cocaine with alcohol or other drugs.
• It can cause panic
attacks, depression, anxiety, and paranoia – paranoia is
where you get panicky and think that people are out to get you.
• People often do dangerous things
while they’re high on Cocaine because they feel over confident and
don’t make safe decisions.
For more information or to talk
to some-one about cocaine talk to FRANK -
call 0800 776600 24 hours a day, every day.
Textphone for people with hearing
difficulties on 0800 9178765
