Taylor Gomm

Health 1050

9 September 2018

Quiz 2 Cocaine

1.What is cocaine? Where does it come from? Can you grow cocaine here? What

is the % of cocaine in the coca leaf. How cocaine is made?

Cocaine is an addictive drug and used as an illegal stimulant. Cocaine is usually in the
form of a white powder substance. There are many types of ways people use it such as
snorting, rubbing it into their gums, injecting it, or smoking it. Cocaine is extracted from
coca plants found in South America. The majority of cocaine is produced in Columbia,
Bolivia as well as Peru. This is because these places are the best place for the coca to
grow. So can we grow cocaine here? The answer would be no the coca plants needs a
certain climate that we do not have here in the US. A coca leaf contains 0.5% percent
cocaine. Cocaine can be made in various ways. One way it's made is through drying out
the coca leaves and then soaking them in lime and and other liquids which then the
cocaine is extracted.

2. Who was/is Sigmund Freud, What’s his association with cocaine? Sigmund Freud
was the founder of psychoanalysis. He is most commonly known for is love/addiction
with cocaine.

3. How cocaine works in the brain, compare cocaine with Meth in the way they

work in the brain. Quite different, but the effects are similar. Although they both affect
the users dopamine levels they are very different. While cocaine prolongs the dopamine
effect by blocking the brain from reabsorbing the dopamine. Meth also blocks the brain
from reabsorbing however, it continues increasing the release of dopamine on top of
that.

4. List 5 acute effects of cocaine: euphoric, energetic, talkative, mentally alert, and
hypersensitive to sight, sound, and touch.

5. List and EXPLAIN 2 chronic effects: panic attacks, paranoia, and sometimes a full-
blown psychosis.

6. Explain how neurons communicate using the 3 steps a) Nerve impulse b) The

binding and 3) re-uptake related to COCAINE.

The brain's Dopamine system is stimulated by food sex cocaine. The dopamine
pathway is in the middle of the brain. it also helps to control emotion and motivation,
dopamine is released by a neuron in to the synapse and then it binds to the protein,
dopamine. Dopamine acts as a messenger and goes from one neuron to another. A)
Nerve Impulse- Cocaine alters nerve impulses from one neuron to another because
dopamine is blocked. B) Binding- Dopamine binds to a protein causing the high from
cocaine. C) Re-uptake- when cocaine blocks the action of the dopamine transporter.
This happens when the dopamine is not absorbed by the neron.

7. How the traffic of cocaine has impacted governments, crime, corruption, music,

culture etc. at the international, and global level. Both at the international level and
global level cocaine has had a negative impact. Crime and corruption rates are higher
because of crack. Government is more corrupt because of cocaine. Music and culture
have both been affected by changing the dynamic of our society.

8. What is crack cocaine, how it is made? In order to make crack, powder cocaine is
dissolved in a mixture of water and either ammonia or sodium bicarbonate. The mixture
is then boiled to separate out the solid, then it is cooled. Then they cut up the solid part
into parts.

9. What is ‘Paco “cocaine? Paco is another name for coca paste. This form of crack is
fairly inexpensive and very common in South America.

10. What others sympathetic prescription medication work in similar way in the brain?
Explain.... Adderall, dextroamphetamine, these are both used for ADHD and work in the
brain the same way cocaine stimulating the brain.

11. What is a narco-submarine? In what other ways cocaine is smuggled to the US? A
narco-submarine is a submarine made by drug smugglers to get drugs across the
border under water. Drugs are smuggled through land and sea. Another way I found is
by catapult.

12. Who were/are Pablo Escobar, El chapo Guzman. Do you think building a wall in the
south border will help to reduce the flow of cocaine to the US? Why ...? Those men
were both cartel leaders. Yes, I believe building a wall will reduce the flow of cocaine
into the US. I think that because I think a lot of the drug trafficking is because there are
open borders that aren't being controlled.

13. How cocaine has influenced music/creativity? Can you sing “cocaine “by E
Clapton? No, I don't know that song. Cocaine has influenced music and creativity
throughout the years because it is a brain stimulant.
14. What are some of the sectors where cocaine is likely to be abused, tip: “ the wolf of
wall street”(movie) I found that highly paid jobs and sells jobs are were cocaine is more
likely to be abused.

15. Why cocaine was taken out of coke -cola? What was the intention of the Harrison
Act? The intention of the Harrison Act was to regulate and tax the production, importing,
and distribution of opiates and coca products. In my research I found the coca-cola
stopped using cocaine in coke because it was increasing the crime rate dramatically.

16. What was Vin Mariani ? Can cocaine and alcohol co-exist? What is cocaethylene
?Yes cocaine and alcohol can co-exist. Coca-ethylene is a tonic and patent medicine
that was produced in 1863. Cocaethylene is a unique chemical that forms in the liver
when people use cocaine and alcohol on a consistent basis.

17. Describe a typical cocaine addict, personality, social tendencies. A typical cocaine
addict is usually hyped up for no specific reason. They usually have dilated pupils, no
appetite, and lack of judgement.

18. What is the rate of success of existing rehab programs for cocaine addicts? Explain
what kind of activities these programs do. ? Inpatient treatments have a 73% success
rate while, only 21% of them actually remain sober. They do a lot of activities in rehab
like daily meetings, family therapy and personal therapy.

19. What will you tell a friend abusing cocaine? I would tell them that I care about them
a lot and I would try to get them the help they need if they want to get help.

20. How much is $ kilo of cocaine in Bogota, how much is in the streets of New

York? For Bogota it costs about $1,500 and in New York around $40,000. Yikes!