Possession of Cocaine

lilac:

Alcohol and cocaine both depresses the respiratory drive and the person is prone to aspiration (getting food or fluid into the lungs). Cocaine also cause involuntary muscle contractions as well as myocardial infarction ( a heart attack). This is a simplified excerpt from emedicine which shows you that cocaine causes the following:

A.Central nervous system and neuromuscular system
1. Headache: Cocaine use commonly results in headaches. Cocaine may trigger migraine headaches, but, most importantly, the headache may be secondary to complications of cocaine use such as strokes, subarachnoid hemorrhage, meningitis, brain abscess, and vasculitis.

2.Seizures: Cocaine-related seizures usually are due to a hyperadrenergic state and usually occur within 90 minutes of drug use but have been delayed for as long as 12 hours.

3.Abnormal movements: A number of abnormal movement disorders have been observed with cocaine use. Patients may present with torticollis, trismus, dystonic reactions, and choreiform movements (“crack dancing”). While most of these are benign, abnormal contractions of the vocal cords and larynx result in laryngospasm, which may be severe enough to cause airway obstruction and suffocation.

4. Nausea and vomiting: Nausea and vomiting commonly are due to stimulation of the vomiting center of the brain and usually are self-limited.

5.Anxiety: Anxiety and restlessness are common manifestations of cocaine toxicity and are due to the sympathomimetic effect of cocaine on the brain.

B.Cardiac
1.Chest pain: Chest pain is the most frequent cocaine-related complaint and constitutes approximately 40% of cocaine-related emergency department visits. Chest pain following cocaine use may be due to a number of causes, including those directly attributable to the effects of cocaine, such as myocardial infarction and aortic dissection, and causes due to complications of the route of administration. For example, inhalation of cocaine, resulting in pneumomediastinum and pneumothorax, and intravenous injection, resulting in septic emboli, may all present with chest pain and other cardiopulmonary symptoms.
Cocaine-associated myocardial infarction may occur in as many as 31% of patients presenting to the emergency department with chest pain following cocaine use. The pain is described as substernal pressurelike discomfort and is associated with shortness of breath and diaphoresis. Patients who are affected usually are young males (aged 19-40 y) who smoke cigarettes and repetitively use cocaine.

C. Respiratory: Shortness of breath, like chest pain, is a frequent complaint bringing patients using cocaine to the emergency department and may be due to a number of cardiopulmonary processes. Cocaine smoking is associated with acute exacerbations of asthma, bronchiolitis obliterans, cardiogenic and noncardiogenic pulmonary edema, interstitial pneumonitis, pulmonary vascular hypertension, pulmonary hemorrhage, thermal injury to the airway, pneumothorax, and significant impairment of the diffusing capacity of the lung. Shortness of breath also may be due to cocaine-induced laryngospasm. Inhalation of cocaine may result in pneumomediastinum and pneumothorax.

D.Gastrointestinal: Abdominal pain following cocaine use should raise suspicion of ischemic bowel; bowel perforation; and, in the smuggler, bowel obstruction. .

E. Skeletal muscle: Cocaine use can lead to rhabdomyolysis, which may or may not be associated with hyperthermia, seizures, or agitation.