It’s the crux of humorous Tik Tok comments regarding an amped up guy or gal. At the micro level, we are bamboozled by the aggression of UFC’s Dana White, Barstool Sports’ David Portnoy, and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk. At the organizational level, we assume some things about the wide-eyed young men in fraternity houses and the jittery bankers on Wall Street burning the midnight oil. At the events level, we may see this at clubs and music festivals. And on the aesthetics stratosphere, sudden weight loss can be connected to something whiter than the color of quinoa. We need to be leery of this new reality: cocaine is becoming more prevalent.
We are ages away from the D.A.R.E. presentations that broad-brushed marijuana in the same vein as heroin. Marijuana acceptance in our culture is at an all-time high. Psychedelics are becoming decriminalized and touted in many circles as therapeutic. On the flip side, we feel a natural inclination to suplex the marketers of OxyContin before the jail door hits them, all the while including the opioid crisis as a mainstay in public health policy. But what about cocaine? Is anyone else afraid of the popular street drug?
The American College of Medical Toxicology states that cocaine can cause several adverse effects to organ systems, including the destruction of nose cartilage from snorted cocaine, the neurological outcomes of seizures and stroke, kidney damage, muscle damage, pulmonary edema and hemorrhage, as well as heart attack and atypical heart rhythms.₁ This is just a small list of several more adverse effects. But you caught that last part, right? A full blown heart attack—one that you can buy with a one-time purchase (although it’s more likely to occur with regular use₂).
The American Heart Association holds that:
“Cocaine can cause a sudden rise in blood pressure, heart rate and contractions of the left ventricle (or pumping chamber) of the heart. These effects can increase the risk of a heart attack. Cocaine also tightly squeezes, or constricts, the coronary arteries that feed blood to the heart. If the artery constricts, blood flow to the heart and brain can be obstructed, causing a heart attack or stroke.”₃
We typically think of heart attacks being caused by cholesterol plaques clogging up our arteries, but cocaine appears to just string in those artery diameters closer than two peas in a pod.
We have solid data too. If you look at the chart below from DrugAbuse.gov, cocaine overdose deaths are increasing at an unnerving rate. The CDC also states cocaine is involved in nearly 1 in every 5 overdose deaths.₅ We’re done with The Weather Girls’ days of raining men—it’s snowing deaths instead (pun intended).
₄
Where are the public service announcements? Why is some wokester giving a Ted Talk on “pornography addiction becoming the next epidemic” when cocaine exists and kills people? Like I said, all I see about this emerging problem are some funny Tik Tok comments here and there. That’s it.
At the time of publishing this article, I am a medical student. This is not medical advice.
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