Cocaine

[kendo1]

I've seen people go crazy after snorting it, swatting at non-existent bugs or in a world of paranoia thinking the cops are coming to get them.

Sounds like my mother-in law.
she's just crazy though.

 

[glynndah]

I think it's a song by Eric Clapton, too.

 

[NoJo]

It's wonderful to take in small amounts, but almost impossible to take in small amounts. It's killed two of my friends. Serves them right. I took my first snort when I was 20 and just loved it. It was the same price in 1978 as it is in 2006. Nowadays I only do it once or twice a year, because it's very bad for your heart. I can immediately recognize coked-up people on TV -- they exude a nasty, soulless superficial hubris.

 

[Huckleman2000]

In most people it induces sort of a euphoria, or so I'm told. In my case, and often with ADD people, it's more of a hyper-clarity. It's MUCH easier to string thoughts together; the sheer novelty of that leads one to believe that the thoughts are deeply profound, but not in a stoned-on-pot way. It's like you're really confident and sure of everything you say, because the words come out so easily. If you're not talking to someone else on cocaine, though, you're most likely just a real boorish jerk. Later, when you think about all those profound thoughts you had, they turn out to be entirely banal. I've done it maybe a dozen times, and that was 25 years ago. I don't get what it's all about, but my brain chemistry isn't typical.

Modern psycho-pharmaceutical drugs seem to work on comparatively specific neurotransmitters in your brain. Prozac, and similar drugs, are called SSRIs, for Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors. Some other ones work on Norephinephrine (Strattera, for ADD) or both (Effexor and others). Still others work on Dopamine, which is associated somewhat with pleasure (Ritalin, Dexedrine, other amphetimines). From what I've read, cocaine pretty much floods your brain with all of those at once. After that, your brain is exhausted of those chemicals, which leads to the severe 'down' mood or 'cocaine crash' the next morning and over the following days.

Do a lot of coke, and your brain gets fucked up in how it uses those neurotransmitters, which is probably how and why it becomes so addictive and you need more and more to achieve the same effect as the first time.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Apparently all the best writers have done it. I'm sure it's just a coincidence, though.

(It did shock me to find that 4 out of my favourite 5 contemporary authors are there. Not shock-shock, but I had never thought about that particular thing.)

It's true, Stephen King did use coke...

 

[Lauren Hynde]

It's true, Stephen King did use coke...

I always thought he was more of a Pepsi sort of dude.

 

[arienette]

Thank you very much guys; I appreciate all the feedback to this thread. I'm actually quite surprised that it got so much attention.

 

[Liar]

I can immediately recognize coked-up people on TV -- they exude a nasty, soulless superficial hubris.

Coked up?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/aa/Oreilly_alt.jpg

 

[Aurora Black]

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/duranduran/whitelines.html

 

[CharleyH]

Tell me everything you know about it.

(No, I'm not doing it, don't worry)

I spent time in LA in the 1980's, wadya want to know?

Like pot it has a different effect on everyone. Unlike pot it's a feeling of being awakened, alert and alive, but don't ask me to go to a dance club while on it! Things move fast, and sadly, I got quickly bored on coke (walked out on a threesome) and rubbed my nose a lot and so did everyone else. Nevertheless, it was a good feeling, an awake feeling with no pot haze or acid/mushroom/peyote weirdnesses. Prolonged use (I have some old friends and rememberences) is detrimental to functioning, particularly in relationships and jobs.