Being Addicted to Crack-Cocaine - Term Paper Example

Crack cocaine refers to a freebase type of cocaine that can be taken through smoking. Crack cocaine is a highly powerful and addictive stimulant produced from powdered cocaine through a simple process of conversion. Crack cocaine is strong stimulant to the central nervous system of the body that interferes with the brain and causes excess dopamine to the brain. It has both psychological physiological effects to the body. The Psychological Effects Crack cocaine affects the user’s brain chemistry resulting to feeling of euphoria, excessive confidence, alertness, lack of appetite, addiction, insomnia, excessive energy.

The first effect is the release of dopamine, a brain chemical, in large amounts. It is this dopamine which results to euphoria leaving the user experiencing a depressed and low feeling. When smoked it is absorbed faster in the body than when it is injected. The user may take around three days without sleep as they recover from the feeling. When used in a binge, crack cocaine leads to increased irritability, paranoia as well as restlessness. According to Woods (2008), these may cause full-blown paranoid psychosis which makes the individual lose sense of reality and experience hallucinations.

Excessive use of the substance may result to fornication where the effected user feel or believe they have parasites which crawl under their skin. This is also associated with alcohol withdrawal and high fevers as well as well as hallucinations. The Physiological Effects These include dilated pupils, heart rate, increased temperature, constricted blood vessels and blood pressure. Large amounts increase the user’s feelings of highness, and may cause violent behavior, erratic and bizarre. Large amounts can also lead to muscle twitches, tremors, paranoia and vertigo as well as a toxic reaction in form of amphetamine poisoning.

Some users experience restlessness, anxiety and irritation. Under some instances which are rare death might occur on the first use of this substance which is caused by cardiac arrest or seizure accompanied by respiratory arrest. Some users may increase their dosage so as to prolong and increase the euphoric feeling hence addiction. before use after use An example of crack cocaine affected person Operant Conditioning It refers to the process in which results of a certain behavior influences the likely hood of that behavior being repeated.

This is a common condition in crack cocaine addiction. Repeated use of crack cocaine acts as reinforce or a reward, and with the association between the reward, cue and response addiction becomes stronger and stronger. This is one of the principles of the operant conditioning. The principle of the immediacy of reinforcement which argues that the faster the user follows a certain behavior the behavior becomes more powerful and it is likely that the user will repeat it. When applied in this condition it means that once the user of crack cocaine follows a certain behavior or feeling induced by the substance the more likely that they feel take it more and more resulting to addiction.

Reference: Woods, S. (2008). Colombia. London: Bradt Travel