Cocaine Addiction Treatment

Cocaine creates a specific type of high that is unique when compared to other drugs. We have recently seen a decrease in the amount of people addicted to crack cocaine and an increase in the amount of people addicted to the powder form of cocaine. Our cocaine and crack addiction treatment at NTS focuses on the environmental triggers of cocaine addiction and the biological effects of cocaine.

A Sample NTS Cocaine Treatment Plan:

  • Education on the Effects of Cocaine on the Brain
  • Sex Addiction Education (sex is often a cocaine trigger)
  • Individual Therapy
  • Medication Assessment
  • Cognitive Behavior Therapy Treatment
  • Motivation Interviewing Approach
  • Group Therapy
  • One-on-One 12-Step Work

Cocaine 101:

The drug cocaine was first extracted from the leaf of the erythroxylon coca bush, which grows primarily in South America, in the mid-19th century. In the early 1900s, cocaine became the main ingredient used in most of the tonics/elixirs that were developed to treat a wide variety of illnesses. Today cocaine can still be used for medical purposes, such as a local anesthetic in dental procedures, but has gained more popularity as a “party drug.”

There are currently two popular chemical forms of cocaine used by people to get “high”: the hydrochloride salt and the “freebase.” The hydrochloride salt, or powder form of cocaine can be taken intravenously (by vein) or intra-nasally (in the nose). In the 1980′s, cocaine gained wide acceptance as a party drug and was primarily used in its powder form. Cocaine is generally sold on the street as a fine, white, crystalline powder, known as “coke,” “C,” “snow,” “flake,” or “blow.”

It wasn’t long before people developed the freebase form of cocaine. The term “freebase” refers to the cocaine compound that has not been neutralized by an acid to make the hydrochloride salt, or powdered form of cocaine.

The freebase form of cocaine is smokable. Street dealers generally dilute it with such inert substances as cornstarch, talcum powder, and/or sugar, or with such active drugs as procaine (a chemically-related local anesthetic) or with such other stimulants as amphetamines. Crack is the street name given to the freebase form of cocaine that has been processed from the powdered cocaine hydrochloride form to a smokable substance. The term “crack” refers to the crackling sound heard when the mixture is smoked. Crack cocaine is processed with ammonia or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and water, and heated to remove the hydrochloride.

Because crack is smoked, the user experiences a high in a matter of seconds, and the high only lasts a few minutes, which means that the person feels the urge to use the drug again almost immediately. This rather immediate, short lived, and euphoric effect is one of the reasons that crack has become such a harmful and addictive drug. Another reason is that crack is inexpensive both to produce and to buy. While it is inexpensive at first, eventually a person will end up spending just as much money, if not more, on crack cocaine than on the powder form of the drug.