• Question: Why do stimulant drugs such as Cocaine have such a terrible effect after they were consumed, for a while we are more alert with faster movement speeds, and would there be a way to produce the same affects with less terrible side effects?

    Asked by anon-188828 to Pizza Ka Yee, Paul, Nadine, Alex on 14 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Alex Reid

      Alex Reid answered on 14 Nov 2018: last edited 15 Nov 2018 11:46 am

      HI JimmiBoi123, thank you for the question. Cocaine is an example of a stimulant, a family of drugs that increase the activity of the central nervous system (which includes your brain). Cocaine can do a real number on your brain and body, and in particular has been associated with heart problems following prolonged use. A far healthier alternative would be caffeine, a stimulant found in tea and coffee. This provides a far more gentle stimulation of the CNS without the risk of sudden death from a heart attack! (among other things). While my example here is probably a very simplistic one, as both drugs do other things as well, at their core they are both stimulants. I should also add that you should do things in moderation: too much coffee is also not good for you!

    • Photo: Nadine Mirza

      Nadine Mirza answered on 14 Nov 2018:

      Like Alex has said, the job of stimulants is to essentially speed up the processes or your brain and body. Cocaine does this by making the brain produce a lot of dopamine which is the chemical responsible for pleasure and leads to the extreme energy and alertness. However, this can also include feelings of anger and irritability.
      The truly bad effects start happening once the brain gets so used to needing drugs like cocaine to produce dopamine that without it it begins to produce less and less. So we continue to need the drug to produce the dopamine. Eventually, even the amount of the drug you are taking isn’t enough to produce the essential amount of dopamine- you need more. So you need more and more of the drug to achieve the same results.
      If you can’t get the drug your brain and body goes through withdrawal- headaches, seizures, mood problems, drowsiness and unconsciousness, nose bleeds etc. and as Alex highlighted, heart damage, along with lung and bowel damage.
      As Alex has said, to achieve alertness without these kinds of drugs caffeine has been the preferred substitute in the form of energy drinks, coffee and tea. However, energy drinks aren’t particularly good for the body. I myself go a little nuts drinking coffee so I rely on copious amounts of tea!

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