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Drug Effects - Cocaine

Cocaine

Cocaine is an alkaloid found in the leaves of the coca plant. The coca plant is botanically classified as a shrub and grows in a variety of climates and soil conditions. It is mainly cultivated at altitudes ranging from 500 to 1 500 metres in the tropical forests along the eastern slopes of the Andes. The coca plant lives up to 50 years and grows to a height of up to three metres.
Coca leaves are harvested throughout the year. The bushes are stripped thoroughly by hand. Once the leaves have been harvested, they are immediately dried in the sun until they are almost brittle. The dried leaves are directly transferred to a coca market or an illicit drug laboratory.

Natural cocaine is manufactured in three phases:

• The first phase involves extracting crude coca paste from the coca leaves.
• In the second phase, the coca paste is purified, turning it into cocaine base.
• The third phase involves converting the cocaine base into cocaine hydrochloride.

It takes 100 to 150 kilograms of dry leaves to produce one kilogram of dry paste. The leaves are soaked in water, a strong alkali like lime is added to release the alkaloids, and a solvent like kerosene or petrol/diesel is stirred in to dissolve the alkaloids. The solvent does not mix with the water. The solvent is separated from the water by draining the water out the bottom of the container and pouring the solvent out the top. Thereafter, sulphuric acid is added to separate out the alkaloids. The remaining paste is separated from the solvent by means of filtration and dried in the sun. 

Next, the paste is converted into a base. This process usually takes place in a ‘base lab’. This phase determines the quantities and proportions of different alkaloids in the end product. The conversion involves dissolving the paste in water and adding sulphuric acid to it to further acidify the solution. Potassium permanganate is added to the solution, causing oxidation which destroys [?] the oils and impurities almost immediately. Cocaine hydrochloride made from properly oxidized base can consist of as much as 82 per cent cocaine base.

The last step of the process is to convert the base into ‘crystal’, the South American term for cocaine hydrochloride. The base is dissolved in ether, and hydrochloric acid is added to separate out the cocaine hydrochloride crystals. Once the crystals have been collected by means of filtration, they are dried. This process is rarely carried out with less than three kilograms of base, and as much as 50 kilograms can be converted at one time. 

Crack and cocaine freebase is cocaine base obtained from cocaine hydrochloride or paste. Crack has largely replaced cocaine freebase. While cocaine hydrochloride is sniffed/snorted, crack is smoked.

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The coca leaf and all its byproducts are listed as Dangerous Dependence-Producing Substances in Part II of Schedule 2 of the South African Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act, 1992 (Act No 140 of 1992).

What effects does cocaine have on a person who uses it?

The sought-after effects of cocaine are -

• a feeling of well-being, exhilaration and euphoria;
• increased alertness and energy; and
• delayed hunger and fatigue.

The possible short-term effects of cocaine are -

• loss of appetite;
• faster breathing;
• raised heart rate;
• raised blood pressure;
• an increase in body temperature which leads to sweating;
• dilated pupils; and
• strange, erratic, at times violent behaviour.

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The possible short-term effects of large doses are -

• hallucinations;
• talkativeness; 
• a sense of power and superiority;
• restlessness;
• hyperexcitability; and
• irritability which can lead to anxiety and paranoid psychosis (which disappears if use of the drug is discontinued).

The possible short-term effects of excessive doses are -

• convulsions;
• seizures;
• stroke;
• cerebral haemorrhage; and
• heart failure

The possible long-term effects of cocaine are -

• destruction of tissue in the nose if cocaine is sniffed;
• respiratory problems if cocaine is smoked;
• contraction of infectious diseases if cocaine is injected;
• abscesses if cocaine is injected;
• malnutrition and weight loss;
• disorientation;
• indifference;
• exhaustion and disorientation as a result of sleeplessness;
• a heightened tolerance to the effects of the drug;
• a strong psychological dependence on the drug; and
• a state similar to paranoid psychosis (with continued use of the drug).

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When a person stops using cocaine he/she will first go through a period of excessive sleeping followed by a period of depression. There is a risk that the person could die of respiratory failure.

References

Terminology and Information on Drugs, Revised Edition, United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, New York, 1999.

Merck Index, 13th Edition, Merck & Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station NJ, 2001.

Selected training documents regarding drug enforcement

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