What are the physical effects of mixing crack cocaine and alcohol?
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford
admitted Tuesday he smoked crack about a year ago but the details were hazy because he was “probably in a drunken stupor.â€
Crack and alcohol together create a third substance called
cocaethylene in the liver, researchers have found, the
Santa Clara University Wellness Center reports.
Cocaethylene “intensifies cocaine’s euphoric effects, while possibly increasing the risk of sudden death,†the center said, quoting U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse researchers.
Cocaine and alcohol together increase “the heart rate three to five times as much as either drug alone,†the Santa Clara centre says. It speeds up metabolism and alcohol reaches the brain faster, pushing up the blood alcohol level.
“Scientists have found that cocaine abuse coupled with use of alcohol leads to more impulsive decision-making and to poorer performance on tests of learning and memory than does use of either cocaine or alcohol alone.â€
“People who use alcohol and stimulant drugs together will drink more to feel the effects of alcohol because of the stimulant effects,â€
Oregon psychotherapist Michaele Dunlap says on her blog.
“When stimulant effects wear off, the alcohol effects “catch up†quickly, and that can be extremely dangerous, both in terms of physical effects and distortions of perception and judgment.
“Chronic stimulant use leads to dysphoria — a depressed, low-energy state; flattened emotions, a lack of interest in sex, and physical immobility.â€
Ford said he couldn’t remember when he used crack.
“Some of the
stuff that you guys have seen me, the state I’vebeen in? It’s a problem.â€