Snorting Cocaine

Difference Between Snorting & Other Methods of Use

The main difference between snorting, smoking, and injecting is the time the drug takes to enter your bloodstream, but each method has its own risks and potential for addiction.

Snorted cocaine can take 30 to 45 minutes to enter the bloodstream, but the high lasts longer.

When you inject cocaine, it enters the blood immediately, creating an intense euphoria lasting up to three hours.

When smoking cocaine, it enters your bloodstream almost immediately and produces a sudden but short-lived high. Smoking cocaine may be the most dangerous way to consume it because its effects are more potent than snorting or injecting it. The short, intense high makes it the most addictive method.

Risks & Dangers of Snorting Cocaine

Cocaine is a highly addictive substance whose effects on the body are seemingly endless.

When you use cocaine, it increases the dopamine your brain produces, leading to a sense of euphoria. Continued use of the substance can deplete your brain of dopamine, which causes cravings that lead to even more use. The longer you use cocaine, the more damage occurs in your brain. You can develop mental health disorders. Neurons in your brain can die, slowing brain function. You can lose gray matter, impacting memory, movement, speech, emotions, and sensory perceptions.

Cocaine can also damage your heart, respiratory, immune, and digestive systems.

Babies born to people who use cocaine during pregnancy are often born prematurely, have low birth rates, and can suffer from Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome. Cocaine use can also cause miscarriage and placental abruption — a serious condition where the placenta separates from the uterus wall, causing heavy bleeding and possible death for mother and baby.

Infections & Diseases

Substance abuse can lead to poor decision-making and lead to risky behaviors like trading sex for drugs and needle sharing. These activities will put you at risk of getting infectious diseases like HIV, hepatitis, chlamydia, and other sexually transmitted infections. If your immune system is compromised by cocaine use, your body will be less able to fight off these and other diseases.

Loss of Smell & Sinus & Throat Issues

When you snort cocaine, it gets absorbed by the delicate mucous membranes that line the inside of your nose. Exposure to cocaine makes these membranes irritated and inflamed. That irritation can be made worse by the additives dealers use to cut the cocaine. Common cocaine additives include laxatives, caffeine, boric acid, and laundry detergent.

Cocaine also reduces blood flow to your nose, causing the blood vessels in your nasal cavity to narrow. This narrowing deprives your nose of oxygen and makes you more susceptible to nose-related complications, including:

• Loss of sense of smell.
• Nose bleeds.
• Trouble swallowing.
• Hoarseness.
• Runny nose that won’t stop.

Laced Cocaine

Cocaine comes from the cocoa plant native to Central and South America. It is processed in labs in those countries into its pure form and then transported to dealers and middlemen who mix it with other substances before selling it. Some of those substances are everyday household items like flour, baking soda, and talcum powder. Others are illicit drugs, including:

• Ecstasy (MDMA).
• Fentanyl.
• Heroin.
• Methamphetamine.

This latter group increases the toxicity of cocaine, increasing the chance of overdose and death.