Alcohol addiction vs cocaine addiction?

[Behappystayhappy]

This question doesn't have anything to do with a specific person, just a question of curiosity.
I read that cocaine and alcohol both have an addiction rate of 2.13/3 people (71%.) is this really true? How are the addictions different?

The reason I'm asking is because there are obviously people in the world who have done cocaine once or twice and have turned into full time addicts - not uncommon, right?
But I've never heard of anyone becoming hooked on alcohol in that same way...
I've never been interested in trying cocaine but I've drank a decent amount of times and have never felt any dependence/addiction. But I'm pretty sure if I did cocaine just half as many times as I've drank I would probably be addicted...
This is all theoretical, not asking for advice or help for a health issue. Just curious. Thank you!

 

[Bob Loblaw]

people in the world who have done cocaine once or twice and have turned into full time addicts - not uncommon, right?

That's how everyone gets addicted, after a few uses, though the time is different for people. You've never done cocaine, so I don't think your assumption holds any water, no offence

 

[Crashing]

Alcohol addiction, like opiate or benzo addiciton, is what i like to call a 'slow burner'. Cocaine is immediately addicting, like when it starts to wear off you want more very badly because you don't want the feeling to go away. Alcohol addiction though is the product of drinking so often every day all day that you become accustomed to functioning on alcohol. Then when you take it away, you feel very fucked up because you have effectively shifted your baseline consciousness. A short term cocaine addiction is much easier to quit than an alcohol addiction. By the time alcohol addiction sets it, you're deep in the muck. Cocaine addiction can be dismissed after a couple of days sober.

In conclusion, your response to alcohol has absolutely nothing to do with the way you might respond to cocaine. Even rats get instantly hooked on the shit. When it wears off, an almost fear like feeling consumes the user and that fear of not feeling that high anymore can escalate into using more than intended.

 

[keeping]

cocaine destroyed my finances
alcohol destroyed my engagement

should've stuck to coke :/

 

[Zeeman]

Where did you get those numbers? They seem very high, especially for alcohol. I'm guessing at least 3/4 of the population drink socially, so by your numbers half the population are alcoholics. No fucking way.

No idea what the addiction rate for cocaine is either, but I think 2/3 is still an over-estimate. I don't have a study to quote, but just from personal experience: I don't know a single true cocaine addict, but I know many casual users - once a month or less at parties. And many of them aren't new users; they've kept that pattern up for 10 years or more, and show no signs of slipping into addiction.

 

[Behappystayhappy]

My source was from http://www.alternet.org/10-hardest-drugs-kick

I think what it means is that if 100 people drank/did coke daily for a very long time, 71% of them would build some sort of physical addiction/dependence.

 

[Smoky]

It depends on the origin of the source for the stats. Alcohol being legal of course will affect this.

I was addicted to cocaine, but there is no physical withdrawal as it's not a cns depressant like alcohol. If one is addicted to alcohol (dependent upon, not just abusing it), or both simultaneously the alcohol would usually come first in the am to even start functioning, then the lines… secondarily. If that makes sense.

At least ime with polysubstance dependence, I needed the heroin before the cocaine in the morning… Cocaine is short lived and constantly needed. They are both very different and incomparable in some ways, as they are not in the same class of substances.

Crashing has a good point!

 

[Bob Loblaw]

Alcohol addiction, like opiate or benzo addiciton, is what i like to call a 'slow burner'. Cocaine is immediately addicting, like when it starts to wear off you want more very badly because you don't want the feeling to go away. Alcohol addiction though is the product of drinking so often every day all day that you become accustomed to functioning on alcohol. Then when you take it away, you feel very fucked up because you have effectively shifted your baseline consciousness. A short term cocaine addiction is much easier to quit than an alcohol addiction. By the time alcohol addiction sets it, you're deep in the muck. Cocaine addiction can be dismissed after a couple of days sober.

I don't think you understand addiction & what that actually entails

 

[Crashing]

I don't think you understand addiction & what that actually entails

I'm not sure what you would consider thousands in credit debt due to crack binges, or 5 years of my life lost to heroin but.. Care to elaborate?

don't leave me hanging brother

 

[Zeeman]

My source was from http://www.alternet.org/10-hardest-drugs-kick

I think what it means is that if 100 people drank/did coke daily for a very long time, 71% of them would build some sort of physical addiction/dependence.

In the article: "Dutch scientists replicated the London study and devised a “dependency rating” that measured addictive potency of the biggest drugs out there on a precisely calibrated scale of 0-to-3"

The 3 point scale has nothing to do with the percentage of people who get addicted after using it. In fact, the article doesn't explain what the scale used means at all. Pretty unscientific and imprecise article.