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Cocaine Since crack is psychologically addictive why do people use after it stops being fun

Nooo

Greenlighter
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May 18, 2013
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People complain that crack stops being fun after long term use. It usually ends up making people paranoid and they describe the high as giving them energy instead of euphoria.

Since crack is psychologically addictive and not physiologically, why do users find it so hard to quit after it stops being pleasurable and they can see that it's ruining them? I know from experience what it's like to crave it so much that pawning your car seems like a good idea, but that's because it felt good. If it didn't feel good I wouldn't care. And I quit because I knew it would make my life worse, so if you're seeing it make your life worse wouldn't that make it easier to quit?
 
i never got crack. granted, if the stuff is good it's euphoric beyond description, but i could never get hooked on something so short-acting.
 
Ostensibly because it's still pleasurable for that 1/5 of a second...

yes, actually the first hit of the day is still euphoric. So for 20-30 seconds you feel pretty euphoric. after each consecutive hit the anxiety and physical stimulation gets worse.
 
Ostensibly because it's still pleasurable for that 1/5 of a second...

This. As with all very addictive drugs like crack, IV cocaine, heroin, etc, to the user.. the high for that split second is so glorified and feels so good that it totally cancels out all the bad shit about using. It's not logical at all but thats addiction for you. That is why they call them addicting.. because the risk reward ratio is sooooo skewed, yet we still continue to use, chasing that instant gratification and that split second feeling.

Welcome to addiction..
 
The reinforcing/rewarding effects are something you'll seek out, even when it's not possible to achieve in the way you want it to be achieved.

It is very tragic to watch people chase a high that they aren't going to get, especially when they know they aren't going to get it.
 
The reinforcing/rewarding effects are something you'll seek out, even when it's not possible to achieve in the way you want it to be achieved.

It is very tragic to watch people chase a high that they aren't going to get, especially when they know they aren't going to get it.

realy the high doesnt even matter
 
This is because it works on the reward pathways in your brain, this makes it very habit forming.
As well after prolonged use with these substances they become the only way to feel normal.
Your brain just simply doesn't function as well after long binges, but continuing to use brings you back to normal leeks per se, still cognitively impaired, but it feels more normal
 
We drug addicts are very good at remembering the pleasurable effects and very quick to forget all the negative effects of drugs. We are also good at convincing ourselves the high is worth it even if it now only lasts minutes.

It's the reason I had my cigarette this morning, it's the reason why I will inject meth again after telling myself never again and it's the reason I will go through withdrawals from opiates and benzos screaming never more at the top of my lungs untill the day it's finally over and I feel I have really deserved the relief from another fix. Rinse and repeat.
 
You are still high off your rocker for about 15 to 30 minutes as far as cocaine goes.

Everytime you hit the freebase, it creates a Serotonin-Norepinephrine-Dopamine-Sigma receptor surge... But, these surges are less pronounced while the drug is still in effect.

In a true essence, if you don’t wait long enough, you are wasting cocaine...
 
We drug addicts are very good at remembering the pleasurable effects and very quick to forget all the negative effects of drugs. We are also good at convincing ourselves the high is worth it even if it now only lasts minutes.

It's the reason I had my cigarette this morning, it's the reason why I will inject meth again after telling myself never again and it's the reason I will go through withdrawals from opiates and benzos screaming never more at the top of my lungs untill the day it's finally over and I feel I have really deserved the relief from another fix. Rinse and repeat.

Good post Toz. Spot on.
 
Never tried crack, but i have done powdered cocaine and meth before. It's addictive because it affects the nucleus accumbens, an area of the brain that's associated with pleasure, rewards and euphoria. It operates as your brain's natural reward system for performing a specific act, such as eating or having sex. Drugs, especially stimulants like crack and meth seriously affect this area. Crack imitates the pleasure-chemical, dopamine by going into neuron synapses and blocking all dopamine from being transported out of the synapse, increasing the volume of the pleasure chemical and producing a "reward" each time you use the drug.

Almost all addictive drugs affect the nucleus accumbens, and they're generally addictive because the user knows they will get a reward of a pleasurable feeling if they use the drug. Over time, however your brain begins to fall out of homeostasis (a biological balance of your body) from the drug artificially increasing dopamine in your brain and adapts the rising levels of dopamine in your brain by reducing sensitivity to that chemical. It's as if the brain is saying, "Well since we're taking a drug to increase our dopamine level, I don't need to be as sensitive to the chemical because the drug will balance it out". Essentially, your brain adapts to drug's prolonged presence by reducing sensitivity to specific neurotransmitters because it knows that the drug you're taking will increase dopamine volume (or other neurotransmitters) and achieve a temporary homeostasis when you are on the drug (assuming you're addicted to it by this point), until of course, you get off the drug . Then over time, after your brain figures out that you're not going to use the drug anymore, it begins becoming more sensitive to dopamine again and essentially begins to adapt to a similar neurological and body configuration that you were in before you ever used the drug.
 
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Being in that it grants me (oh, so briefly), the experience of such unadulterated, meticulously and patiently refined, purest of pure pleasure, that the feeling far exceeds anything else I've experienced in my 27 years on this planet. It's (for me, anyway), the highest of highs ever attainable in life. But god, does making a habit out of that shit have a way of helping me to lose, ruin or use up the things in my life that are of real necessity.

I'm so glad I don't do coke anymore/have it around me/have the money for.

[note: my experience doesn't involve smoked, but rather IV cocaine.. but close enough]
 
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