Cocaine is mischievous

[FringGustavo]

It's a psychostimulant that isn't the most powerful, has a fairly short duration of effect and encourages continuous use.

It's less dopaminergic than many other stimulants, which are far less addictive - quite a paradox.

In my opinion, it's the worst stimulant when you take into account its benefits and drawbacks.

 

[Paracelsus]

That's a really sharp take.

Cocaine works by blocking the reuptake of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin—especially dopamine—in the nucleus accumbens, a core area involved in reward. But unlike amphetamines (which cause release of these neurotransmitters), cocaine just inhibits their reabsorption. That should, in theory, make it less intense than meth or even methylphenidate. But in practice, it's more addictive for a lot of people. Why?

1. Short duration + rapid onset (especially when smoked as crack or injected): Effects hit fast and hard (especially smoked), but fade within 30–45 minutes. This creates a brutal craving–crash–repeat cycle.
2. Psychological rollercoaster: The comedown from cocaine can feel sudden and emotionally raw—anxiety, dysphoria, paranoia. People re-dose just to stop that.
3. Dopamine spikes vs. sustained elevation: Cocaine causes a sharp, short spike in dopamine. That rapid change may be more reinforcing than slower or sustained increases (like with Ritalin).
4. Social & contextual factors: Cocaine is often used in binge patterns, in party or nightlife contexts. That social reinforcement strengthens the habit loop. It’s glamorized, expensive, and tied to specific identities—which also affects the psychology of use.

Addiction isn't just about raw dopamine levels—rate of onset, context, route of administration, neuroadaptation, and individual differences in neurobiology all matter. Some argue that the pattern and rhythm of stimulation (e.g., sharp peaks and valleys) might be more important than the total amount of dopamine.

So yes—paradoxical, but not irrational.

As for whether it's the best or the worst—that's ultimately a subjective judgment. With enough interest, anyone can find arguments both highlighting its appeal and exposing its itchiness.

 

[SoldadoDeDrogas]

If you are buying some quality powder for an extended sniffing session with a close friend, that is one way to enjoy it. If you are scraping together your moms last $17 from the change jar for a $20 piece to smoke - it is quite a miserable way to exist if that is what motivates you. I can't seem to make sense or understand why people choose to live in poverty and depression just to experience these extremes at both ends, day after day. From the rush of intense euphoria and stimulation to a few moments later being paranoid, dysphoric, anxious and without money and craving more. After the initial novelty of the experience fades away there isn't much left. There are much better highs to experience at a much lower cost, and all around better things to do, even for a hedonist, but to each their own.

 

[Osmosis Vanderwaal]

As someone who was killed by cocaine, but just hasn't died yet. It's the triple reuptake inhibition it inhibits all 3 major neurotransmiters at a dose thatdoesn't kill you, not many drugs do that, they inhibit one or 2 far stonger than another, plus, it makes you so fucking cool and good looking...There are lots and lots and lots of people who say they don't understand the appeal. Let me say I've bought coacine from at least 15 fifferent vendors and paid from $100 to $360 for 3.5 grams, and none of it has been worth a damn. The highest rated venders! Some of it has been decent actually, a couple of sellers, but I can call a guy who can call a guy and somewhere within 20 miles of me in every direction I can get some stuff that is an order of magnitude stronger, more sour, grosser. Shit that makes you look like a pterodactyl when it drips in the back of your throat. I've never sold everything I own, but I've lost a lot of good stuff for sure. Being the guy with the bomb ass cocaine and a generous mentality makes you about 17 feet tall. The last stuff I bought about sent me to the hospital. turned my feet black for $350. Fool me once shame on me, fool me twice shame on me, fool me5 times, fuck, when will I learn? Cocaina and heroin (I hear, i don't partake) can't be found on the internet in top grade.

 

[SoldadoDeDrogas]

When I sniffed my first rail of fish scale at 16, a few moments later my face was numb and I was bathing in euphoria and that was my "Aha! I know why they do it now" moment. I've spent my time with coke. However, something I don't quite understand also, actually, is how cocaine from the street is a lot better then the "%90+ pure" stuff I've seen sold from DNM. It is much cheaper on the street also. So what gives?

I would like to experiment with the different salts, that would be interesting I think.

 

[Osmosis Vanderwaal]

I think it's so deep and convoluted it would take100 pages to begin to tell you. Cocaine doesn't do well in heat or oxygen. Good cocaine becomes not very good cocaine, but a test can't tell you that. People isist cocaine should be $170/ball or it's too much but good cocaine costs $106/g according to the government (that is purety/price adjusted, $170 8 ball has 1.6 grams of actual cocaine, on average, statuistically, not in reality, over an average test group of like 1000 representative samples) What it's cut with makes all the difference, some people think meth is the best cocaine they ever tried, others prefer caffiene. yet other think the best cocaine is lidocaine and some tropacocaine

 

[mycelium]

Well, I have had a stroke and forgot almost everything, from doing a small amount(2g) of coke that wasn't too good, which is why I did a bunch. And the stroke - or doing a bunch of coca, made my sense of smell leave. I can grow super bomb ass weed, but can't smell it.

 

[Osmosis Vanderwaal]

One person out of 10,000 drops dead the first time they hit crack

 

[mycelium]

Damn

 

[Osmosis Vanderwaal]

I kow a guy on Reddit, whonis from the UK and has a group, cocaine chemistry, which I moderate. He was telling me aout the state of cocain in England and linked me to a sightthat tests street drugs and publishs the data. I was looking throuh that sight and noticed a disturbing trend. The cocainein rhwe UK has an unnaturally high amount of norecocaine in it. Norcocaine is a naturall occuring metabolite, in about the 2% range, but the tests were showing 40% firgures and near that. Norcocaine is active, but it's a lot more toxic to person having an ld50 of what amounted to 2 grams for a 100kg person (and cocaine is 4g)

 

[mycelium]

Holy shit.
I got some coca in Colombia on vacation, and it rocked my world! 4g for 100$, but that's how much all of them were selling it for...

 

[Osmosis Vanderwaal]

there's a whole book that attempts to decypher what they are selling down there. "Busca" "pasta" there was another name they threw around too, one was cocaine paste, basically just stripped from the leaves and dried, nothing more, then there was a more refined product, but it was still made from the plant. They were all smoked. Did you smoke the 4 grams? Did it dissolve in water? things like crack and freebase are different because they start with highly refined cocaine hcl. One of the products was made with ashes or crushed seashells or bones for the base Yik

 

[mike jhones]

a vicious cycle I admit, I just want to know that they use it to make the mixture, make 100g become 200 someone can give me the recipe

 

[tetr00]

I have a question and while typing it out, I kind of go all over the place as usual, if you've read my posts. But I'm not going to edit out the useless stuff, maybe someone can relate.

IV coke and crack (+alchohol) are the only things I can think of that really change me when on them. If I say so myself I'm very caring and compassionate, but these two will make me enjoy making other people feel bad, humiliating them and just make me into something I'm not and I absolutely hate it. I also think synthetic cocaine makes me a bit like this, but amphetamines (any of them) and I'm learning QUALITY natural cocaine are the complete opposite. I've only had cocaine like this a handful of time and every time at first I thought wtf is this shit? Its already powdery and you tell me with a good cutting agent (Placebo, not active) I can make 4 grams of "good" coke. I personally don't cut my drugs unless I see a reason to and I never cut my speed, I'd rather just take less.

A gram of pure coke here costs about 5x what a gram of good paste and usually this "pure" gram just makes me feel like shit yet still crave more of it, but this powdery shit, I tried cutting 1:3 because I actually trust the guy selling it and knowing he had recently been in south america I did it anyway and this stuff was able to do what the amphetamines do for me except better somehow. I'm very used to the side effects of speed and have learned to live with them and most of them stopped bothering me after over a decade and a half of binge-ing pretty hardcore, I wonder what my brain would be like if I had had access to this quality coke always. The first gram got lasted me about 3 days after cutting it and sharing quite a bit with my friends, who like me always thought cocaine was really over rated and never really used it unless as part of a speedball or some other combo.

Is it possible that most of the coke I've tried in my country has been synthesized and not made from leaf at all? The high is so different, one makes me happy and sociable while the other makes me violent even. The stuff looks much more pure than the natural good shit I talked of and usually a simple ammonia cook told me 90%+ (93% at the most I think) and it would be very very potent but made me nauseus and just not good, at best it would make me into some retarded violent douchebag with this fake sense of superiority and a false ego boost that I don't need nor want. I've stopped using drugs in this manner for years, using them to shut out my feelings and problems, instead I only use stuff that I feel is doing something good for me (sometimes a good time is all it is, but thats rare these days as I appreciate being alive and surviving everything I've been through the past 15 years or so.

I'm just wondering, the price of coke alone means I would have to cut and sell it to afford using it and I don't plan on going back to that.