Creative logo illustrating Cocaine by the Drugs and Me team

Cocaine

{Coke, Charlie, Snow, Crack Rock}

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Dose and onset

How? How much? When? For how long?

The way you consume cocaine can vastly impact the experience during the ‘high’ and especially after. The dose taken, the way it’s taken and the purity of the cocaine are all important factors. Even then, the effects of using cocaine will vary depending on many factors, such as your weight, gender, metabolism and tolerance from previous use.

The purity of cocaine and which substances are added vary greatly, and this can change how much you can take. The advice below is based on the effects of pure cocaine. We understand that it is difficult to find pure cocaine, so it is best to start off taking less and seeing how you feel.

Read our section on dosing and tolerance for more information.

How you take cocaine matters...

Snorting

This is the most common way of taking cocaine. Lines or bumps of powdered cocaine are taken into a nostril and enters the bloodstream via the membrane inside your nose. Use a clean straw and clean surfaces where possible. Avoid bills, they’re very dirty.

Be careful: repeated use can cause damage to your nasal septum (the part in the middle) and makes you more susceptible to infections.

Gumming

Slightly less common, powdered cocaine is rubbed onto the inside of the lips, on the gums, or left under the tongue. This will cause localised numbness.

Be careful: this can cause damage to your gums, lips and/or teeth.

Smoking

Requires a glass pipe and only works with crack cocaine, a slightly different form of cocaine popularized in the 1980s. Do not try to smoke powdered cocaine.

Be careful: if you smoke crack cocaine you are at high risk of becoming dependent, it is also harmful to your lungs. Do not not smoke crack cocaine if you have asthma. Learn more about crack cocaine in our blog post.

Injecting

Cocaine can be directly injected into a vein, using a needle or syringe. Do not use injection methods if you are not properly trained or supervised, you can seriously injure yourself. Never share needles, you will be at risk of contracting serious infections such as HIV and Hepatitis C.

Be careful: injecting cocaine (or any drug for that matter) makes you much more likely to become dependent to it.

References: Tashkin, 2001; Brand et al., 2008; Novak and Kral, 2011; drugabuse.gov

How much cocaine?

The purity of cocaine can vary greatly. To avoid taking too much, always start low and go slow. If you increase the dose, do so gradually. Bear in mind that the effect of a certain dose of cocaine is different for each way of taking it. If you inject you must significantly lower the dose compared to snorting!

Snorting

  • Threshold: 5 - 10 mg
  • Light: 10 - 30 mg
  • Common: 30 - 60 mg
  • Strong: 60 - 90 mg
  • Heavy: 90+ mg

Smoking

  • Common: 15-50 mg

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to find reliable sources for other ways of taking cocaine. If you have a reliable source please send it to contact@drugsand.me :)

References: DanceSafe; PsychonautWiki

When do the effects of cocaine kick in and for how long?

It’s crucial to know what to expect so you can know if anything is off when you’re taking cocaine, or if you plan on mixing other drugs with it (e.g. with opposing effects).

START → when you can expect to begin to feel the effects of cocaine

PEAK → length of time that you should feel the strongest effects for

DURATION → total amount of time you can expect to experience the effects of cocaine

After that, effects will start to wind down and you might start to feel comedown effects. Remember, these times can vary also depending on the factors mentioned above, e.g. weight, metabolism, dose, and tolerance.

Snorting

  • Start: 3 - 5 min
  • Peak: ~15 min
  • Duration: 10 - 20 min

Gumming

  • Start: 3 - 5 min
  • Peak: N/A
  • Duration: 10 - 20 min

Smoking (crack cocaine)

  • Start: seconds
  • Peak: 1 - 5 min
  • Duration: 5 - 20 min

Injection

  • Start: seconds
  • Peak: 3 - 5 min
  • Duration: 10 - 20 min

References: 15. Burnett, 2015; 16. NIH.gov

How often can I take cocaine?

It’s important to know how often you can take cocaine. In the short-term you might overdose by having too much too soon. In the long-term, you might harm your body or predispose yourself to mental health issues.

Think about how you can be more mindful in your use of cocaine. Save it for special one-off occasions and try not to form a habit. Cocaine is damaging to your nose so this will also help save it from damage and allow it to recover.

If you do plan on taking cocaine, start with a small dose and pace yourself (with a new batch wait at least half an hour before redosing).

Cocaine has high addictive potential, the less often you do it, the less chances of becoming dependent. The speed at which you become addicted depends on many factors, no one person will have the same experience with cocaine.

Don’t take more cocaine to counteract the effects of a crash after using: let your body and mind recover, seek help if you are having trouble handling it.

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