Young adults who mix alcohol and cocaine are threatening their future with devastating health problems. Combining alcohol and cocaine creates a third chemical—cocaethylene—which builds up in the liver over a period of time and causes major health concerns when users reach their 30s and 40s. Few, if any, realize the devastating consequences of their behavior.
Cocaethylene, only discovered in 1979, is highly toxic, and is the only know example of two drugs forming a third when mixed in the body.
Many who take “recreational” drugs, mostly on the weekends, purposefully drink alcohol at the same time because they believe the combination enhances their “high,” which lasts longer and is more pronounced than using each drug on its own. And since they consider themselves social drinkers and recreational drug users, they don’t believe their weekend or monthly indulgences will have an effect on their future health. But they are totally unaware of the deadly chemical that is building in their body each time they combine cocaine and alcohol.
In addition to causing liver damage, cocaethylene is believed to cause heart attacks in people under the age of 40, and can be especially dangerous in those who have underlying heart problems which are often undiagnosed.
Drug centers are seeing increases in drug-related problems related to cocaethylene. Drug centers have reported an increase in crime among people who mix alcohol and cocaine as well as an increase in risky sexual behaviors.
"There is no question that the use of both alcohol and cocaine is a growing concern," Martin Barnes, chief executive of the charity DrugScope, told the United Kingdom’s Guardian newspaper. "Surveys show people who drink regularly in bars and clubs are more likely to be using alcohol and drugs. This presents challenges to health professionals about how to raise awareness of the health risks because combining the two drugs is not seen as taboo. It's simply a lifestyle choice."
The numbers of cocaine-related deaths in the United States are increasing. The U.S. National Household Drug Survey estimates that five million people mix cocaine and alcohol each month. The U.S. Drug Abuse Warning System stated: “Cocaine/ethanol abuse is a major cause of emergency medical admissions" and "the cause of increases in cocaine-related mortality," the survey stated.
Yet, most people have never even heard of cocaethylene, including those who mix alcohol and cocaine and are totally unaware that their weekend indulgences may cause premature death or disability.
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