Also known as

• coke
• charlie
• C
• snow
• gack
• a toot
• Bolivian/Columbian/Peruvian marching powder
• blow (in US).

What is cocaine?

Cocaine is a powerful stimulant, (it speeds the body up), that comes as a white powder made from the leaves of the South American coca shrub. It's usually mixed or ‘cut’ with things like sugars, talc, baking soda, painkillers, toxins or amphetamine.

Coke is normally divided into lines on a smooth surface, then snorted through a straw or rolled up bank note. It's sometimes rubbed into the gums or arse hole, smoked or (rarely) added to water and injected.

Cocaine makes the brain release its feel-good chemical dopamine.

What's the attraction?

Cocaine makes you feel

• exhilarated
• alert
• energetic
• confident
• sociable
• physically strong
• talkative.

You might believe it makes you perform better, even if you don't. It also suppresses appetite and the need for sleep. The positive effect of snorting one toot lasts up to half an hour. The effects are shorter if injected or smoked.

Cocaine and sex

The drug can make you feel hornier, more sexually confident and energetic, with a feeling of greater physical strength and increased stamina for longer sessions. An enhanced sense of touch and sensuality can increase sexual pleasure, giving longer, more powerful orgasms.

The drug has a reputation for making some users selfish or aggressive during sex. Its pain-killing effect can lead to rougher sex, causing soreness and bleeding that might not be noticed straightaway. Such skin damage makes it easier for infections to be passed on, including HIV, hepatitis C and other sexually transmitted infections.

Rubbing coke into the arse will numb it and cause irritation, making it easier to pick up or pass on infections.

Longer, rougher fuck sessions increase the risk of condoms breaking. This is especially true after around half an hour, so replacing the condom with a fresh one is recommended after about 30 minutes.

Hard-ons

Erection problems, difficulty in coming and less sex drive can all be side-effects, especially with large doses and long-term use.

Although cocaine often causes men to lose erections, taking the drug with Viagra-type drugs puts even more pressure on the body, raising the risk of medical emergencies: find out more on the page Things to know about cocaine.