How To Overcome Cocaine Addiction

Growing numbers of America's youth are succumbing to the misperception that there is a safe level of cocaine use.  Many who feel the curiosity or pressure to try cocaine recreationally do not realize how rapidly their experimentation can turn into full-fledged cocaine addiction, endangering health and derailing otherwise productive lives. 

If you have been using cocaine, you might be legitimately concerned that your recreational cocaine use is turning into a cocaine addiction, as so often occurs.  If any of these statements could apply to you, please consider the possibility that you have developed a potentially life-threatening cocaine addiction and seek help from local drug counselors and community rehabilitation resources.

• You use more cocaine than you originally planned.

• You have escalated the size of planned doses.
• The expectation of using cocaine fills you with excitement, almost like a high in itself.
• Cocaine use interferes with necessary parts of your daily life (work, school, social life, family life).
• Cocaine is creating a financial strain or undermining your financial stability.
• You experience physical symptoms of cocaine addiction, such as constantly runny nose, chest irritation, rapid heart beat, etc.  (For more physical symptoms, please consult our article, How To Recognize Cocaine Addiction).
• You lie about how much cocaine you ingest.
• You feel anxious that people are growing aware of your habits.
• Family or friends have approached you and you've denied that you have a cocaine addiction.
• Cocaine use leads to feelings of depression or guilt.
• You tend to use up all of your cocaine in binges.
• You occasionally feel like your life is out of your control.  You wish (however fleetingly) that you'd never tried cocaine.
• Your thoughts constantly return to cocaine after you run out of it.

Friends and family who suspect that a loved one has become addicted to cocaine face not only great pain, but also the difficult challenge of encouraging their loved one to seek professional help to take control of life once more.  It is often incredibly hard to convince an addict that he or she is truly addicted.  Generally, the person must be willing to admit to the cocaine addiction before making any progress toward quitting the drug.

1. Don't try to help from within the drug use.  Using cocaine with her, even once, is not only dangerous to your health, but also won't help you gain any credibility with your loved one.  When trying to convince her to seek help, maintain the position of someone who doesn't use drugs.  Make yourself that example of what she can once again be if she overcomes the cocaine addiction.

2. Encourage him to find help in fighting the addiction.  Your loved one's rehabilitation process might be fraught with fears that ordinary happiness has become impossible.  Cocaine addicts in treatment are very susceptible to relapse, but your loved one must find help as he overcomes cocaine addiction.
3. Don't focus on behavior.  If you try to make your loved one ashamed of her behavior, your efforts will probably be met with resentment rather than cooperation.  Remember that she's most likely felt ashamed and depressed about her behavior already.  Focus instead on the many ways that cocaine destroys healthy lives, and constantly remind her that there are solutions.
4. Intervention.  The results of interventions are mixed.  Sometimes a large group of loved ones together can convince a cocaine addict to take the necessary steps to quit.  However, the addict must not feel like you're rendering judgment or using any form of intimidation.  It's only natural for someone to become defensive when he feels like all of his friends are ganging up on him.  But knowing how many people love you can truly inspire you to make changes in your life.  When interventions succeed, they owe their success to an overwhelming sense of the love and good intentions that everyone has for the suffering cocaine addict.
5. Remain positive.  Don't ever be unrealistic as you offer your support to a recovering cocaine addict.  Acknowledge the challenges but always emphasize and praise the successes, no matter how small. 

Whether you are struggling with your own cocaine abuse or struggling to help a loved one confront and defeat cocaine addiction, treatment and loving support are abundantly available and are, together, the weapons that can help overcome cocaine addiction.