Acute Medicine | Toxicology | Other signs of cocaine use for GPs

Other Signs of Cocaine Use
Session Overview
Description
This session reviews the signs and symptoms associated with cocaine use.

Learning Objectives
By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Describe the clinical signs and symptoms of acute cocaine toxicity

Cocaine is a commonly used recreational drug, particularly in the developed world (Europe, North American and Australasia).

Cocaine is a naturally occuring compound that is found in the leaves of the Erythroxylum coca shrub. It is available to users as either cocaine powder or crack cocaine.

There are limited medical uses of cocaine, for example it is used in nasal surgery to reduce intra-operative bleeding. The majority of cocaine use is illicit recreational drug use, with cocaine entering the UK drugs market, either trafficked directly from South America or through other EU countries (particularly Spain and Portugal).