If you are wondering is cocaine addictive, find out what experts have to say about cocaine and its potential for addiction.

One of the myths about cocaine use is the belief that it is not addictive. Some people believe that cocaine is not addictive because the withdrawal symptoms from stopping cocaine use are not as extreme as those experienced when quitting heroin, meth, or some other drugs. This belief can cause some individuals to engage in cocaine use, secure in the mistaken belief that occasional cocaine use is safe. An examination of what happens to the brain of someone using cocaine will give a more realistic answer to the question is cocaine addictive.

Is cocaine addictive?

In order to answer the question, "is cocaine addictive," we need to consider what constitutes addiction. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) qualifies addiction as a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences. An individual is considered to be addicted to drugs (also called having a substance use disorder) if they meet several criteria in four areas: impaired control, social impairment, risky use, and pharmacological criteria of tolerance and withdrawal.

The question of is cocaine addictive is answered by a recent study conducted at Wake Forest School of Medicine. The study showed that cocaine produces irrevocable changes in dopamine levels that leave the brain of cocaine users permanently "primed" for cocaine addiction. The study showed that even after long periods of abstinence, a single dose of cocaine returns the brain to the level of tolerance that they experienced at the highest level of their cocaine abuse. This makes cocaine addiction difficult to overcome, because users remain vulnerable to addiction and binging years after quitting. This mistaken belief has helped to contribute to the high levels of cocaine addiction in the United States. Cocaine is so highly addictive that people can become addicted to it after just a few uses.

How addictive is cocaine?

The 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health reports that out of the 1.9 million people who were current users of cocaine, approximately 896,000 qualify as having a cocaine use disorder or addiction to cocaine. That means that nearly half of all cocaine users are addicted to this dangerous drug. Those odds show that the answer to questions about how addictive is cocaine is clear: cocaine is extremely addictive.

Why is cocaine so addictive?

The answer to why is cocaine so addictive can be traced to a neurotransmitter called dopamine that produces a happy, euphoric feeling when we engage in a pleasant activity such as eating or sex. In normal conditions, dopamine is recycled and used again. When you use cocaine, dopamine becomes trapped in your brain, vastly increasing the pleasure and euphoria you experience. Your brain becomes accustomed to this higher level of dopamine, and over time requires higher doses of cocaine to produce the same high. Your brain stops responding to the smaller increases in dopamine produced by regular activities and you experience feelings of depression and irritability unless you are using cocaine. This leads to an intense craving for cocaine and the euphoria it produces.

Experts in substance abuse agree that the biggest question about cocaine addiction is not is cocaine addictive but how to combat addiction once it occurs. Overcoming cocaine addiction is not easy because the danger of relapsing remains strong years after quitting. Entering a cocaine addiction treatment center where you can learn relapse prevention strategies is the best way to achieve long-term recovery from cocaine addiction.