Soon followed, however, by reports of fatal cocaine poisonings, mental disturbances and addiction. In 1911, Canada legally restricted cocaine use. Cocaine makes user feel euphoric, energetic, talkative and mentally alert. Large amounts may lead to erratic, possibly violent behaviour, tremors, vertigo, twitches or paranoia as well as increased blood pressure, rapid or irregular heartbeat, feelings of panic or anxiety, chest pain, heart attack, stroke or seizures. Euphoria gradually displaced by restlessness, insomnia, paranoia, eventual hallucinations and delusions.
Chronic cocaine snorting often causes stuffiness, runny nose, eczema around the nostrils.
Derived from a fungus on rye and other grains, it is then chemically manufactured in illicit labs. White, odourless, crystalline power, soluble in water. Often mixed with other substances such as sugar and packaged in capsules, tablets or solutions, or spotted onto gelatin sheets or pieces of blotting paper. Usually taken orally but sometimes inhaled or injected. Numbness, muscle weakness and trembling, increased blood pressure, heart rate and temperature, impaired co-ordination.