Cocaine is a stimulant that increases alertness and inspires feelings of euphoria due to an increase of dopamine in the brain. It can be snorted, smoked or shot.
Cocaine is stereotyped as a white-collar drug for its prominence in the 1980s among investment bankers, who used it to stay awake long hours while working. However, in other forms, like crack cocaine or cocaine in a hard rock-like substance that can be cut with other materials, cocaine doesn't enjoy the same reputation. Regardless of form, its effects are pleasing, but the risks are serious.