One night you go out with some friends and you are having a couple of drinks, one of your friends really likes to party hard and offers you some cocaine. What do you do? You already have alcohol in your system, should you mix alcohol and cocaine? What will happen?

Never, not ever do you mix alcohol and cocaine. Alcohol and cocaine on their own can be lethal, but try imagining what would happen to your body when mixing alcohol and cocaine together. Mixing any drug together is a huge risk and never recommended, so when you go to mix a downer such as alcohol with an upper such as cocaine you are going to take the biggest risk of all!  Studies show even mixing red bull with your vodka is dangerous and for obvious reasons, cocaine is a lot more of an upper than any red bull you will ever find. A recent study by the National Institute of Drug Abuse found when mixing alcohol with cocaine, the individual is actually creating a lethal chemical called cocaethylene. Cocaethylene is formed by the liver when mixing drugs and alcohol. Having the two substances coexist in your bloodstream can lead to immediate death. And if that isn’t reason enough to convince you or the individual to never mix alcohol and cocaine, then please continue to read the harms associated with these drugs. To understand these two drugs together you have to understand them on their own.

Alcohol definition (courtesy of Wikipedia) An alcoholic drink, or alcoholic beverage is a drink that contains a substantial amount of ethanol (informally called alcohol), a depressant which in low doses causes euphoria, reduced anxiety, and sociability and in higher doses causes intoxication (drunkenness), stupor and unconsciousness.

Alcohol is the one substance that people do not view to fall in the same category as a drug when in reality, it is one of the deadliest drugs of all. Alcohol is sold pretty much everywhere making it easy to get your hands on. A recent study shows that in 2015 over 89% of Americans consumed alcohol. Unlike some drugs, you never know what kind of “high” you will get of alcohol you can get angry, sad, tired, happy and even blackout. You never know what your night will entail when drinking alcohol.

Cocaine definition (courtesy of Google) An addictive drug derived from coca or prepared synthetically, used as an illegal stimulant and sometimes medicinally as a local anesthetic.

Cocaine is an illegal drug that is considered an “upper” that makes your heart race and spikes your blood pressure not allowing the addict to get tired. Cocaine is a “party drug” many addicts will switch to crack because cocaine is so expensive. Many individuals will only use cocaine when drinking, which in reality is very very unsafe.

Now, mixing alcohol and cocaine can be dangerous on so many levels because again you are mixing an upper (cocaine)  and a downer (alcohol) you are doing some serious confusion to your body and heart, they are conflicted on which path to take. Researchers have found that when mixing alcohol and cocaine, the risk of death is 20 times greater than just using the drugs on their own. Since the drugs are so opposite, you can never predict the high you will get. When mixing cocaine and alcohol, your body on cocaine will have a misconstrued conception of reality allowing the addict to want to drink more which may lead to alcohol poisoning. When your heart rate is constantly going up and down, in severe cases, it can cause your heart to skip a beat or even stop completely.

Mixing alcohol and cocaine does not only affect your body in short-term side effects such as

• Confusion
• Coma
• Chest pain
• Vomiting
• Heart palpitations
• Increased violence
• Stroke
• Dilated pupils
• Anxiety
• Paranoia

And mixing alcohol and cocaine also can create long-term side effects as well. The long-term side effects of mixing alcohol and cocaine can permanently ruin your life. Some of the common long-term side effects are

• Death
• Liver damage
• Kidney damage
• Loss of motor function and coordination
• Depression / increased suicidal thoughts
• Breathing problems
• Serious cravings

Mixing alcohol and cocaine can lead to serious damage to your brain and body. This is a very dark path to go down and there is no telling the outcome, you want to ensure that you never feel peer pressured into doing something, especially something that can cause serious health issues. By mixing alcohol and cocaine, you are putting major stress on your organs especially the liver. If you are ever out having a good time drinking and someone offers you cocaine, just remember the serious side effects of mixing alcohol and cocaine.

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