Glossary

Addiction: A chronic, relapsing disease characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use and by neurochemical and molecular changes in the brain.

Anesthetic: An agent that causes insensitivity to pain.

Coca: The plant, Erythroxylon, from which cocaine is derived. Also refers to the leaves of this plant.

Cocaethylene: A potent stimulant formed in the body when cocaine and alcohol are used together.

Crack: The slang term for a smokable form of cocaine.

Craving: A powerful, often uncontrollable, desire for drugs.

Dopamine: A neurotransmitter present in regions of the brain that regulate movement, emotion, motivation, and the feeling of pleasure.

Freebase: A solid, water-insoluble, and smokable form of cocaine that is produced when its hydrochloride salt form is processed with ammonia or sodium bicarbonate, and water, then heated to remove the hydrochloride. (Also, see "crack.")

Frontal cortex: The front part of the brain involved with reasoning, planning, problem-solving, and other higher cognitive functions.

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA): The main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system. GABA provides the needed counterbalance to the actions of other systems, particularly the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate.

Glutamate: An excitatory neurotransmitter found throughout the brain, that influences the reward system and is involved in learning and memory among other functions.

Hydrochloride salt: A powdered, water-soluble form of cocaine that can be injected or snorted.

Neuron: A nerve cell.

Nucleus accumbens: A brain region involved in motivation and reward. Nearly all drugs of abuse directly or indirectly increase dopamine in the nucleus accumbens, contributing to their addictive properties.

Physical dependence: A state in which the body adapts to a drug and where withdrawal occurs if use of the drug is stopped abruptly. Physical dependence can happen with chronic - even appropriate - use of many drugs, and in and of itself does not constitute addiction.

Polydrug user: An individual who uses more than one drug.

Rush: A surge of pleasure that rapidly follows administration of some drugs.

Stimulant: A class of drugs that increase or enhance the activity of monamines (such as dopamine) in the brain. Stimulants increase arousal, heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration, and decrease appetite. Includes some medications used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (e.g., methylphenidate and amphetamines), as well as cocaine and methamphetamine.

Tolerance: A condition in which higher doses of a drug are required to produce the same effect as during initial use.

Vertigo: The sensation of dizziness.