Teenage Drug Abuse: Cocaine is a Liar
If you wanna hang out youve got to take her out; cocaine.
If you wanna get down, down on the ground; cocaine.
She dont lie, she dont lie, she dont lie; cocaine.If you got bad news, you wanna kick them blues; cocaine.
When your day is done and you wanna run; cocaine.
She dont lie, she dont lie, she dont lie; cocaine.If your thing is gone and you wanna ride on; cocaine.
Dont forget this fact, you cant get it back; cocaine.
She dont lie, she dont lie, she dont lie; cocaine.She dont lie, she dont lie, she dont lie; cocaine.
lyrics by JJ Cale
Ah but she does lie. Eulogized by Eric Clapton in the 70’s, accessorized by small spoons on silver chains, embraced by celebrities, cocaine will, end the end, lie to the drug abusing teen with promises of ease and glamor. It’s a hip drug. It’s an easy drug, and often, it is a fatal drug.
The drug abusing teen can smoke it, snort it or shoot it up. Like all drugs, the first “rush” is overwhelming, blissful. And then it is gone, that level of euphoria never to be achieved again. But your troubled teen will still seek it, become desperate for it, add other drugs to the mix to capture it, just one more time.
Read about the effects of cocaine use and see that, indeed, cocaine is a liar:
- Cocaine causes the blood vessels to thicken and constrict, reducing the flow of oxygen to the heart. At the same time, cocaine causes the heart muscle to work harder, leading to heart attack or stroke, even in healthy people.
- Cocaine raises blood pressure, which can explode weakened blood vessels in the brain.
- A person can overdose on even a small amount of cocaine. Overdose can cause seizures and heart failure. It can cause breathing to become weak or stop altogether. There is no antidote to cocaine overdose.
- Snorting cocaine can cause sinus infections and loss of smell. It can damage tissues in the nose and cause holes in the bony separation between the nostrils inside the nose.
- Smoking cocaine can damage the lungs and cause “crack lung.” Symptoms include severe chest pains, breathing problems and high temperatures. Crack lung can be fatal.
- Injection can cause infections from used needles or impurities in the drug. Sharing needles can also cause hepatitis or HIV infection.
- Cocaine use in pregnancy may increase risk of miscarriage and premature delivery. It also increases the chance that the baby will be born underweight. Because women who use cocaine during pregnancy often also use alcohol, nicotine and other drugs, we do not fully know the extent of the effects of cocaine use on the baby.
- Cocaine use while breastfeeding transmits cocaine to the nursing child. This exposes the baby to all the effects and risks of cocaine use.
- Cocaine use is linked with risk-taking and violent behaviours. It is also linked to poor concentration and judgment, increasing risk of injury and sexually transmitted disease.
- Chronic use can cause severe psychiatric symptoms, including psychosis, anxiety, depression and paranoia.
- Chronic use can also cause weight loss, malnutrition, poor health, sexual problems, infertility and loss of social and financial supports.
(Source)
If you suspect that your troubled teen is experimenting with cocaine, intervention is necessary before the addiction escalates into out of control and often, criminal behavior.
Signs to look for are mood vacillations, reddened nose, bleeding from the nose,decreased appetites, and dilated eyes.
Relevant Tags:cocaine overdose, drug abusing, effects of cocaine, effects of cocaine use, eric clapton, snorting cocaine, teenage drug abuseTeen Crisis Intervention
March 9th, 2007 at 10:04 am
“Cocaine,” as Cale wrote it, is an anti-drug song. It’s true, I have heard Eric sing the lyrics the way you list them, but that’s not the way John wrote the song and it’s not the way he sings it. Cale’s lyrics are often subtle, as in this case. The error in the lyrics you list is the extra word “it” in the third verse. Cale’s lyrics are thus:
“Don’t forget this fact, you can’t get back; cocaine.”
“You can’t get back.”
Even if you manage to quit using, later on down the road, it changes you.
-Rock
March 11th, 2007 at 7:38 am
I appreciate the clarification Rock. The linked site that posts the lyrics has them as I copied them. Unfortunately, it was embraced by an entire generation as a song to do coke with. I can, unfortunately, attest to that, having been part of the generation who viewed the song as an anthem instead of a warning. As you say, it changes you.