5 Dangers of Mixing Cocaine and Alcohol

Mixing cocaine and alcohol gives rise to cocaethylene which is even more toxic than binge drinking or abusing cocaine alone. Cocaethylene affects your heart, damages your liver, impacts your brain, and even weakens your immune system making you prone to bacterial and viral diseases.

Starting the addiction treatment early can help you avoid overdose and other deleterious effects. Reach out to ChoicePoint alcohol and drug rehab in New Jersey to safely and quickly get sober from coke and alcohol  844.445.2565.

Highlights

• People take alcohol with Coke to get a prolonged euphoria and negate the effects of Coke
• Cocaine and alcohol’s metabolite cocaethylene remains in your system for longer than either the cocaine or alcohol 
• It’s important to recognize the signs of cocaethylene and seek immediate help to prevent an emergency
• You may be asked to enter an inpatient, outpatient detox, partial care, or intensive outpatient program to overcome substance use dependency

What Happens When Cocaine and Alcohol Are Mixed?

Mixing coke and alcohol converts coke into a new chemical, called cocaethylene which is more psychoactive than cocaine. Here is how this new metabolite is formed: 

1. Alcohol inhibits the normal breakdown of the crack 
2. This leads to a chemical swap and gives rise to cocaethylene 
3. Cocaethylene increases dopamine to give a high that is more intense and lasts longer than cocaine

Here is how cocaethylene differs from its parent drug:

Why Do People Mix Coke and Alcohol?

A study published in the Journal of Addictive Behavior reports that 60% of adults admitted to using alcohol with crack. Some reported reasons include:

• To transition from the unpleasant symptoms of crack.
• To have prolonged euphoria given by cocaethylene’s long half-life
• To overcome the agitation and other side effects associated with cocaine use
• To soften the anxiety bumps arising from cocaine use
• To have better sleep, as alcohol is a depressant

While you may experience the apparent pleasing signs for a short time, it is important to remember that cocaethylene is way more toxic than cocaine or alcohol alone. It increases the chances of death by 18–25 times.

Dangers Of Substance Use In Pregnancy

5 Dangers of Mixing Alcohol and Cocaine

Cocaethylene jeopardizes your health resulting in physical and psychological symptoms: 

1. Heart Problems

Cocaethylene is 10 times more harmful to your health than cocaine alone. Spiking your whiskey, wine, beer, or other alcoholic beverages with cocaine can block the heart’s conduction, leading to a slower transmission of electrical signals and an irregular heart rhythm. This often manifests as: 

• An increased heart rate
• Elevated blood pressure
• Breathing difficulties

2. Liver Injury

Binge drinking is already a contributor to fatty liver, alcohol hepatitis, and increased chance of liver cancer. Imagine the intensity of damage to the liver when alcohol is combined with cocaine. Since it is the liver that converts cocaine into cocaethylene, the liver is exposed to the highest dose of cocaethylene that:

• Damages liver cells 
• Cause inflammation and swelling
• Can lead to liver scarring (liver fibrosis)

3. Weekend Immune System

The immune system is your defense against diseases and infections. The presence of cocaethylene weakens your defense system making you susceptible to viral and bacterial diseases. Here is how this happens:

1. It reduces the number of germ-fighting chemicals (cytokines)
2. Shrinks your spleen which filters your blood off infections
3. This deprives your body of its disease-fighting army 

If you are exposed to infections, you won’t have your cells equipped enough to keep the germs from entering your body which can result in:

• Frequently episodes of flu
• Risk of developing HIV
• Other diseases

4. Psychotic Symptoms

Within the brain, cocaethylene increases the level of dopamine – the chemical involved in controlling the reward system. As a result, you may feel:

• Energetic
• Excited
• More focused 

While they may feel pleasant temporarily, over time, this continuous effect on dopamine results in neuronal toxicity, leading to neurodegeneration and psychosis-like symptoms, such as:

• Hallucinations
• Aggression
• Paranoia

5. Complicated Pregnancy

The combination of alcohol and cocaine decreases the flow of blood reaching the developing brain, which results in the fetus receiving a lack of oxygen. Additionally, children born to mothers with a history of cocaine use had:

• Low-birth weight
• Small head size
• Language delays

How Long Does Cocaethylene Stay In Your Body? 

Cocaethylene stays in your body longer than cocaine does. Research suggests that it has a half-life of 2 hours which means that half of the cocaethylene is eliminated in 2 hours, and the next half will be eliminated in 4 hours. 

Treating Polysubstance Abuse

Using cocaine and alcohol falls under polysubstance use disorder. Polysubstance abuse is always more harmful than using one substance alone. Treating polysubstance abuse requires reaching out to a drug rehab or an addiction specialist who can provide you with a treatment plan based on your symptoms and health status. Here is what the treatment would look like:

a. Diagnosis of Substance Use Disorder 

Since cocaethylene is detectable through blood tests, your polysubstance abuse is usually confirmed by positive blood tests for cocaethylene as well as physical and psychological symptoms (weakened immune system, hallucinations, and others discussed above). 

b. Cocaine And Alcohol Withdrawal Management

The next step involves undergoing a medically supervised detox during which your doctor will slowly reduce the dose of cocaine as well as alcohol to help your body simultaneously:

• Flush alcohol out of your body 
• Get cocaine out of your system 
• Get rid of cocaethylene 
• Overcome chemical dependency

While your body begins to learn to live without these substances, you can experience the following withdrawal symptoms that can be more intense than usual alcohol or cocaine withdrawal alone: 

• Disturbed sleep patterns
• Confusion
• Lack of energy
• Loss of appetite
• Loss of focus
• Agitation
• Anxiety
• Unjustified suspicions

Addiction doctors will help to reduce the intensity of these symptoms and may prescribe medicines to make the withdrawal a comfortable process for you. Some of these could be:

• Xanax for alcohol withdrawal 
• Modafinil to address sleep issues
• Propanaol for managing agitation

c. Relapse Prevention

Once you have passed the first stage of quitting drinking and cocaine, you will enter the relapse prevention stage, which combines the provision of medicines and therapy. 

Rehab In NJ to Treat Coke and Alcohol Abuse 

Addiction treatment can be an overwhelming experience. That’s why ChoicePoint’s addiction services involve support, care, and personalized treatment to help you feel supported, cared for, and sober. We are a Fairlawn rehab providing virtual treatment throughout New Jersey. Get detox, withdrawal management, and relapse prevention strategies, all under one roof by entering one of the programs:

• Outpatient Program
• Intensive Outpatient Program
• Inpatient Treatment
• Partial Care

Our DEA-certified addiction doctors will work with you one-on-one to help you eliminate alcohol and cocaine from your body and provide the right combination of medicines to make withdrawal and abstinence easier. Call us today to begin your journey towards sobriety 844.445.2565.

Free Addiction Assessment

Please note this assessment is an initial self-screening, and it is not meant to be a medical assessment or clinical diagnosis of addiction. For proper diagnosis and treatment, schedule an appointment with ChoicePoint.

More Information On Cocaine and Alcohol

Get more scoop on the effects of drinking and taking drugs together:

Why Does Coke Go Well With Alcohol?

Alcohol is a depressant and cocaine is a stimulant. Taking them together gives rise to a new chemical called cocaethylene which gives a similar high euphoria as cocaine. That’s why people drinking cocaine and beer together might feel a long-lasting high for the time being, the combination is more toxic to your heart and overall health. 

What Happens When Alcohol and Drugs Are Taken Together?

Polysubstance abuse is risky and can increase your chances of going into a coma, losing your breath, or even dying. Here are a few conditions you can experience by taking other drugs with alcohol:

• Overdose, and cardiovascular issues when mixed with a stimulant
• Respiratory suppression – when mixed with opioids
• Extreme sedation – when mixed with benzodiazepines
• Drowsiness, depression, and anxiety – when mixed with antidepressant

Why Do People Drink Soda With Alcohol?

People drink soda with alcohol to get a quick high, or to experience a different flavor which eventually can result in liver complications, heart issues, and metabolic syndrome which can include:

• High blood pressure
• Increased body fat
• Elevated triglycerides
• Blood sugar level fluctuations

Does Cocaine and Liquor Affect Your Eyes? 

Yes, taking excessive amounts of crack or alcohol alone does affect your eyes. They expand the vessels supplying the eyes, resulting in an increased blood flow to the eyes that turns your eyes red, also called bloodshot eyes. Your eyes can:

• Become sensitive to light
• Experience irritation
• Have blurry vision

What Drugs Do Not Mix With Alcohol?

There are a lot of drugs that can negatively interact with alcohol, affecting your physical and psychological health. Some of the common ones are sedatives, such as 

• Antidepressants
• Benzodiazepines
• Opioids
• Insomnia medication

Since these medications are also central nervous system depressants like alcohol, they can lead to:

• Extremely slow breathing
• Increased sedation
• Even overdose

Other than these, alcohol can impact the mechanism of action of some antibiotics, and over-the-counter medicines. Always take advice from your doctor if you are an active drinker.

References

1. Science Direct. Cocaethylene
   https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/cocaethylene
2. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior. Cocaethylene is more potent than cocaine in mediating lethality
   https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1946594/
3. National Center For Biotechnology Information. 2017. LiverTox: Clinical and Research Information on Drug-Induced Liver Injury
   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK548454/
4. Addictive Behavior. Modulating effect of alcohol use on cocaine use
   https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10708326/
5. Academic Emergency Medicine. Cocaethylene cardiotoxicity in emergency department patients with acute drug overdose
   https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36000306/
6. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 2022. Cocaethylene, Simultaneous Alcohol and Cocaine Use, and Liver Fibrosis in People Living with and without HIV
   https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8885871/
7. Cureus. 2022. Cocaethylene: When Cocaine and Alcohol Are Taken Together
   https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8956485/
8. Psychiatry. New Medications for the Treatment of Cocaine Dependence
   https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2994240/