Harm Reduction with Cocaine use Safety First!

Make sure to insert the straw high up into the nasal passage before snorting. This reduces the amount of cocaine that gets trapped by nose hairs. Cocaine left in the nostril can lead to irritation and a damaged septum - and ultimately to a perforated septum.

Alternate snorting sessions between both nostrils and after snorting, rinse out your nostrils to clean off any cocaine adhering to your septum. Try water or saline in a spray bottle for this. Make sure to chop up into a very fine powder.

Reducing Injection Risks

If you don't already inject, don't start. If you already inject, switch to safer modes of administration, like smoking.

Cocaine injection is riskier than opioid injection since cocaine users inject more frequently (due to cocaine's shorter high) because cocaine acts as a tissue damaging anesthetic and because since it's an anesthetic, you can't always feel the damage you do.

If you choose to inject, to avoid re-using syringes and damaging veins, make sure you have enough injection equipment on hand. If getting from a harm reduction center or needle exchange, tell them you inject cocaine and therefore need a larger supply. Take care of your veins and maintain good injection practices to reduce infection risks. Read our harm reduction guide to heroin injection for a more complete list of safe injection tips.

If you can Switch from injecting to smoking or snorting - or at least avoid injecting in very risky sites, like the groin or neck. If you get to the point where you need to rely on very dangerous points, it's time to stop injecting.

Avoid skin popping. Cocaine isn't easily absorbed into tissue and can lead to constricted blood flow and tissue damage. Under-skin tissue damage can lead to discoloration at the injection site.1

Reducing Smoking Harms

Don't share pipes. Sharing pipes or stems can lead to the transmission of HIV, herpes, hepatitis and other diseases.

To prevent cuts and burns, wrap stem ends with tape or rubber.

To avoid hand burns, buy a good lighter. A burner type, rather than a flame type, may be preferable, since you'll avoid inhaling the heat from a close flame.

Treat lip cuts and burns with a water-based lip balm. Don't smoke from drink bottles or cans. This can lead to lung damage through the inhalation of ash, paint and toxic dust (a glass pipe is a much safer alternative).

Use a wire screen in your pipe to prevent the inhalation of hot particles. Let the pipe cool down between hits. If chasing, use real tinfoil and not foil from packaged foods like candy bars. This type of foil can have harmful contaminants.2 Get medical attention at the first signs of lung damage (don't wait until it's too late). See a doctor if your breathing is wheezy or painful after a session. Because of crack's anesthetic properties, you often can't feel lung pain until after the drugs wear off.

Avoiding Infection

Don't share snorting straws. Minute (invisible) flecks of blood are often present and these can confer HIV or hepatitis C between users. It's not just the syringe, you can't safely share any injection gear; use your own cooker, cotton, tie and water too. Don't use a rolled-up bill to snort with. These bills are far from sterile and can transfer many common infections when inserted against the mucous membranes of your nasal cavity. Carry and use condoms. Cocaine can make you rock hard :D. Get a hepatitis B vaccine or booster.

The Come Down :(. Think about how to ease the discomfort of the crash. Know that the worst part of the crash only lasts for 45 minutes to an hour. Try relaxation techniques to calm down during the crash. Some people find eating after a binge can help get you feeling better.

Avoid using alcohol during the crash.

If your binges tend to get out of control, limit your access to cash before you begin a session so you won't end-up with nothing to pay the rent.

You might try asking a freind to hold onto your money for a while or leaving with only a set amount of money and no ATM card.

Signs of cocaine overdose :

Nausea and throwing up. Passing out. An Warm body temperature and heavy sweating. Racing heart beat. Any signs of heart attack, such as chest pain (tightening in the chest). Intense headache. Muscle cramps. Being unable to piss. Feeling short of breath or breathing irregularly. Experiencing tremors or convulsions or signs of seizure, like drooling or frothing or limb spasms or rigidity. Grinding teeth. Signs of stroke, such as: a sudden inability to talk normally or understand what other people are saying, sudden weakness or loss of feeling in the face, arms or legs (usually on one side of the body), sudden loss of balance and Hand Eye coordination and or sudden vision difficulties.


Comments


[11 Points] givemeoil420:

great info.... a cocaine grinder is a great cheap tool to help get a fine powder (ebay hand powder grinder ) ... i would also suggest a metal tool for the nose to help get the fine powder past your nasal cavity


[7 Points] harmreductionforall:

Excellent post. I dont think anyone has posted harm reduction info about cocaine use. Up voted for visibility and excellent content.

Everything you state is spot on. The only reservation that I would have is using a metallic snorter and passing it past the nasal septum.

This is easy enough for a large number of people to do however deviated septums are not uncommon and anyone who has had a nasal fracture may also struggle to instrument their nasopharyngeal space safely (where your snorter ends up if you push in past the septum).

The danger with passing a metal snorter is that if you aim it upwards or at an angle you can cause serious damage. There is only a thin plate of bone separating the back of your nose and skull and if you use a long enough snorter (i've never seen one or anyone use one but just in case someone goes all DIY) or aim upwards it is very easy to fracture this bone. This is a medical emergency as brain fluid (sterile) is now in contact with mucous from your nose (full of bugs).

How cocaine damages the nasal septum is often misunderstood, no disrespect intended. The damage to the septum is due to the powerful vasoconstriction that is caused by cocaine. Even if you are to snort past the septum the effect of the drug will cause vasoconstriction. Often the septum is affected the most as its cartilaginous composition means that it lacks a blood supply but relies on surrounding mucosa to secrete protective and moisturizing mucous.

Irrespective of where your coke lands it will dry out your mucosa unless its full of crap in which case your mucosa will release gallons of snot to try and clear the crap.

So to protect your nose one simply has to give the septum time to recover in between binges. Yes unfortunately daily use will ultimately erode the septum however how quick depends on several factors. After about 5 -7 days your septum would have had a chance to recover so a drug holiday is in order to keep the septum intact.

With regards to injection of cocaine, probably the most dangerous problem is the ability of cocaine and indeed all anaesthetic agents to induce cardiac arrhythmias. Lignocaine was a standard drug given in cardiac arrests to generate VF a heart rythym that is amenable to electric defibrillation and cocaine in enough quantities iv could potentially cause a VF arrest. VF stands for ventricular fibrillation. To summarize, it is very bad news lets just say and is usually seen in impending or during cardiac arrest.


[3 Points] Vendor_BBMC:

You only have a few square cms of mucous membranes up your nose, but you have square feet of them up your bum. I'm surprised you didn't mention this.


[2 Points] LowerHaighter:

It's also worth mentioning that fentanyl-containing cocaine has been implicated in a number of recent overdose deaths in the Eastern US (from Baltimore to Boston). Go slow, folks!


[1 Points] None:

Great post!

Thanks for looking after the community 😀


[1 Points] TYCA1:

never knew I had experienced a cocaine overdose before...


[1 Points] Jammy_J:

Everyone that likes cleaning their nose out after sniffing lines, should invest in a neti-pot. It works an absolute treat whenever my nose gets clogged from sniffing too much K!


[-12 Points] None:

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