Did you know that abusing cocaine may produce many problems? They include

  • Restlessness, irritability, and paranoia
  • Irregular heart rates and heart disease
  • Increases in blood pressure and temperature
  • Problems with the nose, mouth, lungs, or other organs, depending on how people consume cocaine

These are just a few of the more well-known side effects. It turns out that abusing cocaine may also cause various long-term problems.

Researchers have also discovered that people who abuse cocaine while abusing performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) such as steroids may also cause problems. Combining both drugs may harm infertility in young women.

Such findings are startling, in part because it’s a well-established fact that performance-enhancing drugs such as anabolic steroids on their own may hurt fertility. Excessive steroid use can disrupt women’s menstrual periods or end them. Steroid abuse can cause erectile dysfunction (ED) or the testicles to atrophy. Since steroid abuse has such profound effects on the reproductive system, it’s not surprising that they may harm fertility as well.

On a related note, scientists also found that young people who abuse PEDs such as steroids may be more likely to use and abuse cocaine.

Given the biology and psychology of teens and young people, cocaine may be a particularly harmful drug. Biologically, like other drugs, cocaine is a foreign substance that people are introducing to their still-developing brains.

Psychologically, cocaine and teenagers are a match made in hell. Teenagers are already known for their sometimes restless and impulsive behavior and the fact that they sometimes make poor decisions. Again, this is largely because their brains and bodies are still developing and they lack many life experiences.

If teenagers use cocaine, a substance that stimulates physical and mental processes and contributes to risk-taking, they’re adding fuel to already-raging fires. Their growing and vulnerable brains may be unable to handle cocaine and may easily become addicted. The growing cocaine use may stunt their mental and physical development.

For these teens and young people, effective drug treatment may help arrest short-term problems related to cocaine abuse. Just as importantly, such treatment may prevent irreversible long-term problems from occurring in the first place.