Alcohol and Cocaine – Cocaethylene

Many cocaine users also drink alcohol. Some cocaine users have said that alcohol prolongs the effects of cocaine, and there are good reasons for cocaine users to say this. The combination of alcohol and cocaine produces a chemical known as Cocaethylene. These excerpts come from Elements Behavioral Health:

Cocaethylene is the name of a unique chemical that forms in the liver when people simultaneously use cocaine and alcohol (known chemically as ethyl alcohol or ethanol). This formation occurs when the presence of ethyl alcohol interferes with the body’s attempts to eliminate cocaine circulating in the bloodstream. According to several different scientific studies published in the 2000s, the presence of cocaethylene produces a feeling of euphoria more powerful and longer lasting than that produced by cocaine alone. In addition, the chemical can apparently trigger a number of serious or potentially fatal health risks, including increased chances of experiencing a heart attack, increased chances of dying suddenly, and indirect encouragement of excessive short-term alcohol intake.

The research on this is not conclusive, but scientists are finding out that the combination of cocaine and alcohol is not good:

Unfortunately, when your liver processes toxic substances, the end product of this processing is sometimes more toxic than the original substance; this situation appears to hold true for comparisons between cocaethylene and cocaine. No one knows for sure exactly how toxic cocaethylene is to the human body, but laboratory studies of dogs and mice indicate that it may have a toxicity level as much as 30 percent higher than cocaine itself. Once cocaethylene production starts, the liver keeps pumping out the chemical for a number of hours; in addition, after it forms, it stays in the body approximately three times longer than cocaine. Some researchers believe that cocaethylene toxicity probably accounts for a significant percentage of the sudden, unexplained fatalities that sometimes occur in cocaine users.

It’s been difficult to convince cocaine addicts in treatment that they should abstain from alcohol if they want the best shot at recovery. Most cocaine addicts who go back to cocaine after a period of abstinence do so after they start drinking alcohol and their judgment is impaired and the alcohol triggers a compulsion to use cocaine. Now, there’s another good reason for cocaine addicts to avoid alcohol.