Whitney Houston: Why addicts can’t just stop using cocaine

09:48 Whitney Houston: Why addicts can’t just stop using cocaine 0 Comments

Whitney Houston, one of the most powerful and talented entertainers of her generation, is being mourned today as people across the world try to cope with this tragic loss. While no one knows for certain whether drugs -- particularly cocaine -- were linked to her death, many fans have followed her publicly acknowledged cocaine addiction. We watched Whitney become a brilliant superstar, and then a struggling addict, and then a new woman with full hopes for recovery. Today, many are asking “Why?”  It’s a common question when addiction is involved: Why can’t you just stop? Why do you keep using? For me, that question evokes a particularly painful response, especially when the drug in question is cocaine. As a person in long-term recovery from cocaine addiction, I don’t have to ask why. I know. As an addiction specialist and the Chief Clinical Officer of Phoenix House, the nation's largest non-profit substance abuse treatment organization, I understand why when people with everything to lose continue to use cocaine. A powerful stimulant Cocaine is a powerful, addictive stimulant.  It can be inhaled, dissolved in water and injected, or smoked.  How quickly the high arrives and how long it lasts both depend on the route of administration and the purity of the drug. The faster cocaine is absorbed into the bloodstream and delivered to the brain, the more intense the high. Smoking cocaine produces a faster, stronger high than snorting it -- some even think it’s faster than injecting it. I started using cocaine in 1980. Cocaine did for me something I felt I could not do for myself in my teens and early 20’s -- it made me feel stronger, more competent and confident. Actually, it made me feel a little like a superstar.