XXXI Cocaine
Cocaine.—Any dose above 1/2 grain applied to a mucous membrane or injected hypodermically may give rise to alarming symptoms. These are intense pallor, faintness, giddiness, dilatation of pupils, paroxysmal dyspnœa, rapid, intermittent, and weak pulse, nausea and vomiting, intense prostration verging on collapse, and convulsions. The patient may recover if allowed to remain in a recumbent position, but stimulants by mouth—e.g., ammonia—and the hypodermic injection of brandy or ether may be necessary, with the inhalation of nitrite of amyl.
For care in the prescribing of cocaine see under the ‘Dangerous Drugs Act, 1920’ (p. 82).
The Cocaine Habit consists in the self-administration of the drug hypodermically. It induces excitement, which is followed by prostration. In time melancholia or mania develops, with great irritation of the skin (‘cocaine bugs’).