Stimulant information
What Is Cocaine?
Cocaine is a powerful stimulant; crack is a smokable form of cocaine. Repeated use can lead to a stimulant use disorder and can affect the heart, brain and mental state.
Overview
What is Cocaine?
Cocaine is a powerful stimulant; crack is a smokable form of cocaine. Repeated use can lead to a stimulant use disorder and can affect the heart, brain and mental state.
How it can affect the body
Cocaine can increase energy and alertness while also increasing heart rate and blood pressure. Anxiety, panic, paranoia, chest pain and other serious effects can occur.
Dependence vs. addiction
Cocaine can produce intense cravings and a pattern of compulsive use. A clinician evaluates the degree of impairment and health risk rather than relying on one symptom alone.
Signs of problematic use
- Strong cravings
- Difficulty controlling use
- Binge patterns or repeated use despite harms
- Sleep, mood, work or relationship disruption related to use
Important health risks
- Heart attack or irregular heartbeat
- Stroke and seizures
- Psychosis or severe anxiety
- Overdose, including risk from unexpected opioid contamination
When emergency care is needed
Severe chest pain, seizure, loss of consciousness, extreme agitation or breathing difficulty after stimulant use requires emergency medical care. Call 911.
How addiction is medically assessed
TSCP can provide physician-led addiction assessment and help determine an appropriate next step based on the substance used, health risks and treatment needs.
Treatment options
TSCP does not present Methadone, Suboxone or Kadian as treatments for stimulant-use disorders. Medication and referral decisions for stimulant use require individualized physician assessment.
Treatment pathway
Looking for treatment rather than general information?
The treatment page focuses on how TSCP care works, how to start and what a clinician may consider.
Editorial transparency
Medical sources & review status
Prepared by the TSCP editorial team using Canadian public-health and clinical sources. A named medical reviewer is not displayed until TSCP confirms the reviewer and credentials.
Content updated: 2026-09-10