The psycho-social effects of cocaine addiction

Abstract

Stimulants are a form of drug which are commonly abused and extremely dangerous. The symptoms created by these drugs, encourage individuals from every spectrum in life to boost their lifestyle. Dopamine levels in the brain are increased, and this euphoria is approximated to last for some hours. In some cases, the long-term effect may be detrimental, and may have both psychological and social implications. These shall be two of the main objectives to be looked into during this research. Apart from these aspects, the local context will be a given priority in the analysis of findings. In order to understand the psychosocial aspects of cocaine addiction, the research has drawn upon the opinions of seven professionals involved in substance misuse treatment. The participants selected have different working experiences in the spectrum of cocaine addicts, including psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists and medical practitioners. Data was collected through one-to-one interviews. The interviews were subsequently transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. The themes identified were drug addiction, a typical cocaine user, drug hotspots in Malta, criminality, stigma and discrimination, the social environment, mental disorders, and power vs crack cocaine. The conclusions drawn from the study indicated that cocaine addition was not solely based on genetics, therefore biological factors were not found to play a major role in addiction. It is mostly a combination of social and psychological factors which especially together sometimes become difficult to sperate. As stigma and discrimination usually come along with drug addition, aspects from the society were also considered to be salient features of addiction. Although this small-scale qualitative study has confirmed what was also presented in the literature, that cocaine addiction is a result of synthesis of psychological and social factors, it is clear that further research is necessary in order to understand this phenomenon.