Cocaine Abuse & Addiction

What treatments are effective?

What is cocaine?  -   What are the effects of cocaine?

Drugs & Teen Substance Abuse  -  Warning Signs

Hotlines & Helplines  -  Self-Help & Support Groups

Many behavioral treatments have been found to be effective for cocaine addiction, including both residential and outpatient approaches. 

It's important to match treatment to the needs of the individual. 

A behavioral therapy component that is showing positive results in many cocaine-addicted populations, is contingency management.  Contingency management uses a voucher-based system to give positive rewards for staying in treatment and remaining cocaine-free.  Based on drug-free urine tests, the patients earn points, which can be exchanged for items that encourage healthy living, such as joining a gym, or going to a movie and dinner.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is another approach.  Cognitive-behavioral coping skills treatment, for example, is a short-term, focused approach to helping cocaine-addicted individuals become abstinent from cocaine and other substances. 

Through education about abuse and addiction, self-awareness, and self-help, individuals learn to take personal responsibility to recognize the situations in which they are most likely to use cocaine, avoid these situations when appropriate, and cope more effectively with a range of problems and problematic behaviors associated with drug abuse.

Therapeutic communities, or residential programs with planned lengths of stay of 8 to 12 months or more, offer an alternative to those in need of treatment for cocaine addiction.  Therapeutic communities are often comprehensive, in that they focus on the re-socialization of the individual to society, and can include on-site vocational rehabilitation and other supportive services.  Therapeutic communities typically are used to treat patients with more severe problems, such as co-occurring mental health problems (e.g., depression), behavioral problems, or criminal involvement.

Remember, it is very difficult to handle this problem without the help of experienced professionals and the support of others.  This is not a problem that passes with time.  Cocaine abuse is a life and death matter.

To learn more about cocaine and other drugs of abuse,

call the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information at

1-800-729-6686.

Help & Recovery Support

Australian Drug Information Network ~ Comprehensive Australian and international alcohol and drug information.

Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse ~ Information and advice from Canada's national addictions agency.

Chemically Dependent Anonymous ~ 12-step fellowship that does not make distinctions in the recovery process based on any particular substance, believing that the addictive-compulsive usage of chemicals is the core of addictive disease and the use of any mood-changing chemical will result in relapse.

Christian Recovery International ~ A coalition of ministries dedicated to helping the Christian community become a safe and helpful place for people recovering from addiction, abuse or trauma.

Cocaine Anonymous, 310-559-5833 ~ 12-step recovery to individuals who are suffering from cocaine addiction.

National Clearinghouse for Drug and Alcohol Information ~ The world's largest resource for current information and materials concerning substance abuse.

More Information on Cocaine Abuse & Addiction

Addiction is the Beginning of Destruction ~ Recovery from addiction requires a spiritual experience.  This article presents and discusses four Scripture readings that offer powerful principles to help avoid addiction.

Cocaine:  Waking Up to a Nightmare ~ The fact is that cocaine isn't a problem for some people.  But for others, it's a walking, talking nightmare of dependency and need and loss of control over thoughts and actions -- except those thoughts and actions directed at getting and using more cocaine.

Cocaine Withdrawal Symptoms Less Daunting Than Previously Thought ~ Craving is relatively mild during cocaine withdrawal compared to other drugs of abuse, and withdrawal symptoms decrease steadily over time.

A Cognitive-Behavioral Approach: Treating Cocaine Addiction ~ Online treatment manual.