How dangerous is it to mix cocaine and Xanax? Learn about the risks and how the drug combination affects people physically and mentally.
Cocaine and Xanax are two drugs that are different in many ways, but they do have something in common, and that’s the fact that they’re widely abused.
Cocaine is an illicit drug that acts as a stimulant, while Xanax is a prescription medication used to treat symptoms of anxiety and panic disorder, but it is commonly used without a prescription.
Because of the differences in the effects of cocaine and Xanax, people often wonder, what happens when you mix cocaine and Xanax? The following highlights some key things to know about cocaine and Xanax including the risks of mixing the two.
What is Cocaine?
As was touched on above, cocaine is a stimulant. It comes in the form of a powder that ranges in color from white to light brown, and it’s not legal in the U.S.
Cocaine is most commonly snorted, but can also be rubbed on the gums, or mixed with a liquid and injected.
Cocaine is highly addictive, and when someone takes it, they experience a surge of euphoria, energy, and alertness. While many people find the initial high of cocaine to be pleasurable, it can be an unpredictable drug, and some people may instead experience paranoia, hallucinations, agitation or aggression.
There are many risks associated with the use of cocaine, some of the most dangerous of which are the cardiovascular effects this drug can have. It can cause heart attacks even in young and otherwise healthy people.
What is Xanax?
Xanax is the brand name of the prescription drug alprazolam, and it’s classified as a benzodiazepine. Xanax is prescribed to treat anxiety and panic, and it’s the most prescribed medicine in the U.S., meaning it’s widely available even to people without a prescription.
Xanax reduces the activity and excitement occurring in the brain, and it calms the activity of the central nervous system. It boosts the effects of GABA, which is a chemical naturally produced in the brain.
With or without a prescription, there is a risk for abuse when someone takes Xanax. When people take it, it can create a high, and chronic abuse and addiction to Xanax is associated with depression and psychotic symptoms. There are also a lot of risks of taking Xanax, and it’s a drug that’s associated with the majority of ER visits related to the use of prescription drugs. Xanax can be deadly when combined with alcohol and opioids.
The general side effects of Xanax are very different from cocaine and include drowsiness, low energy, and even depression.
Sometimes people combine cocaine and Xanax to amplify their high, to have one counteract the negative side effects of the other, or to help them with the comedown from cocaine.
The following is more information about what happens you mix cocaine and Xanax.
What Happens When You Mix Cocaine and Xanax?
First and foremost, if you’re wondering what happens when you mix cocaine and Xanax, you should be aware that both substances are physically and psychologically addictive. If you’re mixing cocaine and Xanax, you’re at a high risk of developing an addiction problem. You may quickly find that you’re unable to control your use of these drugs, and polydrug abuse, which means the use of more than one drug, can be difficult to treat.
Because of how different they are, cocaine and Xanax can also interact with one another and can create dangerous or deadly side effects, including a toxic buildup of drugs in your system that your body isn’t able to eliminate quickly enough.
If your body has more drugs in it than it can eliminate, you may be at risk for an overdose or death.
On their own, even with the opioid epidemic raging on, cocaine and Xanax are among the biggest killers of people in the U.S.
People who use Xanax as a way to come down more comfortably from cocaine are actually doing themselves a disservice. One of the symptoms of coming off cocaine is depression, and Xanax has been known to increase depressive symptoms in people who take it.
If you’re mixing drugs like cocaine and Xanax, you may be more likely to take a higher dose than you would ordinarily as well, which is another risk factor for an overdose.
Related Topic: Xanax overdose
So, what happens when you mix cocaine and Xanax? If you mix cocaine and Xanax, it can be dangerous or deadly. It can be hard for your body to process these substances and you may experience toxicity or an overdose. When cocaine and Xanax are taken together, they also have oppositional effects, and the negative side effects of each can be made worse. You’re at a higher risk of developing a polydrug abuse problem as well.
You should never take cocaine and Xanax together, and you shouldn’t take Xanax without a prescription. Both cocaine and Xanax can be dangerous on their own, and together even more so.
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