Medical and psychiatric complications of cocaine abuse with possible points of pharmacological treatment.

Acute and chronic medical complications of cocaine abuse are dependent on cocaine's route of administration, purity and sterility. There is a predictable sequence of events which occur during cocaine withdrawal. Cocaine can cause or exacerbate psychiatric symptoms indistinguishable from a classical psychiatric disorder. IV and freebase abuse is more likely to precipitate psychiatric symptoms. Systematic medical and psychiatric evaluation in addition to detoxification allows the detection and treatment of relapse-causing conditions. This permits more intelligent treatment decisions. Possible points of pharmacological intervention are discussed and new treatments proposed.