How does cocaine affect the brain?
Cocaine reaches the brain through the bloodstream after which a chemical substance named dopamine is released by neurons into the synapse. It then attaches itself to the dopamine receptors with the help of adjoining neurons. If you are not a cocaine consumer, then dopamine is recycled back into the neuron that passed it on with the help of a special kind of protein called dopamine transporter. If you are a cocaine addict, then dopamine is not transmitted back as it attaches itself to the dopamine transporter, thus resulting in an expansion of dopamine in the synapse. This abnormal process causes the euphoria or “rush” which the cocaine addict experiences.