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How long does cocaine stay in your system? A single line of cocaine can stay in your system and show up on a drug test five days later.
However, if you’re a long-term and heavy user, traces of the drug can be found many months or even years after complete cessation. Sometimes up to 90 days.
Estimates for Cocaine in the Body:
- Blood: 2 days
- Saliva: 2 days
- Urine: 4 days
- Hair: 90 days
What Affects the Speed at Which Cocaine Leaves My System?
Cocaine can be ingested in many ways, including insufflation, injection, inhalation, or oral consumption. Crack, however, is normally either smoked or injected.
How either drug is ingested will determine how fast it hits your system, but not how fast it leaves the body.
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Four Factors That Affect How Long Coke Stays in Your System
We explain how your body breaks down cocaine below:
1. Your Health
If you are healthy then cocaine will leave your system faster.
A person’s general well-being will primarily affect how efficient their metabolism is because cocaine is metabolised by the liver and excreted by the kidneys; people with liver or kidney problems may not be able to process cocaine as efficiently as other people.
People who are overweight or who lead sedentary lifestyles are likely to take longer to metabolise coke.
2. Mix With Alcohol
Mix with alcohol, and the traces will stay longer.
Combining crack or cocaine with alcohol produces a substance called cocaethylene, which is a drug in itself.
Mixing the two produces much more potent and lasting stimulant effects. However, this means that the byproducts are present in the body and can also be detected in drug tests.
3. Using Other Drugs With Cocaine
Other drugs can slow down cocaine the speed cocaine leaves your body.
Marijuana & surprisingly, caffeine can prolong the period cocaine spends in your system.
4. Long-Term/Heavy Use
Long-term use can over double the time it takes.
Cocaine tends to build up in the system over time, both short and long-term.
For example, repeated dosing of cocaine in one sitting creates an exponential effect, where each subsequent intake will have a longer-lasting and stronger impact.
The same happens in the body if you’re a regular user. So, for example, if someone in Ireland, takes in cocaine over an extended period, their body will not metabolise it the same as a person who’s only tried it once.
Although cocaine is not fat-soluble and doesn’t get stored in the body like other drugs, the metabolite benzoylecgonine is.
It is known that traces of it can be found in the brain and body of heavy users even after a period of abstinence.
If someone has been using cocaine for a very long time, it may take their body six months to clear all traces.
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Are There Ways of Removing Cocaine Faster?
There are a few holistic beliefs that some common vitamin supplements and herbs can have various effects.
Zinc, for example, although it doesn’t affect the metabolic process, can mask the presence of cocaine and other substances in drug tests.
Your body could also show fewer traces of cocaine if
- You drink more water
- Take more exercise
- Avoid alcohol and marijuana
- Add more healthy foods to your diet
How Long Can Cocaine or Crack Be Detected?
When detecting crack or cocaine in the urine or blood, there is never a straightforward answer regarding how long it will remain. It depends on several factors, including the person, the drug, usage history, and the test itself.
When it comes to drug tests, they always vary in insensitivity, but more importantly, it matters if the test is looking for cocaine or cocaine metabolites.
Cocaine and crack both have relatively short half-lives. However, its metabolites do not.
About Cocaine Metabolism
The Brain Is the First Stop.
No matter the method of intake, cocaine (or crack) first makes its way into the bloodstream, where it binds to the plasma and can now travel throughout the body.
Cocaine can pass through the blood-brain barrier rapidly, which is why its effects are so quick.
The process of cocaine metabolism begins with the liver, where most cocaine is transformed into benzoylecgonine and other metabolites.
All of the cocaine metabolites are then filtered through the kidneys before they leave the body. Although the drugs lose their effect quickly, it has little impact on the metabolism of the drug.
If cocaine has a half-life of less than an hour, benzoylecgonine has a half-life of six hours, and cocaethylene even longer – this is why most tests check for metabolites, as it is more reliable.
Cocaine consumed via injection (rapid effect) versus cocaine consumed by orally still produces the same metabolites, which will take the same amount of time for your body to process.
FAQ
How Long Does Crack or Cocaine Stay In Your Urine?
A urine test is the most common way to check for cocaine use. It can be detected anywhere from 1-5 days after consumption for the occasional user. However, urine can test positive for metabolites for regular or heavy users for weeks or over a month after the last use.
How Long Does Crack or Cocaine Stay In Your Blood?
Cocaine is detectable in the blood for about a day, but it can remain for longer when consuming alcohol. Traces of cocaine in chronic users can be found in the blood about a month after the last use.
How Long Does Crack or Cocaine Stay In Your Saliva?
Cocaine is present in the saliva for about 1-2 days for most users. However, heavy or long-term consumption can increase during this period.
How Long Is Crack or Cocaine Detectable in Your Hair?
The hair test can show evidence of cocaine use even if it occurred months ago.
Although most hair tests check for drug use within 90 days, it is possible to have traces of cocaine in your hair for many years.
However, hair tests are also said to be semi-unreliable when it comes to cocaine.
A person can come in contact with cocaine in many ways, for example simply by being in public or regularly touching banknotes, and hair tends to be very absorbent.
If you find that you are asking these questions regularly, you may be at risk of cocaine abuse or addiction. Smarmore Castle, based in Ireland, is one of Europe’s leading cocaine addiction rehabs.
If you believe your cocaine use is growing out of control, please do not hesitate to contact us on live chat or here. We’ll be here whenever you’re ready.
