A dentist friend treated a woman who had done so much cocaine it had rotted a hole between her nose and mouth, as well as perforating her septum. That shits on Daniella Westbrook. This woman had a 3cm by 1.5cm wide black rancid pit on the roof of her mouth through which her rotting nose would drip. Her mouth was her brain’s own colostomy bag.
She was in her forties and had been using cocaine everyday for 18 months, which doesn’t actually seem like that long to have hollowed her skull. They repaired it using a chunk of her tongue, which they flapped over and sewed to her palette. She also had damage to her lateral nasal walls, which will lead to what is called saddle nose deformity. In other words, her nose will fall in on her face, that is unless she stays off the marching powder.
If this has made you delete the number of your dealer and stick your fingers up your nose to test the integrity of that delicate divider, then don’t worry, you’ll get a few warning shots before you wake up with the better part of your nasal cavity in a bloody lump on the pillow. First your nose will feel itchy, then you’ll start getting great crusty goliaths of scabs up there irresistible to pick, then recurrent nose bleeds – particularly in the morning, maybe some facial pain caused by blocked sinuses and eventually some bits begin to fall out, long before which you should have just stopped taking the shit.
Most people in London seem to take cocaine and so I guess many of you do too, and everyone asks the same question. How much do I have to take before the 30-minute rave in my heart will actually kill me?
There isn’t an answer unfortunately. You could piss ten grammes for breakfast and have a rolled note permanently up one nostril, or be a class A virgin and choke on your debut line. There is about 50mg in an average line. People have been known to die after snorting 25mg. Other people can have supposedly fatal levels in their blood (above 2mgs per litre) and only just break a sweat. It depends on medical history, tolerance, purity of cocaine and luck. Each line of coke could theoretically cut off the blood supply to your heart, but usually it doesn’t.
Heart attacks aren’t fun. Patients describe it like having an elephant sit on you, or someone tightening an iron belt around your chest until the pain is excruciating. Except if you’re on coke, you might not feel anything except a bit of chest pain. Many serious coke users have scars in their heart from previous heart muscle damage and they never felt a thing.
I had a 26-year-old medical student come into A&E with chest pain after injecting cocaine with needles he took from hospital. He was shitting himself sufficiently to confess his coke use, which would land him in whole worlds of trouble. But if you don’t tell the doctor, the drugs to treat a normal heart attack could make you worse or kill you.
Now if you’re looking for reassurance this probably won’t make you feel any better. Of the 800,000 coke users in England, about 800 a year need treatment. About 200 of those die. One in four isn’t a great success rate, I admit, but when your heart fails you’re pretty fucked.
So, how much coke is too much? Sorry, there’s only one way you’ll find that out. But in the same way that drinking until you bleed from the arse is like an atomic bomb to your innards, so is snorting too much coke. Even if it doesn’t kill you, with enough dedication you’ll get a uni-nostril and a useless dick. But, whoever actually stops using racket? Annually? It tends to be just that unlucky 200, I’m afraid.
DR MONA MOORE
Reader Comments
June 30th, 2009
11:59 am
it this vice not glorifying cocaine for once? what a shock.
maybe you should ‘grow up’ a bit
now wheres my phone, i need some pills.
June 30th, 2009
2:04 pm
as always this is the best bit of writing on the site, i rarely read the magazine anymore but probably better than anything in there as well, more!
June 30th, 2009
5:57 pm
I’m not taking more drugs, thanks VICE
July 1st, 2009
1:07 am
but it IS a helluva drug.
July 1st, 2009
9:50 am
makes you think eh?!….damn stupid people that continually put their lives at risk should take heed!!! glad I’m not a junkie Saddo!
July 1st, 2009
9:57 am
As much as I enjoyed the writing, I found it pretty superfluous - that photo kind of says it all.
July 1st, 2009
10:27 am
Rick James: “Cocaine is a hell of a drug, but hey Unityyyyyy”
July 1st, 2009
11:06 am
perpetration glorification to the nation
seriously though, where’s all the good shi’ite these days?
July 1st, 2009
4:02 pm
Is it just me - or does coke actually make you last longer during sex?
I don’t get all this “useless dick” stuff
July 2nd, 2009
2:31 pm
I had a mad night onnce were i did inexcess of 2/3 my self then had no sleep and went to play football that day in heat of 100degrees + thought i was going to die but didnt! Plus my dad adn his dad before him both died of heart disorders
July 2nd, 2009
2:32 pm
have fun party and dont think….FEEL
July 2nd, 2009
2:33 pm
PALATE not palette
July 2nd, 2009
2:35 pm
VICE sucks
July 2nd, 2009
2:43 pm
Coke is not a “helluva” drug. It’s fucking boring. It makes you and other people talk shit for the entire night. Sure drink does this until you cry, puke and fall over, but you never think anything is happening with coke, coke just gets you more pissed off at everything and excited about everything all at once, but you never get there, you never really hit a “high”, so you always want more and more. And when you feel so tired and want to finally call it a night after two days of being awake, you can’t. Your body is exhausted, but your brain is still up for a party. Then for days afterwards you feel like SHIT. Coke is expensive and just not fucking worth it for the couple of hours where you will act like a complete dick to the people you know and love. NOT WORTH IT FOR A HOLE IN YOUR HEAD.
July 2nd, 2009
2:59 pm
that person at the bottom….at 2:43
if you think its shit ….your doing it wrong then mate….!
July 2nd, 2009
3:21 pm
i had 2 heart attacks in january this year due to coke use. i survived and still do the odd bit but have cut down a lot. the next day i can feel my heart slow down and stop momentarily usually in the early evening and i cant breathe so i jump up and jog round the room to get it going again. it waqs scary at first but im used to it now.
July 2nd, 2009
3:23 pm
Agreed, the 2.43 anon is doing it wrong. Like most drugs, you have to do some of the work yourself - set out to have a good time regardless and the drugs will improve on it. Sit around waiting impatiently for a high and you’ll probably be disappointed.
…Do more acid!
July 2nd, 2009
3:52 pm
all this talk of flakey shine is making me want to do a line
July 2nd, 2009
3:56 pm
Junie, often what you think is a bad chest is atually paranoia and muscular problem from being hunched, smoking etc, bend your shoulders back till you feel your sternum stretch - that will sort you out.
i think a much more relevant topic is the quality of the drugs in the capital - now thats shocking. luckily i have honed my 18 link ups to three high quality people - you need to demand the best and not waste money on junk.
July 2nd, 2009
5:34 pm
i don’t need any coke to rim that black bitches ass. all i would need is a 100% desire which i have in abundance.
July 2nd, 2009
5:46 pm
I need a new dealer
July 2nd, 2009
5:55 pm
No wonder it burns a hole in your nose - check this video on how it’s made. 1 kilo of pure coke takes a galon of sulphuric acid, 2 kilos of sodium carbonate, 10 galons of kerosene, 6 kilos of calcium carbonate and 60 litres of water! Mum… My face hurts:
http://www.buzzhumor.com/videos/15764/How_Cocaine_Is_Mass_Produced
July 2nd, 2009
8:21 pm
Printing this sort of article is very irresponsible, the reason not to take coke is to not turn into a fucking hipster fuckface, if everyone I know that takes coke died I’d be a pretty happy chappy. It’s darwinism at it’s finest, evry year 200 AA wearing, vice reading, bigoted pieces of shit keeling over and never bothering us again, only a pity about the other 800,000, don’t fuck with it VICE we need this shit.
Of course we can take solace in “There is about 50mg in an average line. People have been known to die after snorting 25mg.”
July 2nd, 2009
9:08 pm
Vice: Irresponsible piece of shit crappy free magazine for fucktards.
What a bad piece of “writing”! A friend of mine sent this for me to read. Repulsive.
You being all “upfront about it” is just a face. Somone with a brain (not high on coke) can easily note it. The fact is you are disgusting. You are now one of the DON’Ts - all very adolescently minded. Many people suffer and die in many countries because of your sponsorship on this vulgar and dangerous shit.
Drugs are a serious issue that KILL people. And making people interested in drugs with the rubbish you write and promote is a very delicate issue. Hope you get what you deserve.
So all you crackheads die die and die if you wish, like this piece of shit magazine deserves too.
July 3rd, 2009
12:45 am
Let’s face it, the process of growing, refining, smuggling, distributing, dealing and taking drugs, any drug, involves criminality at virtually every point. The problem with criminality, is that it involves criminals. All types: from petty to top-flight cartel overlords who would see you and your whole family plus any small children and pets die for a buck and don’t give a fuck about anything or anyone, anyway, anyhow.
All of these people are involved in and use violence (you know, the proper FX-free violence that leaves you with no face or no arms and legs and bleeding from your eyeballs) and you can pretty much guarantee that the stuff you snort, smoke, pop or inject has seen someone somewhere maimed, murdered, abused or fucked up or over in order for it to reach you and your ‘top-quality’ dealer so that you can have your pathetic little micro-thrill.
You stupid, dumb shits.
If you want a thrill, do something fucking worthwhile for someone else. If you want confidence you don’t already possess, see a therapist instead of hollowing out someone else’s life to fill up your own, pip-squeak, pin-brained, piss-wipe existence.
Now go home and have a good think about what you’ve actually done.
July 3rd, 2009
7:26 am
I do wonder what it was that you did did last week Paul Lemmon, that was “fucking worthwile” enough to create this monster of self righteousness…I hope you helped build some mean houses for war refugees in the Middle East or an orphanage in some impoverished Sub-Saharan African village, cause otherwise you really need to get a grip…
Rather than preaching that others go home and have a good think about what they have done, why don’t you spend a couple of minutes and think of how many of your daily activities have seen people “maimed, murdered, abused or fucked up or over” somewhere along the production chain and reassess whether you really have any authority to rant about the evil that men do?
July 3rd, 2009
8:21 am
Ching just don’t do it for me. Its the same as smokin fags to me. Pointless. I miss it like a fucking hole in the head.
Now poppers in a bong, thats a buzz man!
July 3rd, 2009
9:43 am
coke’s a skank, and shit. get some khat, mushrooms and skunk down ya. at least u get value with special k. coke is just fashion bollox
July 3rd, 2009
10:30 am
Didn’t John Denver die? He was a musician, wasn’t he? Maybe somebody feeling death close to him while being high on coke is using his spirit, or his name to post here, while feeling very upset by the FACE-IT attitude that affects his small and useless brain. . Get clean you suckers. You smell and you are a shame to the human race for pretending to be high and cool. Criminality indeed. Oh, and look at your disgusting shaky jaws in a mirror for once. You pathetic drug-addicts!
July 3rd, 2009
10:53 am
“Dr.” “Mona Moore” was high on coke while writing this.
“Most people in London seem to take cocaine” Oh, ok.
and then:
“Of the 800,000 coke users in England, about 800 a year need treatment”.
How many people live in London Dr. Mona Moore??
Are you another disgusting coke addict?
July 3rd, 2009
12:00 pm
so… have you found out anything more about this “legal” drug “Methedrone” or Methoxyphedrine?
Its a fucker to snort, like snorting sherbet. It gives you a racing heart, sweaty palms and you feel great for 20minutes then desperately want more - time also goes very quickly. I know you have tried it - its getting bug here in the UK, but no-one actually knows what they are taking… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methedrone
July 3rd, 2009
3:28 pm
Fuck vice! for such a glamorous portrayal of coke? i find nothing more glamorous than heart attacks and bits of my face rotting off.
Comments, restore my faith that people are morons.
x
July 3rd, 2009
4:11 pm
Glamourous portrayal of coke? Yeah, I find the thought of “This woman had a 3cm by 1.5cm wide black rancid pit on the roof of her mouth through which her rotting nose would drip,” to be HIGHLY fucking glamourous. The fact of the matter is, in my opinion, that people take drugs for a variety of reasons, but paramount among them is to try fill a hole in themselves or in the world around them, myself included.
I went to Brazil nearly fours years ago now, and for two and a half months I put about 30-35g a week up my nose. I had an AMAZING time. I don’t know what every person I met thought of me, but I still have some close friends that I met out there, two of whom are fully against drugs in any form, so I’m assuming I wasn’t TOO much of a dickhead. I smoke weed almost every day, I occasionally party on MDMA, sometimes Ketamine, (yes, animal tranquiliser!) acid, pills occasionally. Tonight I am going to a friends going away party, and I can pretty much guaran-damn-tee that I will be on several different levels all at the same time by the end of it.
I’m not saying I haven’t had bad times on drugs, I have, lots of times, real bad times, horrible times, times I’ve wanted to give up, not just on drugs, but on life in general, times I’ve wanted to go to sleep and just never wake up, but I’ve had good times too… and like Bill Hicks said, “I’ve had good and bad relationships, and I ain’t giving up pussy!”
I also hold down a full time job, pay my taxes, my bills and my rent. I don’t beat people, rob them, rape them or kill them. I have a girlfriend, who occasionally smokes a bit of weed with me, but otherwise is clean, well… I say clean, not when we’re alone, whooo, but that’s a different story!
My only point is that, socially, drugs aren’t that bad, people are bad, and some bad people take drugs, but some good people take them too. Some people shouldn’t take drugs, but it doesn’t make all drugs or even just one drug bad. The thing that makes drugs RISKY, (in a physical sense) is the fact they can, among other things, make your face melt into themselves, or turn you into a limp dick, a fact that, I think, this article raised fairly well and articulatly.
The other thing is when you have drugs produced by the criminal classes, people not known for their scrupulous behaviour, the quality of the product is always called into question. Hence why I believe governments should legalise most form of drugs, as then the quality and the effects could be fully tested and understood, and people would actually know what their buying doesn’t contain rat poison, or washing powder.
Anyway, I thought it was an interesting article…
July 4th, 2009
10:40 am
the only coke i take comes out of a bottle and if you take too much of that you end up like a 300lb american.
July 4th, 2009
3:43 pm
As Rick James once loudly proclaimed. “Give it to me baby!”
July 5th, 2009
5:08 am
you’re all boring me. Mona rocks.
anyone who reads this site can think for themselves, it’s not a bloody rulebook
idiots, all of you
July 5th, 2009
8:38 am
ANONYMOUSE is an idiot, clearly because he thinks everybody sees this shite as a rulebook.
Go and bore yourself somewhere else instead. Grab a line and get a life or please O.D.
Scum!
July 5th, 2009
12:20 pm
Twat Powder
July 5th, 2009
3:59 pm
MD MDM MDMA O.K…
July 6th, 2009
12:12 am
you lot need to bun a zoot n chill
July 7th, 2009
11:09 am
[...] < PREVIOUS [...]
July 14th, 2009
2:41 am
vqjIYA
July 24th, 2009
5:53 pm
Vice is rubbish and I hate it, but I enjoy this column.
July 31st, 2009
8:16 pm
whoa whoa whoa
lets not condemn all drugs here
“Drugs are a serious issue that KILL people.”
not all drugs are deadly
weed is perfectly harmelss
just stick to weed, and use other drugs w/ trepidation and moderation AFTER looking it up on erowid.com, and you should be fine. moderation is key here. if that stupid woman had just done it like 5 times instead of hundreds of times, she would be perfectly fine
August 1st, 2009
2:37 am
Moderation is key…if it were legal, regulated and pure you could pretty safely do a gram over a weekend every once in a while and be fine…if you’re that much of a fucker that you couldn’t control yourself if it were legal then maybe you don’t deserve to perpetuate your genetic material. Lets have a little responsibility here: if you can think enough to do a drug then you can think enough to consider the consequences of doing the drug before so doing. there’s nothing wrong with ANY drug…the problem is with the users…people really ought to investigate psychedelics again