While it goes without saying that taking cocaine isn't going to improve your heart rate, grow brain cells or calm an essential twitch, new research has shown that coke users are also more likely to develop dementia.
Regular usage causes excessive amounts of iron to assemble in parts of the brain, according to research conducted by Cambridge University, who examined the brain tissue of 44 people who were addicted to the drug, and 44 who weren't.
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In the addicts, they discovered large amounts of iron in the globus pallidus, and that iron deficiency simultaneously happened in the rest of the body, suggesting that iron regulation is disrupted in those with a coke problem.
Lead author of the study, Dr Karen Ersche, said: "Given the important role that iron plays in both health and disease, iron metabolism is normally tightly regulated.
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"Long-term cocaine use, however, seems to disrupt this regulation, which may cause significant harm.
"Iron is used to produce red blood cells, which help store and carry oxygen in the blood.
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"So, iron deficiency in the blood means that organs and tissues may not get as much oxygen as they need."
"On the other hand, we know that excessive iron in the brain is associated with cell death, which is what we frequently see in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease."
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