Cocaine works by preventing the blockage of dopamine in the brain, the chemical that stimulates the nucleus accumbens, which is the center of the brain that is responsible for pleasurable feelings. Feelings of euphoria are commonly experienced once the cocaine is absorbed into the bloodstream, which can last from a few minutes to a few hours. It can be snorted, smoked or injected intravenously as a solution. While the feeling of euphoria will be tremendous during the first use, subsequent use will generate less euphoric effects as the brain increases the dopamine transporter levels to clean up the dopamine from the body. Users will then usually attempt to ingest more amounts of cocaine in an attempt to capture that initial high they’ve experienced.