his draft class while Jordan was selected 3rd in his draft class. Anyway, Bias had a big problem. He was addicted to cocaine use. And for obvious reasons that was not an ideal activity to participate in as an NBA player. Similar to Isaiah Austin, his dreams of the NBA would end too soon. But this time, it was fatal.
For this blog post, I want to take a different look into the physiology of the heart. The approach this time around is to focus on how drug use affects the heart and how it can lead to eventual heart failure. In Len Bias’ case, he died from cardiac arrhythmia just two days after being drafted. This was induced by cocaine overdose unfortunately, something he could just let go of during the crack epidemic of the 1980s.
If you do not know already, cocaine is a very addictive stimulant drug that is made from leaves of the coca plant. It happens to be a strong central nervous stimulant that operates by affecting the fight or flight state. In doing so, it will increase heart rate rapidly as well as blood pressure to induce heightened feelings of euphoria. As a conspiracy theorist, I find myself believing that crack cocaine was planted by the government into African American communities across the US. I actually just finished watching Snowfall: a show about the rise of crack cocaine and the money that was involved in the business in the streets of Los Angeles, California. But this is a conversation for another day. Crack cocaine is made through a process of using baking soda and water to create a crystal form. Smoking it can provide a short rush, while snorting it can provide a longer lasting effect. Len, unfortunately, was doing both. Due to the snorting and smoking of the crack cocaine, he had become prone to eventual damage of the heart, strokes, seizures, and respiratory failure. The drug is unfortunately highly addictive due to how it tricks the reward system in the brain responsible for dopamine. By hijacking it, those who get hooked onto crack cocaine have a very difficult time refraining from using it again.
How does this primarily affect the heart? I am glad you asked. Crack cocaine is monikered as the “perfect heart attack drug”. This is because of its ability to increase the heart rate and force the heart to work in high demand while simultaneously restricting blood flow. Cocaine begins by releasing stress hormones that contribute to the heart being overstimulated and constricting the blood vessels through vasoconstriction. Because the heart requires more oxygen due to the increased activity from the workload to beat, the vasoconstriction of the blood vessels significantly depletes the oxygen supply to the heart. In doing so, Len and others are prone to physical damage to the heart, pain, and shortness of breath. The tissue damage from this lack of oxygen will lead to myocardial infarction, where crack cocaine users are far more likely to deal with the lasting effects of atrophy in this organ. In class, we have learned about the importance of sodium and potassium channels in regulating heart rate. They control the electrical signals that enable the heartbeat to occur. The sodium channels will begin a depolarization of the
Long time users of crack cocaine are unfortunately prone to coronary artery disease, heart failure, structural damage to the heart, or coronary artery aneurysms. Unfortunately from Len Bias, we can learn a lot. The short high you can obtain from these drugs are just not worth it in the long run. Imagine being the second pick of the NBA draft and you lose it all. Len was a great person and he still was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021. His death taught many a lesson about the influences surrounding drug usage and why it is imperative to take responsibility in your decisions. His death allowed for congress to push the Anti-Drug Act of 1986 to sharpen the penalties of crack use and solve a bigger drug problem rampant in the 80s. Different sport organizations across the country increased their policies on screening after that point. His “what if” story probably prevented more from occurring. Len Bias’ story will continue to be told for generations to come.
References
Cowart, V. (1986). National concern about drug abuse brings athletes under unusual scrutiny. JAMA.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/362944
Havakuk, O., Rezkalla, S. H., & Kloner, R. A. (2017). The cardiovascular effects of cocaine. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 70(1), 101–113.
https://www.acc.org/latest-in-cardiology/ten-points-to-remember/2017/06/27/13/58/the-cardiovascular-effects-of-cocaine
Miranda, C. H., & Pazin-Filho, A. (2013). Crack cocaine-induced cardiac conduction abnormalities are reversed by sodium bicarbonate infusion. Case Reports in Medicine.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3677010/
Papadodima, S., & Martrille, L. (2009). Cocaine-induced cardiac alterations: Histological and immunohistochemical post-mortem analysis. Diagnostics.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12026069/
Thats greatly unfortunate that such a young death occurred. It's interesting of how the use of the cocaine drug can put the heart into such phase of overstimulation. It makes sense of how the continuous use can cause atrophy of the heart. I would imagine it varies from person to person and the dosage being vitally important, but i'm curious of the estimated timeline of cocaine use, of when it would display signs of atrophy. Hopefully with knowing that, more lives could be saved from the use of cocaine.
ReplyDelete