How do people people continually snort drugs without filling their lungs?

Question

I have always wondered, to those that snort drugs (cocaine, tobacco, ketamine, whatever else) how do they keep doing it without it building up in the lungs?

Does it just keep building up in the lungs until you can’t breathe anymore? Do the lungs just fill up with powder? If so, wouldn’t you only be able to use the drug so many times before you literally suffocate?

Thanks to you all in advance, really baffled on this one 🙂

Edit: Answered, thank you to all that contributed!

In: 5

Answer 1

Those substances don‘t end up in people‘s lungs, otherwise they‘d get pretty severe coughing fits every time. They stay in the nasal cavity where they‘re (partially) absorbed by the mucous membrane – that‘s how the relevant chemicals end up in the bloodstream. If there’s residue, it becomes part of the mucus and either ends up in the stomach by swallowing or in a tissue the next time they blow their nose.