Cocaine and Cocaine Addiction

What is Crack Cocaine?

Crack cocaine is a strong central nervous system stimulant.

Crack cocaine remains a very serious drug problem in the United States and elsewhere. Cocaine is one of, if not, the most powerfully addictive drugs of them all. The term "crack" refers to the crackling sound heard when the substance is heated, presumably from the sodium bicarbonate that is used in the production of crack. Crack is almost always smoked. While nearly always smoked, there are reports of users injecting crack in a few cities. In some cases, when users can not find powder cocaine to inject, they inject crack instead.

Crack is the street name given to a freebase form of cocaine that has been processed from the powdered cocaine hydrochloride form to a smokable substance. Crack cocaine is processed with ammonia or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and water, and heated to remove the hydrochloride. Crack rocks tend to be sold in sizes of approximately 0.1 to 0.2 grams, which sell for approximately $10 and $20, respectively.

Crack cocaine is a highly addictive and powerful stimulant that is derived from powdered cocaine using a conversion process. Crack is the term for the smokable form of cocaine. Crack is cocaine that has been processed from cocaine hydrochloride to a free base for smoking. Crack typically is available in small rock form. This form of cocaine comes in a rock crystal to be heated and its vapors smoked. Crack cocaine is processed with ammonia or sodium bicarbonate, baking soda, and water. It is then heated to remove the hydrochloride producing a form of cocaine that can be smoked. Crack cocaine is cocaine that has not been neutralized by an acid to make the hydrochloride salt. The term freebase makes reference to the fact it no longer contains (hydrochloride) acid, a base element. Crack is produced by dissolving powdered cocaine in a mixture of water and ammonia or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). The mixture is boiled until a solid substance forms. The solid is removed from the liquid, dried, and then broken into the chunks (rocks) and sold as crack cocaine. Crack rocks are white or off-white and vary in size and shape.

Crack emerged as a drug of abuse in the mid-1980s. It is abused because it produces an immediate high and is easy and inexpensive to produce. Smoking crack cocaine delivers large quantities of the drug to the lungs, producing an immediate and intense euphoric effect, comparable to intravenous injection, but it does not last long. Because crack is smoked, the user experiences a high in less than 10 seconds. The effects of smoking crack are felt almost immediately after smoking and are very intense. For example, the high from smoking cocaine may last from 5 to 10 minutes, while the high from snorting the drug can last for 15 to 20 minutes.

An added danger of cocaine use is when cocaine and alcohol are consumed at the same time. When these substances are mixed, the human liver combines cocaine and alcohol and manufactures a third substance, coca ethylene. This intensifies cocaine's euphoric effects, while also possibly increasing the risk of sudden death. Most cocaine-related deaths are a result of cardiac arrest or seizures followed by respiratory arrest. Compulsive cocaine use seems to develop more rapidly when the substance is smoked rather than snorted. A tolerance to the cocaine high may be developed and many addicts report that they fail to achieve as much pleasure as they did from their first cocaine exposure.

Smoking crack cocaine can also cause particularly aggressive paranoid behavior in users. Physical effects of using crack cocaine include constricted blood vessels and increased temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure. Users may also experience feelings of restlessness, irritability and anxiety. Evidence suggests that users who smoke cocaine may be at even greater risk of causing harm to themselves than those who snort the substance. Cocaine smokers may suffer from acute respiratory problems including coughing, shortness of breath, and severe chest pains with lung trauma and bleeding.

Source: Parts reprinted from The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)