Crack Cocaine and Crack Addiction
What is Crack Cocaine? Crack Cocaine 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. The term “crack” refers to the crackling sound heard when the mixture is smoked. Crack cocaine is processed with ammonia or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and water, and heated to remove the hydrochloride.
Because crack is smoked, the user experiences a high in less than 10 seconds. This rather immediate and euphoric effect is one of the reasons that crack became enormously popular in the mid 1980s. Another reason is that crack is inexpensive both to produce and to buy. Crack cocaine remains a serious problem in the United States. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) estimated the number of current crack users to be about 567,000 in 2002.
Crack cocaine is usually smoked in a pipe, and the cocaine vapor or smoke is inhaled into the lungs where it is absorbed into the bloodstream. Regardless of the route of administration, cocaine is addictive. Crack cocaine and injected cocaine reach the brain quickly and bring an intense and immediate high. Cocaine taken intranasally produces a high more slowly.
Crack cocaine remains a very serious drug problem in the United States…
and around the world. Cocaine, and especially crack cocaine, is one of the most powerfully addictive drugs. The term crack refers to the crackling sound heard when crack cocaine is heated. The crackling noise comes from the sodium bicarbonate that is used in the production of crack cocaine Crack cocaine is almost always smoked. Crack cocaine is a strong central nervous system stimulant.
Crack cocaine is the street name given to a freebase form of cocaine that has been processed from powdered cocaine into a smokable substance. Crack cocaine is processed with ammonia or sodium bicarbonate or baking soda and water. Crack cocaine then gets heated to remove the hydrochloride. Crack cocaine rocks tend to be sold in sizes of approximately 0.1 to 0.2 grams, for approximately $10 and $20, respectively.
Crack cocaine, or freebase, 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. The mixture is boiled until a solid substance forms. The solid is removed from the liquid, dried, and then broken into the rocks) and sold as crack cocaine. Crack cocaine rocks are white or off-white and vary in size and shape.
Crack cocaine emerged as a drug of abuse in the 1980’s. It is abused because it produces an immediate high and is easy and relatively inexpensive to produce. Smoking crack cocaine delivers large quantities of the drug to the lungs, producing an immediate and intense euphoric effect. The user experiences a high, or rush, in less than 10 seconds. The effects of smoking crack cocaine are felt almost immediately 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 60 minutes.
Health dangers from Crack Cocaine
One health danger of crack 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 crack cocaine's euphoric effects, while also increasing the risk of sudden death. Most crack cocaine-related deaths are a result of cardiac arrest or seizures followed by respiratory arrest.
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. While nearly always smoked, there are reports of users injecting crack cocaine in a few cities. In some cases, when users can not find powder cocaine to inject, they inject crack instead.
Alarming Crack Cocaine Statistics
According to the 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, approximately 7.8 million Americans ages 12 and older reported trying crack cocaine at least once during their lifetimes, representing 3.3% of the population ages 12 and older. Approximately 1.3 million (0.5%) reported past year crack cocaine use and 467, 000 reported past month crack cocaine use. Among students surveyed as part of the 2004 Monitoring the Future study, 2.4% of eighth graders, 2.6% of tenth graders, and 3.9% of twelfth graders reported using crack cocaine at least once during their lifetimes. In 2003, these percentages were 2.5%, 2.7%, and 3.6%, respectively.
Regarding the ease by which one can obtain crack cocaine, 20.6% of eighth graders, 30.6% of tenth graders, and 39.2% of twelfth graders surveyed in 2004 reported that crack cocaine was fairly easy or very easy to obtain. Approximately 49.0% of eighth graders, 56.7% of tenth graders, and 47.8% of twelfth graders surveyed in 2004 reported that using crack cocaine once or twice.
During 2003, 3.1% of college students and 4.7% of young adults, ages 19–28, reported using crack cocaine at least once during their lifetimes. Approximately 1.3% of college students and 1.0% of young adults reported past year use of crack cocaine, and 0.4% of college students and 0.3% of young adults reported past month use of crack cocaine. According to data from the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Program, a median of 30.1% of adult male arrestees and 35.3% of adult female arrestees tested positive for crack cocaine when arrested in 2003. The adult male samples were compiled from 39 U.S. sites and the adult female samples were compiled from 25 sites. A median of 17.2% of adult male arrestees and 24.5% of adult female arrestees reported using crack cocaine at least once in the year before being arrested.
*Reproduced from various sources from the National Institute for Drug Abuse website
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