What is Cocaine?
Cocaine is a central nervous system stimulant made from the leaves of the coca plant. It is the most addictive stimulant found in nature. Cocaine is most often produced in the form of a white, crystalline powder.
What is Crack?
Crack is a form of cocaine that has been processed to make highly potent crystals. The off-white chips, rock crystal, or chunks are heated and smoked. The term crack refers to the crackling sound heard when it is heated.
What are the Street Names for Cocaine/Crack?
Street or slang names include blow, Charlie, coke, dust, flake, freebase, lady, nose candy, rock, powder, snow, snowbirds, toot, and white.
How Are These Drugs Taken?
Cocaine is usually inhaled or "snorted." The powder is chopped, separated into "lines," and then snorted off a small spoon, or through a straw or rolled-up dollar bill. Though less common, cocaine can be injected into veins or under the skin.
Crack is smoked. Chips or chunks are usually placed in a pipe and heated with a match or cigarette lighter. The user inhales the vapors.
How Does Cocaine / Crack Affect the User?
Cocaine, in all its forms, is a stimulant. It causes the heart to beat more rapidly and blood vessels to constrict. The user's pupils dilate; body temperature rises; heart rate and blood pressure increase. Cocaine's immediate effects include euphoria, hyper-stimulation and reduced fatigue. Users of cocaine also report feelings of restlessness, irritability, and anxiety. The "high" from snorting cocaine lasts approximately 15 to 30 minutes, while that from smoking crack lasts for five to 10 minutes.
Binge usage of cocaine — when the drug is taken repeatedly and at increasingly high doses — can lead to a state of increasing irritability, restlessness, and paranoia. Chronic use can result in a period of paranoid psychosis, in which the user loses touch with reality.
The effects of crack usage are similar to that of powder cocaine. Because it is smoked, however, the user gets high more quickly, and the effects are more intense. The depression following use is also felt more keenly. Users may become violent during or after use.
Signs and Symptoms of Cocaine Abuse
Behavioral signs: Changes in overall attitude/personality, motivation level, academic performance, sleeping habits, activities, social groups or hobbies. Depression, fatigue, carelessness with grooming, hostility, and deteriorating relationships with family members and friends. Inability to meet responsibilities at work, school, or at home.
Physical signs and symptoms: Red, bloodshot eyes; a runny nose or frequent sniffing; increased energy level or rapid speech; suppressed appetite; extreme mood swings; paranoid delusions.
Environmental signs: Paraphernalia, including powder residue on mirrors, CD cases or glass; small baggies or balloons, straight razors, rolled dollar bills, tiny spoons. Frequent trips to the bathroom or other private locations; unexplained need for money; frequent absences from work or school.
What are the Dangers of Cocaine/Crack Abuse?
In addition to the risk of injury or death as a result of accidents, violence, or overdose, cocaine or crack abuse can cause or worsen many physical and mental disorders. Negative effects include:
Dependence / addiction.
Irregular heartbeat, heart attack, and heart failure.
Strokes, seizures, fungal brain infections, and bleeding in tissue surrounding the brain.
Fluid in the lungs, aggravation of asthma and other lung disorders, and respiratory failure.
Psychosis, paranoia, depression, anxiety disorders, and delusions.
Sleeplessness, sexual problems, reduced sense of smell, perforated nasal passages, nausea and headaches.
For intravenous (IV) cocaine users, there is increased risk of hepatitis, HIV infection, and infection of the heart lining or valves.
The risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases is increased because drug use lowers inhibitions, which may place the user in high-risk situations.
Pregnant women may experience spontaneous abortion, premature labor, or give birth to low birth-weight babies.
Crack users often singe eyebrows or eyelashes with the flame of matches or lighters. They may also burn fingertips and other body parts from contact with heated vessels (e.g., glass pipes).
Death
Treatment Options
Individuals who become addicted to cocaine or crack can be treated using a wide variety of methods, although no medications currently exist to treat cocaine addiction. Behavioral treatments have been shown to be effective in addressing cocaine addiction by helping patients recognize, avoid, and cope with situations in which they are most likely to use cocaine.
If you or someone you know is struggling with cocaine or crack abuse, email Phoenix House at drughelp@phoenixhouse.org to find out more about our treatment programs, ask for a referral or get a professional assessment. If you find yourself in an emergency situation, call 911 immediately.
Photos courtesy of the DEA
Information, in part, from the National Institute on Drug Abuse
