Crack cocaine

[1] Crack cocaine first saw widespread use as a recreational drug in primarily impoverished neighborhoods in New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami in late 1984 and 1985.

[3] Purer forms of crack resemble off-white, jagged-edged "rocks" of a hard, brittle plastic, with a slightly higher density than candle wax.

[4] Like cocaine in other forms, crack rock acts as a local anesthetic, numbing the tongue or mouth only where directly placed.

Free base cocaine separates as an oily layer, floating on the top of the now leftover aqueous phase.

The high usually lasts from five to ten minutes,[4][11] after which time dopamine levels in the brain plummet, leaving the user feeling depressed and low.

[14] Like other forms of cocaine, smoking crack can increase heart rate[15] and blood pressure, leading to long-term cardiovascular problems.

[24] In the 48-hour period after use, people with these symptoms have also had associated radiographic findings on chest X-ray of fluid in the lungs (pulmonary edema), interstitial pneumonia, diffuse alveolar hemorrhage, and eosinophil infiltration.

[24] Stimulant drug abuse (particularly amphetamine and cocaine) can lead to delusional parasitosis (aka Ekbom's Syndrome: a mistaken belief they are infested with parasites).

[25] For example, excessive cocaine use can lead to formication, nicknamed "cocaine bugs" or "coke bugs", where the affected people believe they have, or feel, parasites crawling under their skin[25] (similar delusions may also be associated with high fever or in connection with alcohol withdrawal, sometimes accompanied by visual hallucinations of insects—see delirium tremens).

[30]An appreciable tolerance to cocaine's high may develop, with many addicts reporting that they seek but fail to achieve as much pleasure as they did from their first experience.

[1] However, this claim has been contested: Morgan and Zimmer wrote that available data indicated that "smoking cocaine by itself does not increase markedly the likelihood of dependence ...

[11] This may result in total paranoid psychosis, in which the individual loses touch with reality and experiences auditory hallucinations.

[11] Large amounts of crack cocaine (several hundred milligrams or more) intensify the user's high, but may also lead to bizarre, erratic, and violent behavior.

[11] Large amounts can induce tremors, vertigo, muscle twitches, paranoia, or, with repeated doses, a toxic reaction closely resembling amphetamine poisoning.

[11] Synonyms used to refer to crack cocaine include atari; base; bazooka; beamers; beemers; bebe; bee-bee; berry; bing; bolo; bomb; boulder; boulders; butter; caine; cane; Casper; Casper the ghost; cavvy; chemical; chewies; cloud; cloud nine; crills; crunch and munch; dip; famous dimes; fan; fish scale; fries; fry; glo; golfball; gravel; grit; hail; hamburger helper; hard; hubba; ice cube; kangaroo; kibbles and bits; kibbles; krills; lightem; paste; patico; pebbles; pee wee; pony; raw; ready; ready rocks; redi rocks; roca; rock; rooster; rox; Roxanne; scud; Scotty; scramble; scruples; seven-up; sleet; snowballs; stones; teeth; tension; top gun; tweak; ultimate; wash; white cloud; work; yahoo; yale; yay; yayoo; yeah-O; yeyo; yeo; and yuck.

[33] Crack cocaine may be combined with amphetamine ("croak"); tobacco ("coolie"); marijuana ("buddha"; "caviar"; "chronic"; "cocoa puffs"; "fry daddy"; "gimmie"; "gremmie"; "juice"; "primo"; "torpedo"; "turbo"; "woolie"; "woola"); heroin ("moon rock"); and phencyclidine ("clicker"; "p-funk"; "spacebase").

As a guideline, Schedule I drugs carry a maximum seven-year prison sentence for possession for an indictable offense and up to life imprisonment for trafficking and production.

In the United States, cocaine is a Schedule II drug under the Controlled Substances Act, indicating that it has a high abuse potential but also carries a medicinal purpose.

[39] Rob Ford, Mayor of Toronto, Ontario was filmed smoking crack in 2013 by gang members while holding office.

Two grams of crack cocaine
For cocaine (in a plastic bag at bottom) to be converted to crack, several supplies are needed. Pictured here are baking soda , a commonly used base in making crack, a metal spoon, a tealight , and a cigarette lighter. The spoon is held over the heat source to "cook" the cocaine into crack.
A close up of the "cooking" process that creates crack
A woman smoking crack cocaine in San Francisco, California, in December 2005
Main physiological effects of crack cocaine
U.S. Food and Drug Administration anti-crack poster distributed in the 1980s [ 34 ]