|
|
Crack & Cocaine Information
What is crack?
The chemical cocaine hydrochloride is commonly known as cocaine. Some users
chemically process cocaine in order to remove the hydrochloride. This process
is called "freebasing" and makes the drug more potent. "Crack" is a solid form
of freebased cocaine. It is called "crack" because it snaps and cracks when
heated and smoked.
|
 |
 |
What's new about
crack?
Since crack is an already prepared form of freebased
cocaine, the user does not have to buy the equipment or be exposed to the
explosive chemicals associated with freebasing. Crack is most often packaged in
vials or plastic bags and sold in small quantities, usually 300-500mg or enough
for two to three inhalations.
Traditionally, cocaine was a rich man's
drug, due to the large expense of a cocaine habit. Now, crack is being sold at
prices low enough that even adolescents can afford to buy it. But, this is
misleading, since once a person is addicted to cocaine, his "habit" often
increases, and so does his expense.
|
What are crack's adverse
effects?
As with any street drug, what is sold may not be what
it is claimed to be. Predicting side effects is difficult when the actual
contents are not known. Life-threatening reactions have been reported whether
it's the first, the 100th, or any other time crack is used. You do not have to
overdose on crack to die from it.
In addition, if the initial
experience leads to continued use, other adverse effects include the rapid
development of tolerance, addiction, and all the social problems that can come
from an expensive drug habit.
|
Regardless of dosage, these reactions may appear
- Convulsions
- increased heart rate
- Abnormal heartbeat
- Heart attack
- Sudden, sharp blood pressure increase
- Stroke
- Extreme depression
- Suicidal behavior
|
|
 |
How is crack used?
The same way
that freebase is used, namely, by placing the substance in a glass pipe (or
hash pipe) with a fine mesh screen under it, then heating it and inhaling the
vapors. The vapors of the freebase are absorbed through the lungs into the
bloodstream and transported to the brain within 10-15 seconds. One inhalation
will produce a degree of intoxication usually lasting 10-15 minutes.
|
What Crack Does to Your Lungs
One of the first areas damaged by smoking crack is the lining of the lungs. Your lungs are not just a set of bags inside you that collect air. They are a vital part of a life-support system that supplies your whole body with oxygen and eliminates waste products like carbon dioxide.
When you inhale, you pull air through your nose and mouth and into the windpipe (also called the trachea). On the way to the lungs, the air you breathe is warmed, moistened, and cleansed before reaching the bronchi (branches of the trachea). About halfway down the chest, these branches split and take air into the right and left lungs. The bronchi are lined with special hair-like cells called cilia, which act like tiny fans, constantly waving to help remove dirt from the air. Smoking tobacco or marijuana or inhaling other drugs prevents the cilia from cleaning the air that reaches your lungs.
The two main bronchi divide and redivide into smaller air passages that end in millions of tiny air sacs called alveoli. Each lung is about the size o half a football and can hold at most three of four quarts of air (normal, quiet breathing takes in about a pint of air). Because of the alveoli, however, there is so much tissue inside the lungs that if this organ were flattened and spread out, its surface would cover nearly 100 square yards. That¢s an area larger than a football field!
Each of the alveoli is wrapped in tiny blood vessels that absorb oxygen and eliminate carbon dioxide. Oxygen from the air is removed and passed into the bloodstream by red blood cells. At the same time, carbon dioxide is transported through the bloodstream into the lungs, where it is eliminated when you exhale (breathe out).
When crack is inhaled, it passes from the lungs into the blood by way of the alveoli. The drug then goes directly to the brain. Inhaling crack irritates the lining of the lungs, which increases the heart rate. It also causes painful swelling of the lung tissue.
Source: Crack and Cocaine by Linda Bayer, Ph.D.
|
Information on this page courtesy
of National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Please fill out this
information form as completely as possible so
that we can provide you with the best help possible. We will help you find a
good rehabilitation facility with a high success rate and which method does not
use any kinds of drugs in the program which actually achieves a complete
rehabilitation.
|