Cocaine and crack cocaine are powerful stimulants that produce harmful physical and psychological effects. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, clinicians treat more than 1.6 million people for crack and cocaine abuse each year in the United States.

History

About 1884, Sigmund Freud advocated the use of cocaine to fight depression, morphine addiction and alcoholism. Cocaine use was prevalent in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s, with crack use peaking in the mid-1980s.

Identification

Cocaine producers extract the drug from the coca plant and mix it with flour or sugar, resulting in a powdery form. Makers of crack change the composition of cocaine by mixing it with baking powder or ammonia and boiling it with water until a solid rock forms.

Use

Powder cocaine users snort the drug through the nose, while crack users smoke it, enabling the drug to contact the lungs and quickly reach the brain.

Warning

Novice crack users risk overdose, coma or death. However, crack and powder cocaine both pose similar threats to human health. They raise blood pressure and body temperature and increase the risk of stroke or heart attack. Powder cocaine damages nerve tissues in the nasal cavities, and crack damages the lungs.

Withdrawal

Withdrawal symptoms for crack develop more quickly than for powder cocaine. Side effects include intensive feelings of depression, anxiety, lethargy and even psychosis. People who prolong the habit of snorting cocaine experience the same symptoms.

Source:

Cocaine.org: A Spoonful of Sugar?

Center for Substance Abuse Research: Crack

Center for Substance Abuse Research: Cocaine

Resource:

Clear Haven Center: Signs of Crack Addiction and Abuse