What is cocaine/crack?
Cocaine hydrochloride is a white crystalline powder and a powerfully addictive stimulant that directly affects the brain. Pure cocaine is extracted from the leaves of the coca plants. Crack is the street name for a freebase form of cocaine that has been processed from the powdered cocaine hydrochloride form with ammonia or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and water into freebase cocaine, a smokable substance referred to as chips, chunks or rocks.
Street names/slang terms for cocaine
There are many different names for cocaine with the most common being: coke, “C”, snow, flake, blow, nose candy, freebase, rock, and crack.
How is it used?
Cocaine can be inhaled or dissolved in water and injected. Crack can be smoked.
How does it effect the user?
Cocaine effects appear almost immediately after a single dose and disappear within minutes or hours. Short-term physiological effects include constricted blood vessels, dilated pupils, increased temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, insomnia, loss of appetite, feelings of restlessness, irritability and anxiety. Large doses may lead to bizarre, erratic, violent behaviors, tremors, vertigo, muscle twitches, and paranoia.
The high from inhaling cocaine may last 15 to 30 minutes, while that from smoking may last 5 to 10 minutes. Cocaine’s effects are short lived and once the drug leaves the brain, the user experiences a “coke crash” that includes depression, irritability and fatigue. Prolonged cocaine inhaling can result in ulceration of the mucous membrane of the nose.
Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)