Crack cocaine, also known as “crack” or “rock,” is thought to be the most addictive form of cocaine and one of the most addictive forms of any drug. A solid, smokable form of cocaine, crack can be made from powdered cocaine by mixing it with baking soda and water and heating the mixture. Crack is a Schedule II drug in the US because of its high potential for abuse.

In its pure form, crack appears as off-white nuggets with jagged edges and a consistency that is slightly denser than candle wax. A crack rock acts as a local anesthetic, numbing the areas where it is directly placed. They typically have a distinctive bitter taste and plant-like smell, but other additives can alter the taste or make the rocks appear chalky.

Crack first appeared in impoverished inner-city neighborhoods in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami in 1984. Named after the sound made during its manufacture, crack is usually purchased in rock form, but some users “cook” cocaine into crack themselves using baking soda and water. When all three ingredients are mixed and heated, the baking soda breaks down into carbon dioxide and sodium carbonate, which reacts with the hydrochloride in cocaine, creating an oily substance. The oil is then picked at with a pin or long, thin object, allowing air to set and dry the oil. Then the user or maker rolls the oil into a rock-like shape.

Unlike powdered cocaine, which burns with no effect, crack can be smoked, allowing for rapid absorption into the blood stream and reaching the brain in about 8 seconds. Because crack is considered more potent than regular cocaine, users obtain an intense high much more quickly than by inhaling powdered cocaine.

Short-Term Effects
When smoked or injected, crack causes a sense of euphoria, extreme confidence, increased energy and alertness, insomnia, lack of appetite, intense cravings for more crack, and occasionally paranoia. Crack releases a large amount of dopamine in the brain, resulting in the euphoric feeling. The high only lasts for about five to ten minutes, and the dopamine levels in the brain decrease rapidly, leaving the user feeling depressed.

Though users immediately take another hit of the drug, it takes a long time for the levels of dopamine in the brain to replenish, so the next hit will result in a less intense high. Despite this, people continue to binge for days on end without food or sleep. Binging can lead to a state of increasing irritability, restlessness, paranoia, and sometimes paranoid psychosis, where an individual experiences hallucinations and loses touch with reality.
Some users experience delusional parasitosis, which is the mistaken belief of being infested with parasites. This is often referred to as “cocaine bugs” or “coke bugs.”

Physiologically, users can experience constricted blood vessels, dilated pupils, and increased temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure. Large doses may lead to erratic and violent behavior, tremors, vertigo, muscle twitches, and paranoia. Cocaine-related deaths are often a result of cardiac arrest or seizures followed by respiratory arrest.

Long-Term Effects
Crack releases a large amount of adrenaline into the body, which increases heart rate and blood pressure, leading to long-term cardiovascular problems. In addition, virtually any substance may have been added to the batch of crack to make it appear pure, and sometimes highly toxic substances are used. If candle wax or macadamia nuts are used, a noxious smoke is released.

Smoking crack also often results in blistered, cracked lips and fingertips. Because the melting point of crack is about 194 degrees Fahrenheit and the smoke does not remain potent for long, crack pipes are usually very short to minimize the time between evaporation and inhalation, which often burns the lips, tongue, and fingers. In addition, diseases such as HIV can be spread by sharing pipes and needles.

Because the quality of crack can vary greatly, some people might be used to smoking larger amounts of diluted crack; when they unknowingly inhale the same amount of pure crack, they can overdose, resulting in heart problems, unconsciousness, and sometimes death.

Addiction
Tolerance to the drug’s high can develop quickly, where higher and higher doses are needed to gain the desired effect. In addition, the intense desire to replicate the initial high makes the drug very addictive for many people. The drug is also repeatedly used to combat the depressive state that occurs during the “come-down” period, which can result in hours of misery; one single hit of pure crack can reverse this state, but only for a short time, which results in a never-ending cycle.