Crack

There are few substances as powerful and addictive as crack cocaine. People have been known to become addicted to crack with just one hit. Since its introduction to the U.S. in the early ‘80s, crack has destroyed millions of lives every year. Because it’s affordable, accessible, and profitable, crack has infiltrated poor urban areas and ghettos. The road to recovery is rough, but with appropriate treatment, crack addiction can be overcome.

Crack is a freebase, smokable form of cocaine. To make crack, ammonia or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and water are added to powdered cocaine and then heated. When the mixture is heated to remove the hydrochloride created by the processing, it turns from powder to chips or rocks.

Unlike cocaine, which is made to be snorted or injected, crack is smoked with a pipe. Smoking intensifies the high, with crack users usually feeling effects in less than 10 seconds, but this intensity is short-lived. One inhalation produces a euphoric sensation that lasts approximately for 10 to 15 minutes before the inevitable crash ensues. To prevent this from happening, the user most likely will seek out more drugs—thus the beginning of crack addiction.

Physiological Effects of Crack

Ten to 15 seconds after crack is inhaled, the vapors seep into the lungs, enter the bloodstream, and affect the brain. Crack affects the way nerve cells in the brain, called neurons, communicate. Dopamine is a chemical that causes pleasure. Normally, dopamine is released in small amounts when a person laughs or experiences joy and then is transferred back to the original neuron it was released from. Crack interferes with this process by releasing all dopamine at once (the high) and then blocking re-uptake of this chemical (the crash). Long-term crack addiction may reduce dopamine receptors in the brain, making it impossible for the user to feel pleasure without the use of crack.

Long-Term and Short-Term Side Effects

Crack is almost immediately absorbed into the bloodstream. Once ingested, a user may experience a surge in energy, euphoria, heightened mental alertness, an extreme sense of well-being, lowered social inhibitions, loss of appetite, increased heart rate and body temperature, and decreased anxiety.

But this high is short-lived. Either the user will seek more of the drug or deal with the negative side effects of crashing and withdrawal, which may include agitation, intense cravings, violent behavior, nausea or vomiting, depression, insomnia, irritability, anger, shaking, fatigue, anxiety, and losing the will to live a normal life.

Crack affects a user emotionally, physically, and mentally. Long-term side effects of crack addiction include intense paranoia and anxiety, cold sweats, weight loss, lung damage, convulsions, delusions, bronchitis, seizures, and violent or grandiose behavior. Heart attacks are possible, as is death.

Crack Addiction

Crack addiction ends in either recovery or death. Because users experience a brief, intense high that ends in a sudden, depressing low, they’re looking for ways to maximize that time of pleasure and euphoria. In other words, they’re looking for more drugs. If a user develops a severe crack addiction, they can become extremely violent and malicious upon withdrawal. Crack is known to destroy lives, both temporarily and permanently. Users may resort to anything to obtain more drugs, cutting close ties in the process. Crack addicts need some form to rehabilitation to kick the habit and lead a normal life.

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