How Crack Cocaine Works

In the 1980s, a new drug emerged. Because of its cheap cost and quick and intense high,
crack cocaine quickly gained popularity among users, especially in poor urban areas. Within
two decades, the crack had exacted a heavy toll, leaving serious physical and emotional side
effects not only on its users, but on entire communities and on the United States as a whole.

Photo courtesy U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

Crack cocaine

In this article, we'll explain how crack is made, what effects it has on the body and how law
enforcement and health officials are working to stem its
spread.

What is Cocaine?
Crack is made from cocaine -- a powdered drug that is
derived from the leaves of the coca plant, which grows
primarily in South America. Although cocaine didn't gain
notoriety in the United States until the 1980s, it has been in
use for centuries. Many generations of South American
Indians have chewed its leaves to give them strength and Photo courtesy U.S. DEA

energy. Coca plant

Cocaine was first isolated from coca leaves in the mid-1800s. Back then, it was used for
medicinal purposes in drinks -- and yes, the legend is true: Coca-Cola did once contain
cocaine. By the late 1800s, cocaine was also being used as an anesthetic and to prevent
excess bleeding during surgery. By the following century, people began to realize that
cocaine was an addictive narcotic, and non-medical use of the drug was made illegal with
the passage of the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act in 1914.
 Photo courtesy U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
Powder cocaine

The chemical formula of cocaine is C17H21NO4. See

Wikipedia: Cocaine for a look at its chemical structure. The Cocaine Trade
Most of the cocaine that comes
Cocaine as a drug is taken in one of three ways: It is into the United States today
snorted, injected or smoked. The snorted form, cocaine originates in Colombia, Bolivia
powder, is made by dissolving coca paste from the coca and Peru. Cocaine is usually
leaves in a mixture of hydrochloric acid and water. smuggled into the United States
Potassium salt is added to the mixture to separate out across the Mexican border. It
arrives in the country in powder
undesired substances to be removed. Ammonia is then
form and is converted to crack by
added to the remaining solution, and the solid powder
the wholesaler or retailer (gangs
cocaine separates out. To inject cocaine, the user mixes make up most of the retail market
the powder with a small amount of water and uses a in the United States).
hypodermic needle to force the solution directly into a vein.

Cocaine powder forms the base of freebase cocaine. Freebase cocaine has a low melting
point, so it can be smoked. It is made by dissolving powder cocaine in water and a strong
alkaloid solution such as ammonia. Then, a highly flammable solvent like ether is added, and
a solid cocaine base separates out from the solution.

Crack cocaine is an easier-to-manufacture form of freebase cocaine.

Manufacturing Crack Cocaine

Crack cocaine is also made from powder cocaine, but Why "Crack"?
because its production doesn't require the use of The word "crack" comes from the
flammable solvents, it is safer to make than freebase cracking sound the rock crystal
cocaine. To make crack, powder cocaine is dissolved in a makes when it is heated in a
crack pipe. The sound is caused
mixture of water and either ammonia or sodium
by the sodium bicarbonate.
bicarbonate (baking soda). The mixture is boiled to
separate out the solid, and then it's cooled. The solid is then dried and cut up into small
nuggets, or "rocks."
 Photo courtesy U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
Step 1 (left): Dissolving powder cocaine in hot water
Step 2 (right): Adding sodium bicarbonate to the mixture

Photo courtesy U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

Step 3 (left): Boiling the solution to separate out the solids
Step 4 (right): Cooling the separated mixture
 Photo courtesy U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
Step 5: Filtering the cooled mixture to isolate the solids

Photo courtesy U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

Crack cocaine (in the filter on the right)

Crack rocks are white or tan in color and typically range in size from .1 to .5 grams.
According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), crack rocks contain between 75
percent and 90 percent pure cocaine.

Crack in the Body

Most users smoke crack, although in rare cases, they
may inject it. To smoke crack cocaine, the user places
the drug into a small glass pipe (sometimes called a
"straight shooter"). He or she then places a small piece
of a steel wool at one end of the pipe tube and puts the
rock on the other side of this filter. When the rock is
heated from below, it produces a vapor, or smoke. The
user inhales that vapor into his or her lungs. From there, Photo courtesy U.S. DEA
the drug is taken up by the person's bloodstream. Crack cocaine is usually smoked.

When it gets into the body, crack acts upon a part of the brain called the ventral tegmental
area (VTA).
It interferes with a chemical messenger in the brain called dopamine, which is involved in
the body's pleasure response. Dopamine is released by cells of the nervous system during
pleasurable activities such as eating or having sex. Once released, dopamine travels across
a gap between nerve cells, called a synapse, and binds to a receptor on a neighboring
nerve cell (also called a neuron). This sends a signal to that nerve cell, which produces a
good feeling. Under normal conditions, once the dopamine sends that signal it is
reabsorbed by the neuron that released it. This reabsorption happens with the help of a
protein called the dopamine transporter.

Crack interrupts this cycle. It attaches to the dopamine transporter, preventing the normal
reabsorption process. As dopamine builds up in the synapse, it continues to stimulate the
receptor, creating a lingering feeling of exhilaration or euphoria in the user.
Because crack is inhaled as a smoke, it reaches the brain much faster than inhaled powder
cocaine. It can get to the brain and create a high within 10 to 15 seconds, compared to the
10 to 15 minutes it takes to feel the effects of snorted cocaine. The crack cocaine high can
last anywhere from five to 15 minutes.

Side Effects of Crack Use

While crack is creating a feeling of exhilaration in the user, it Need Help?
is also leaving a number of significant and potentially Contact Narcotics Anonymous
dangerous effects on the body. People who take it even a http://www.na.org/
few times are at increased risk for heart attack, stroke, U.S. - (818) 773-9999
Europe - 32-2-646-6012
respiratory problems and severe mental disorders.

As crack moves through the bloodstream, it first leaves the user feeling energized, more
alert and more sensitive to sight, sound and touch. Heart rate increases, pupils dilate and
blood pressure and temperature rise. The user may then start to feel restless, anxious and/or
irritable. In large amounts, crack can make a person extremely aggressive, paranoid and/or
delusional.

Because of its effects on the heart rate and breathing, crack can cause a heart attack,
respiratory failure, strokes or seizures. It can also affect the digestive tract, causing nausea,
abdominal pain and loss of appetite.

If crack is taken with alcohol, the two substances can combine in the liver to produce a
chemical called cocaethylene. This is a toxic and potentially fatal substance that produces a
more intense high than crack alone but also raises heart rate and blood pressure more than
crack alone, leading to its potentially deadly results.
 Crack Babies - Myth or Reality?
In the mid-1980s, when crack was a burgeoning public health issue, a
related problem emerged: the phenomenon of the so-called "crack baby." In
1985, Dr. Ira Chasnoff wrote an article in the New England Journal of
Medicine claiming that babies who were exposed to crack in the womb
wound up with permanent cognitive impairment. Soon, images of "crack
babies" were everywhere in the media. They became symbolic of the war
against drugs.

Since then, many researchers have challenged the idea of the crack baby. A
2004 study by the Society for Research in Child Development found that
prenatal cocaine exposure did not affect a child's development by age two,
and it suggested that the harmful effects previously found in cocaine-
exposed babies may actually have had more to do with post-natal care than
with exposure to the drug in the womb.

But despite the recent findings, doctors agree that crack is absolutely
unsafe to take during pregnancy. Babies who are exposed to crack in the
uterus are often born prematurely and tend to be smaller than other babies.
Crack exposure can also contribute to developmental and cognitive delays.

How Do People Get Addicted to

Crack? Need Help?
Contact Narcotics Anonymous
Cocaine is a highly addictive substance. People who take it
http://www.na.org/
can become physically and psychologically dependant upon U.S. - (818) 773-9999
it to the point where they can't control their cravings. Europe - 32-2-646-6012
Researchers have found that cocaine-addicted monkeys will
press a bar more than 12,000 times to get a single dose of it. As soon as they get it, they will
start pressing the bar for more.

Crack and other addictive drugs chemically alter a part of the brain called the reward
system. As mentioned previously, when people smoke crack, the drug traps the chemical
dopamine in the spaces between nerve cells. Dopamine creates the feelings of pleasure we
get from enjoyable activities such as eating and having sex. But in crack users, dopamine
keeps stimulating those cells, creating a "high" -- a euphoric feeling that lasts anywhere from
five to 15 minutes. But then the drug begins to wear off, leaving the person feeling let-down
and depressed, resulting in a desire to smoke more crack in order to feel good again.

The brain responds to the dopamine overload of the crack high by either destroying some of
it, making less of it or shutting down its receptors. The result is that, after taking the drug for
a while, crack users become less sensitive to it and find that they must take more and more
of it to achieve the desired effect. Eventually, they cannot stop taking the drug because their
brains have been "rewired" -- they actually need it in order to function. How long does it take
to become addicted? That varies from person to person, and an exact number is difficult to
pin down, especially when physical addiction is paired with psychological addition.

Of course, not everyone reacts the same way to extended use. Some users actually become
more sensitive to crack as they take it. Some people die after taking a very small amount
because of this increased sensitization.
 In Dollars
When an addicted person stops taking crack, there is a "crash." Americans spent a total of
He or she experiences the symptoms of withdrawal, including: $35.3 billion on cocaine in
the year 2000.
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Intense cravings for the drug
• Irritability
• Agitation
• Exhaustion
• Anger