Crack Cocaine

CRACK

The word CRACK appeared on the street and in the media in 1985, tentatively at first, as if trying out a new nickname. By 1986, there seemed to be a "CRACK" epidemic that crossed all social and economic barriers. The question is, was the spread of the so called rich man's drug to the schools, office, workplace, generated by the media's attention or the actual properties of the substance? The major point is that CRACK is freebase cocaine and not an entirely new drug... and freebase is simply a chemically altered form of snorting cocaine. Freebase was developed in the mid 70's to make cocaine a smokeable drug. Freebase cocaine has been called CRACK and many other nicknames. PASTA a form of freebase is an intermediate product of the cocaine refinement process. Being an intermediate step, it still contains toxic chemicals such as kerosene and leaded petrol. Whatever the name, freebase is still cocaine and when smoked, causes all the reactions expected from shooting or snorting the drug; the differences being in the extra speed of delivery to the brain and the greater intensity of the effects.

Smokeable cocaine is desired because it reaches the brain faster. Next it is more fat soluble than snorting cocaine and so is more readily absorbed by the fatty brain tissue causing a more intense reaction. The lungs which are the transfer point for the smoke from the drug and the interior of the body, are composed of thousands of tiny air sacs located at the ends of the bronchi, the breathing tubes. The basic purpose of these microscopic structures is to put oxygen back into the blood. When cocaine is smoked, the vaporized drug is also absorbed and pumped back to the heart, from there, each beat, each pulse, sends doses of the cocaine rich blood to every organ and tissue of the body, particularly the brain, it takes less than 10 seconds, just 10 seconds, for the cocaine molecules to reach and infiltrate the central nervous system, the brain and spinal cord.

"CRACK cocaine, rock and freebase cocaine are much more intense and much more dramatic in their effects, putting the brain chemicals out of balance in a much quicker state and leaving the person depleted in their natural brain hormone balance".

Freebase cocaine also mimics certain body functions such as sleep, hunger, thirst, or sex by its effect on the pleasure centre in the mid brain, that part of the brain which tells us when we've satisfied one of those bodily needs. If this was all that smoking cocaine did, if these were the only effects, it would be even more widely used than it is now and as available as cigarettes. But as the saying goes, you don't get something for nothing. What you do get in this case are side effects...severe side effects more wide ranging and potentially dangerous than the initial euphoric and stimulating sensations, and since smoking cocaine causes more intense reactions than snorting, it makes sense that the side effects would also be more intense.

One example of side effects: CRACK overstimulates that part of the nervous system that controls heart and breathing functions. This is, in a normal heart, about 60 beats per minute, with freebase cocaine circulating, the beat may jump to 120 or above, the heart can also go into ventricular tachycardia causing a sharp decrease in the amount of blood being pumped to the other organs and tissues. The heart can also go into fibrillation where it just quivers and won't beat with a sustained rhythm. Finally, the heart might just freeze..stop.

Cocaine, particularly freebase, has a weakening effect on heart muscles, smokeable cocaine can also constrict blood vessels. This narrowing of veins and arteries drives the blood pressure up. If the constriction is too severe in the coronary arteries, then those small vessels which feed blood to the heart muscles, become suffocated and a heart attack is possible. The increased pressure can also burst a weakened artery in the brain causing a stroke.

The intense stimulation of smoking cocaine can also induce seizures since it overstimulates the muscle control centres. Multiple doses, high dose use and long term use creates even move problems, for example, the freebase has been telling us that we've slept, eaten and drunk though we really haven't so when we stop using, our bodies realize the truth.

Cocaine and particularly freebase, squeezes out and neutralizes the brain's and the body's energy chemicals so the user is left without reserves...he or she is empty of fuel to keep going, to keep alert, to stay energized, the more intense the rise, the more intense the depression.

Other chemicals which control motor co-ordination, sensations, and mental acuity are affected. Smoking cocaine can also cause breathing problems.

Smokeable cocaine is of particular danger to the fetus of a pregnant woman. Cocaine like other psychoactive drugs will easily cross the placental barrier...that is the membrane separating the baby's and the mother's blood, so when a pregnant woman smokes CRACK, within seconds her baby will also be exposed to the drug.

Since cocaine causes increased blood pressure and constriction of the blood vessels supplying the uterus and the placenta, the placenta can prematurely separate from the wall of the uterus causing a miscarriage or premature delivery. Cocaine abusing mothers are at a greater risk for miscarriage and premature delivery.

In fact, many women have reported feeling contractions and increased fetal activity within minutes of using cocaine, at birth, increased respiratory rates, hyperactivity and agitation are common, other withdrawal symptoms such as lethargy, listless depression and irritability can last anywhere from several days to weeks, there is a 5 to 10 fold increased risk of crib death if the mother uses cocaine during pregnancy.

And finally, residual effects can last into adolescence and beyond, one of the most common side effects of too much freebase is paranoia. This reaction, which incidentally is not caused by a mental defect in the user, is caused by overstimulation of our fright centre, that part of the brain developed to heighten our senses in times of danger.

For example, a deer perks up its ears at the sound of a cracked twig, when cocaine overstimulates our fright centre we become even move wary than the deer..a moving foot, a flashing light, a raised hand all of a sudden seem enormously threatening to us. Before going on, one extremely important point should be made, each person has a unique body structure governed by heredity and environment...and that structure changes minute by minute and each person's reactions to freebase varies according to those factors, some people get a very limited reaction from smoking cocaine...others overdose from a few hits. This intensive use of freebase increases the potential for the abuse of other drugs.

The combination of other depressant drugs with freebase has expanded the definition of speedball, which used to be the IV use of heroin and coke, some smokers are putting rocks of freebase in marijuana joints in an other combination called champagne or caviar or gremmies.

In addition, users are even mixing PCP with crack in a nasty combination called space basing or whack, when crack is not available, users have switched to shooting and even smoking methamphetamines, a synthetic, powerful stimulant which might not have the same initial intensity as freebase, but which will last for hours.

Australia has a population of 17 million, of that number, 68,000 (or 4% of the population) have tried cocaine, so, there must be something unique, something seductive about the drug that creates this kind of compulsion.

Physiologically, freebase affects the level of a brain chemical called dopamine, the neurotransmitter responsible for muscular control and for feelings of being fulfilled, emotionally satisfied and confident, sensations that cocaine users desire. They smoke cocaine because it forces the release of extra amounts of dopamine, the body, in an attempt to return to normal neutralizes these excess amounts. There is a phenomenon known as the kindling effect that is quite descriptive of the way cocaine affects a person. Finally, and most critical is the fact that each person has a certain, inborn sensitivity to certain drugs...some are more sensitive than others, this sensitivity is determined by genetic makeup and each set of genes is different. The body chemistry is different, the reaction to a drug is therefore different, the more sensitive a person is at birth, the more likely he or she will progress into compulsive use if they try the drug.

Other traits seem to be present in those who run into trouble with their use of freebase...one is that there are multiple behaviour problems and incidents that predate adolescence...and there is an early onset of drug use...12,13,14 years old, it's all the factors working together that makes smokeable cocaine so compulsive.

Given the properties of freebase and the strength of the desire to use, treatment of those who have moved into addiction becomes particularly difficult. Most people especially teenagers have been using freebase to excess for an average of two years before they come in to ask for help, and when they use again, they almost always will fall faster and harder. One of the reasons for this is the kindling effect, this means that renewed use of even small amounts can trigger a very severe reaction because the nerves have become super sensitized, the user finds the only way to avoid this reaction besides quitting of course, is to keep using.

Given these reinforcing properties, total abstinence from freebase..and all psychoactive drugs for that matter seems to be a necessity for recovery from compulsion, and finally, compulsive users have to search within themselves for a way of life that offers them the kind of contentment and fulfilment which they sought through CRACK.