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 FREEBASE COCAINE is cocaine without its water-soluble component or "base." Preparing freebase cocaine involves highly explosive solvents and requires significant preparation time and equipment. Because freebase cocaine is not water soluble, it must be vaporized and inhaled to be absorbed. This process is called "smoking".
 CRACK is a new type of freebase cocaine that is also chemically processed. The result is a hard paste that is cut into chunks resembling rock salt. It is also "smoked".
Cocaine stimulates the cells of the central nervous system and the cardiovascular and sympathetic nervous systems. Cocaine is also a local anesthetic that numbs the mucous membranes of the mouth, vagina, rectum, and eye.
Cocaine is one of the most "reinforcing" of all drugs. People who use it experience a strong compulsion to continue taking additional doses. Crack cocaine is especially dangerous because of its high addiction potential. Tolerance builds quickly, so after several doses the user must take more and more of the drug to feel "high." Because the euphoric effect lasts only a few minutes, crack users feel compelled to take repeat doses every few minutes. Users experience a vicious cycle of high followed by depression followed by high.
Damage to body organs may occur as a result of using cocaine hydrochloride or crack.
Inhaling cocaine may cause:
- damage to the nasal cartilage
- cardiac irregularities
- heart attack and cardiac arrest
- bronchitis and respiratory complications
Freebasing cocaine:
- may cause convulsions and even death
- body burn-out
- malnutrition
- possible liver damage
Injecting cocaine:
- Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HIV infection
Women who use cocaine risk miscarriages or spontaneous abortions, stroke, birth defects in pregnancy.
Psychological changes in the user:
- a sense of increased self-esteem
- increased confidence
- depression
- intense anxiety
- confusion
- hallucinations
- irritability
- repetition of tasks
- withdrawal from normal activities.
Cocaine psychosis is paranoid behavior that occurs as a result of overstimulation of the fright centers of the brain. Irrational violence can occur at even the slightest provocation.
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