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Crack
Cocaine
Street
terms:
Big C, Blow, Coke, Flake, Freebase,
Lady, Nose Candy, Rock, Snow, Snowbirds, White Crack.
Crack
or crack cocaine is a form of cocaine. It has not been
neutralized by an acid to make cocaine hydrochloride, the purist
form of the chemical. Crack comes in a rock crystal form that
can be heated and inhaled or smoked. It is called 'crack' in
reference to the cracking sound it makes when it is heated.
Crack cocaine is a highly addictive stimulant.
Crack
cocaine is almost always smoked or freebased. Freebasing
involves heating the crack until it liquefies and inhaling the
vapors through a pipe. The vapors are absorbed by the lungs,
producing an immediate euphoric high.
Crack
is highly addictive, possibly even more than other forms of
cocaine. Crack users are at risk for the usual effects of
cocaine (dangerously elevated blood pressure, heart rate, and
temperature, risk of seizure and cardiac arrest) as well as
respiratory disorders, such as coughing, bleeding, shortness of
breath, and lung trauma. Crack use can cause paranoia and
aggressiveness.
Negative
effects
Cocaine
use and abuse has a variety of negative effects on the body. For
example, cocaine constricts blood vessels, dilates pupils, and
increases body temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure. It
can also cause headaches and gastrointestinal complications such
as abdominal pain and nausea. Cocaine use also decreases
appetite, chronic users can become malnourished as well.
Regular
intranasal use (snorting) of cocaine can lead to loss of the
sense of smell; nosebleeds; problems with swallowing;
hoarseness; and a chronically runny nose. Ingesting cocaine can
cause severe bowel gangrene as a result of reduced blood flow.
Injecting cocaine can bring about severe allergic reactions and
increased risk for contracting HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne
diseases. Binge-patterned cocaine use may lead to irritability,
restlessness, and anxiety. Cocaine abusers can also experience
severe paranoia or a full-blown paranoid psychosis in which they
lose touch with reality and experience auditory hallucinations.
FIND
OUT MORE ABOUT:
Heroin
Inhalants
and Solvents
Ketamine
Cannabis
Benzodiazepine
Methamphetamine
Ecstasy
Cocaine
GBL
Mushrooms
Caffeine
Crystal
Meth
Crack
Cocaine
Nicotine
Rohypnol
Steroids
Alcohol
Khat
GHB
(Liquid Ecstasy)
Over
the Counter drugs
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