top of page
  • Writer's pictureAddiction Treatment

The Contrast Between Crack and Cocaine



These drugs were usually used in the 90s and 80s. No one knows how exactly these drugs came about. This read will help you figure out the difference among these two party drugs and their history, learn more https://lighthousetreatment.com/drug-rehab-orange-county/.


The Record of Cocaine


Cocaine comes from the coca tree. This tree grows in South America, mainly Peru, Bolivia, and Columbia. It has been in existence for numerous years and was exposed to Europe by the Spanish. It was offered for studying purposes. This is how they discovered that this plant has anesthetic and euphoric properties. This resided in 1860, and it turned into famously known afterwards.


When it came to detoxifying the cocaine from the leaves of the plant, the process of extraction was the main challenge. The method was later on generated and perfected with time. The approach is simple but it is time-consuming and in need of a number of materials that were not readily offered in the 19ht century. The primary extrication took place in 1855. Its discovery caused anesthetics like lidocaine and Novocain.


Pharmaceuticals knew the essential compounds for the approach through the discovery of the anesthetics. They learnt that probably the most important thing is the molecule shape and its connection with the local nerves and brain. Cocaine developed a blueprint for this.


In the United States of America, cocaine was prohibited through the Jones-Miller Act of 1922 and the Harrison Act of 1914. The government carried out measures such as the use of helicopters to patrol borders.


The Background of Crack Cocaine


The land border among Mexico and the USA came to be very controlled, the shipping of this drug diverted to the Bahamas and Caribbean to Miami. In Nicaragua, these rebels worked overtime and the CIA overlooked them. They took kickbacks in exchange for ignorance as the rebels made and shipped a lot of cocaine. Since the product was readily obtainable because of this, the price of the drug decreased. The supply was more than the demand. This triggered very low profits. Dealers made a decision to make the drug more volatile by adding ammonia or sodium bicarbonate to it. This is the birth of crack cocaine.


Law enforcement filed to understand this drug but on further analysis, it was evident that it was freebase cocaine. Reselled cocaine was cut with forty-five percent filler, which includes icing sugar and other drugs. Crack cocaine was obtainable at the same price with eighty-percent purity.


Crack is easier to smoke, which urged more people to use it. A few dollars would be enough to get you the right period of drugs. This means that the drug was easily accessible to people who did not earn much.



This means that the African American community was left open to it and it quickly understood that this drug is very obsessive. This instance would live on for about twenty years and it led to race inequality due to the misconception that black people were either crack users or sellers, check here for more https://lighthousetreatment.com/7-ways-to-alleviate-anxiety-without-drugs/.


The powder form is pertained to as coke or cocaine whereas the rock one is known as crack or crack cocaine. The name crack comes from the crackling sound that the drug makes when it is heated and smoked.


Big differences involving Cocaine and Crack Cocaine


1. Derivation method


Cocaine is originated from the coca plant. Meanwhile, crack cocaine is manufactured as a derivative of cocaine. It is blended with water and some other substance. This possibly baking soda or ammonia, among others. The mixture is heated until it transforms into a solid. The solid cools and is gotten into small parts and marketed.


2. Addiction potential


Cocaine is addicting but after prolonged use. Smoking an ounce of cocaine is less lethal to smoking an ounce of crack.


3. General appearance


Cocaine operates in the form of white powder, meantime crack resides in rock form. The rock form is light brown, tan, cream, or white.


4. Form of ingestion


Crack is typically smoked while at the same time cocaine is snorted. Snorting is inhaling the powder form through the nose and straight into the bloodstream.


5. High intensity


The intensity and duration of the high experienced relate to the mode of ingestion. Snorting cocaine takes a long period to feel the influences but the outcome last for a longer period. Smoking or injecting it affects the body immediately, however, for a short period. The outcomes are felt after one to five minutes of ingestion, meantime the high lasts for concerning twenty to thirty minutes. Crack is felt within the first minute of ingestion. The consequence peaks within the 1st three to five minutes and the influences last for half to a full hour.


6. People ingesting it


Since crack is the cheaper alternative to cocaine, most people who use it are lower in the socioeconomic spectrum. They have limited income and thus are unable to able to spend that much on drugs. This means that there is a perception that the affluent and rich use cocaine. Nonetheless, the National Institute on Drug Abuse did a report in 1991 illuminate the fact that Caucasians were the main users of crack during the time.


It is safe to say that people who desire to have a high that is cheaper, faster, and more intense indulge in the use of crack. Much of the start by using cocaine and move on to using crack because of its supply and price.


7. Risks and consequences


Because one can not be sure of the purity of the cocaine used, it is not certain which impacts are one-of-a-kind to crack and cocaine. This makes it serious and very unpredictable. Nevertheless, they share the same impacts but those of crack are more intense. These results consist of:


  • Cravings that are intense

  • Heart rate increase

  • Appetite decrease

  • Dilated pupils

  • Boosted alertness

  • Euphoria


When a person smokes crack, the impacts end up being more frequent and intense. Because the crack is exposed to the body through the mouth and into the lung membranes, this is. This takes it to the bloodstream directly and straight to the brain. All this comes about within ten to fifteen second. This improves the risk of suffering and overdosing from a coma, convulsions, and even death. A person who has overdosed journeys hyperventilation and rapid heart rate, see more https://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/crackcocaine/effects-of-crack-cocaine.html.



The long-term consequences of this particular drug consist of hallucinations, paranoia, anxiety, depression, mood, irritability, and restlessness changes. It is very easy to end up being an addict. This means that it is easy to deal with withdrawal symptoms such as:


  • Suicidal thoughts

  • Muscle pain

  • Nausea

  • Extreme fatigue

  • Anxiety

  • Intense cravings

  • Depression

  • Agitation


5 views0 comments
bottom of page