WHAT IS CRACK COCAINE?

Highly Addictive, And Hard To Recover From

The first time you smoke crack you will probably feel a rush to the
head, a burst of energy, and a tinny vacancy in your brain, which may
be refreshing. But the high in this case is barely worth it, because
the next time you smoke the drug, you will already be well on your
way to experiencing its negative effects.

Crack is a form of cocaine, "freebased" into a crystallized rock so
it can be smoked. Crack users smoke the drug by heating it on a thin
piece of tin foil, in a dented pop can, or off a broken light bulb,
until it "crackles" and smokes.

The term "crack" refers to the crackling sound the rock makes when it
is heated.

While crack is related to cocaine, it is much more addictive.

Hard-core crack users buy the drug many times a day to stay high.

People's mannerisms while on crack make users easy to spot. When
people are high on crack, they are unable to sit or stand still,
their bodies move strangely, and their pupils are large.

When the high wears off, crack smokers "crash" and feel irritable and
anxious. For some people, this will lead to depression or a period of
paranoid psychosis.

A more immediate danger is the potential for heart attacks,
respiratory failure, stroke, seizures and stomach problems. People
who use a lot of crack may forget to eat, because crack dulls the
appetite. Poor nutrition and poor sleep makes crack users more
vulnerable to illness and disease.

Permanent brain damage is a likely side-effect of crack smoking, but
the long-term consequences of crack use are under-investigated by
medical researchers.

Studies have shown, however, that crack use is closely associated
with crime. People addicted to crack are much more likely to engage
in shoplifting, break-ins, and robbery than people hooked on other
drugs. That's likely because crack is highly addictive, and the need
for more crack begins shortly after the first crash.

Crack continues to be a problem in parts of southern Canada, where
the drug is used mainly by hard-core drug users, who live on the
streets and devote their lives to the drug. Unlike cocaine, there are
few recreational users of the highly addictive drug.

Withdrawal can be severe, and treatment for crack users is difficult.
Even in the South, there is little available specifically for
recovering crack addicts, and the few programs that do exist have not
had great success.

Compiled with data from the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse fact
sheet on crack cocaine, dated Februrary 2006.