CRACK, POWDER FORMS: COCAINE IS DRUG OF CHOICE IN AREA

Rock, Hard, Crumbs, Raw, Powder, Flake, Shake, Soft, Blow, Toot, and Snow
are the common street names for crack cocaine and powder cocaine. There is
no scientific difference between crack cocaine and powder cocaine; the
difference is in the way the drug is introduced into the body. Both forms
of this drug are abused in Central Virginia. Cocaine use in our region is
respon-sible for a large portion of the drug-related violence.

Cocaine is the most potent central nervous system stimulant found in
Nature. It is extracted from the leaves of the coca plant indigenous to the
Andean highlands of South America. Natives in that region chew or brew coca
leaves into a tea for refreshment and to relieve fatigue, in ways similar
to the custom of chewing tobacco and drinking tea or coffee. Pure cocaine
was first isolated in the 1880s, when it was used as a local anaesthetic.
It was particularly useful in surgery of the eyes, nose, and throat because
of its ability to provide anaesthesia, as well as to constrict blood
vessels and limit bleeding. Many of its therapeutic applications are now
obsolete because of the development of safer drugs.

Ready-to-Use Base Illicit cocaine is usually distributed as a white
crystalline powder or as an off-white chunky material. The powder form is
usually cocaine hydrochloride and is often cut or mixed with a variety of
substances. The most common dilutents are sugars such as lactose, inositol,
and mannitol (baby laxative). The practice of adulterating the powder
cocaine increases the volume, and for the drug trafficker multiplies
profits. Powder cocaine is gen-erally snorted or dissolved in water and
injected. It is rarely smoked, because when it is heated at high
temperatures the drug is destroyed.

"Crack," the chunk or "rock" form of cocaine, is a ready-to-use cocaine
base. On the illicit market, it is sold in small, inexpensive dosage units
resembling pieces of rock candy. This form of cocaine is almost always
smoked. Smoking delivers large quantities of cocaine to the lungs,
producing effects comparable to intravenous injection; these effects are
felt almost immediately, are very intense, and end rather quickly. When
introduced in the mid-1980s, crack abuse spread rapidly and made the
cocaine experience available to anyone with $10 and access to a dealer.

A person high on cocaine exhibits the following physical symptoms: fully
dilated eye pupils that are unresponsive to stimulus, increased energy,
raised heart rate and blood pressure, increased respiration, and increased
thirst with a reduced appetite. The user will be anxious, restless, alert,
and extremely aggressive.

Intensity of Effects The intensity of the psychological effects of cocaine,
as with most psychoactive drugs, depends on the dose and rate of entry to
the brain. Cocaine reaches the brain through the snorting method in three
to five minutes. Intravenous injection of cocaine produces a rush or high
in 15 to 30 seconds, and smoking produces an almost immediate intense
experience.

The euphoric effects of cocaine are almost indistinguishable from those of
amphetamine, although they do not last as long. These intense effects can
be followed by a very intense crash. To avoid the fatigue and depression
when coming down off their cocaine high, users will take repeated doses to
stay intoxicated. Excessive doses of cocaine can lead to seizures and death
from respiratory failure or cardiac arrest. There is no specific antidote
for a cocaine overdose. A cocaine overdose more times than not is fatal.

Crack smokers suffer from acute respiratory problems including cough,
shortness of breath, and severe chest pains with lung trauma and bleeding.

Cocaine is the second most commonly used illicit drug (following marijuana)
in the United States. Approximately 10 percent of the population over the
age of 12 have tried cocaine at least once in their lifetime, about 2
percent have tried crack, and nearly 1 percent is currently using some form
of cocaine. There are at present no drugs approved for replacement therapy
in treating a cocaine addiction, in the way that methadone is used to treat
heroin addiction. Cocaine addiction treatment relies heavily on
psychotherapy and antidepressants to relieve some of the effects resulting
from cocaine abuse.

The incidents of drug-related violence and murder dramatically rose through
the late 1980s and 1990s because of the spread of crack cocaine into our
cities. Cocaine, like many other central nervous system stimulants, gives
the user super-strength, more stamina, and a high pain tolerance because it
is an anaesthetic.

Wide-Reaching Effects For the duration of the high, a user's judgment is
clouded, and many resort to violent irrational behavior to solve simple
problems. Crack users who are high present a danger to the community and to
themselves. Crack cocaine is a drug that affects the duties of
law-enforcement officers every day.

Cocaine use and addiction are devastating to users, their families, and
friends. The recovery and treatment program is intense and time-consuming
for everyone involved. There is no quick fix for cocaine addiction. The
easiest method of treatment is prevention. As parents, we need to stay
involved in the lives of our children and lead by example.