Crack Cocaine: Its Effects

An Overview of What Crack Cocaine Is

Crack cocaine is a drug which is created from powder cocaine in such a way that allows it to be cheaper and more accessible. Unlike cocaine, crack cocaine is not considered to be a "party" drug. The effects are also slightly different.

Cocaine was originally used as medicine to deal with throat pain and other ailments and only in the last few decades has cocaine started to be used as a recreational drug. Crack cocaine is a derivative of cocaine that is cheaper to make and therefore distributes, which means that the drug is more accessible to those in urban areas and on low incomes.

Unlike cocaine, crack cocaine is not a powder. Instead, crack cocaine is usually distributed in little rocks that can be smoked through a crack pipe. In some cases, users may inject crack cocaine intravenously instead of smoking it, however this is a lot less common since the difference between when the substance goes into the bloodstream is rather negligible since after the user smokes crack it goes into their bloodstreams in a matter of seconds.

The Effects of Crack Cocaine

What Are The Short Term Effects of Taking Crack Cocaine?

Straight after taking crack cocaine the user will experience a rush of euphoria. This is because of the way the drug interacts with the dopamine transmitters in the brain. Immediately after the user experiences this rush, the user might start to feel overconfident and come across as arrogant to people surrounding them. Like after having cocaine, users might become noticeably more chatty. After this first rush is over, the user might start to feel anxious and paranoid, and the user might also have problems eating or sleeping. In fact, it may seem like the user does not have to do these things at all - this is because taking crack cocaine inhibits these needs but the user is likely to experience a 'crash' at some point.

Using crack cocaine can greatly increase the risk of a heart attack or respiratory arrest. This is because of the way crack cocaine interacts with the blood vessels, it makes the heart beat much faster than it normally would and also causes blood vessels to constrict.

Crack users are also likely to experience several side-effects from smoking crack. For instance, users use very short pipes because the smoke is not hot for very long and press it against their lips. This causes users to have blistered on their lips from the hot pipe, something commonly called "crack lips."

What Are The Long Term Effects of Taking Crack Cocaine?

Some users of crack cocaine are likely to become psychologically addicted to the drug and deal with all the consequences of addiction. Additionally, users are also likely to experience long term damage to their lungs, their heart and their brain. The user might also affect their throat indefinitely. Prolonged use of crack cocaine can actually cause malnutrition and users might become anxious, have strange mood swings and aggression. Users may also exhibit paranoid behavior.