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What does cocaine and crack look like?
May
Cocaine and crack images
Cocaine and crack images. Want to know what cocaine and crack look like? You may have seen these drugs depicted in movies and on television and wondered if you would recognize them if you encountered them.
Cocaine is the second most widely used illegal drug (after marijuana) in the United States. It is the fourth most commonly used illicit drug overall, after prescription painkillers and tranquilizers.
An estimated 0.7% of Americans, or 1.9 million people aged 12 and older, used cocaine in 2019, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH).
This article includes photographs, many from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), of cocaine and crack in various forms and stages. It also explains how each type is used and the effects it can have on the body.
coca leaves
Cocaine is a powerful stimulant that affects the body’s central nervous system and is extracted from the leaves of the South American coca plant. People in South America chew the leaves or drink tea made from the leaves for a mild stimulant effect, much like the effect of caffeine in coffee thousands of years ago.
This photo shows the bright green coca leaves of the Erythroxylum coca plant before they are harvested and dried.
To make cocaine, the dried leaves are soaked in solvents such as gasoline to extract the chemicals in cocaine. The leaves are then drained and the liquid is mixed with baking soda or ammonia to make cocaine base.
Recap
In their natural state, coca leaves are a mild stimulant similar to coffee. Only after going through an extraction process involving the use of harmful chemicals such as gasoline and ether is it converted into a paste that can be refined into cocaine.
RAW COCAINE
After cocaine is extracted from coca leaves and converted into cocaine base, the base is filtered and dried before being dissolved again with the addition of chemicals and heated, a process that leads to crystallization. This crude cocaine is known as crystal cocaine hydrochloride and is the main ingredient in powder cocaine and crack cocaine.
Because it has not undergone further processing, this crude cocaine is stronger, which means it has a higher risk of causing heart damage when used in its pure form. Cocaine and crack images
powder cocaine
A common form of cocaine is a fine white crystalline powder. Cocaine powder is the result of using unprocessed cocaine hydrochloride through additional purification and drying processes to remove excess solvents and create the fine white powder.
After making the cocaine powder, it is usually ground with other substances such as sugar, corn starch, vitamins or even flour to further stretch the product. This dilution can occur each time it changes hands along the illicit supply chain.
The final potency of powder cocaine purchased on the street, as well as the substances with which it is mixed, is impossible to predict.
Powder cocaine is often packaged in plastic bags or condoms for ease of transport. When sold by street dealers, it is usually packaged in small bags in the amount of drug the buyer can afford. These bags can be discreetly changed and easily disposed of.
Powder cocaine can be snorted, but it can also be dissolved in water and injected, which is the most common method of use.
Injecting the drug leads to an almost instantaneous high that produces a surge of euphoria. Snorting cocaine produces a less intense high. Cocaine and crack images
Cocaine is also often mixed with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times more potent than heroin. It is also extremely dangerous and is a leading cause of fatal and nonfatal overdoses.
Recap
Powder cocaine can be snorted or injected. It is often mixed with a variety of substances, which can include other addictive and potentially dangerous substances such as fentanyl.
Crack cocaine
Crack, which became popular in the 1980s, looks like a small rock, lump or splinter and is sometimes off-white or pinkish in color. Although it is the same drug as powder cocaine with the same effects, it can be smoked, providing an instant high. It is known as “crack” because of the crackling sound it makes when heated and smoked.
Crack is made by dissolving raw cocaine hydrochloride in a mixture of baking soda and water and heating it until the cocaine forms an oily substance. Which then cools into a rock-like substance.
Like powder cocaine, crack creates a strong feeling of euphoria. People often feel invincible, carefree, excited, euphoric and thrilled.
Crack is often packaged in small baggies when sold by street dealers. The rocks are placed in a pipe and smoked. Like powder cocaine, crack can be crushed or diluted with other substances, such as ammonia or baking soda.
Recap
Crack is a rock-like form of cocaine that is smoked alone or with marijuana or tobacco.
A word from the Coca-Cola plug store.
Cocaine is potent and the short- and long-term effects of cocaine are dangerous to your physical and mental health. The risk of seizures, stroke, cardiac arrest with respiratory failure and even sudden death is the same whether you use cocaine once, occasionally or regularly. Cocaine and crack images
Even a single use of cocaine can also lead to stimulant use disorder (more commonly known as cocaine addiction).
The more you use it, the more your body gets use to it, which creates the need for higher doses and the need to use the drug more often to get the same effect.
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