Crack is a form of cocaine which can be smoked. Crack is also known as "rock". People who use crack find it attractive because smoking it provides a more rapid and intense high then sniffing or snorting cocaine powder.
To make crack, cocaine powder is treated with a common household product so that it forms solid chunks. These chunks are heated and the vapors produced are inhaled.
The short and long-term effects of crack are similar to those of cocaine.
Crack will make the user feel energetic and euphoric, and will increase heart rate, body temperature, and decrease appetite.
Larger quantities can cause twitching, nausea, fever, convulsions, and high blood pressure.
Death from cocaine overdose is more likely to occur when the drug is smoked, because of the extremely rapid rise in the level of cocaine in the blood.
In most fatal overdoses, death results from respiratory failure due to seizures, heart failure, or stroke.
Regular users of crack experience the same long-term effects as regular users of other types of cocaine.
Restlessness, insomnia, weight loss, constipation, and impotence are some of the symptoms of long-term crack use.
Crack smokers may also suffer damage to their lungs from the cocaine vapors.
Tolerance is the body adapting to the presence of a drug. When tolerance to a drug increases, more of the drug is necessary to achieve the same effect. Regular users of cocaine are at risk of becoming addicted. Users can develop a strong craving for the drug, especially if the have been injecting or smoking it.
There are two main reasons why crack users are at risk of addiction. First, the user experiences an intense and rapid high. The user will feel the effects of crack in less then 10 seconds. The second reason is the equally intense feeling of depression, anxiety and irritability which follows the euphoric state. This depressed state is experienced within five to ten minutes of smoking crack. Both the initial rush or euphoria and the subsequent feelings of depression motivate the person to use the drug again.