How Cocaine is Used

Our previous post discussed the different types of cocaine and briefly explained how they were used. This post will cover more detail about how cocaine is used.

Cocaine is now more refined to be able to be readily dissolved in water or alcohol allowing it to be used in more ways such as: drinking, injecting, absorption by contact, smoking, and cocaine wine.

Cocaine wines became popular in France and Italy, in the early 1860's. Angelo Mariani saw an opportunity to manufacture cocaine wine. He manufacture and sold a cocaine wine, called Vin Mariani. Thus, the first cocaine epidemic began.

In 1857 the invention of the hypodermic needle created the ability to use cocaine intravenously. When injected the user felt an intense rush within 15-30 seconds. The rush is more intense than chewing the leaf, drinking cocaine wine, or snorting cocaine hydrochloride. Because injecting Cocaine produces the highest blood cocaine level, it also produces the largest crash.

In the early 1900’s people started snorting the powder into the nostrils, this method is referred to as tooting, blowing, horning, or snorting.

When cocaine is snorted it will take 3 -5 minutes to start effecting the brain and a few more minutes before it reaches its peak. The snorting method limits the amount your body can absorb, because the more you snort the slower the absorption. Long time cocaine users, or cocaine drug abusers, can eventually kill the nasal tissues and sometimes even perforate the nasal septum which divides the nostrils. Chronic users may often get a runny nose or the sniffles from the constriction and swelling of the nasal tissues.

In 1914, cigarettes that had refined cocaine in them were introduced. But because cocaine has to be smoked at a lower temperature for the psychoactive effects, some of the effects were reduced. Then in the 1970’s cocaine hydrochloride was converted to freebase cocaine, which allowed the drug to be smoked without losing the effects because of its lowered vaporization point. Converting cocaine into a smokable form is known as “basing” or “baseballing” which creates pure cocaine crystals that are highly combustible.

In the mid-1980’s an easier method of making freebase cocaine was found, called "cheap basing" or “dirty basing”. This method involves creating crystals by dissolving the cocaine into a solution of baking soda and water then heating the solution. These crystal chunks of smokable cocaine are called "crack" or "rock", because they look like little rocks and crackle when they are smoked. This method leaves more impurities than the freebase method. On the streeet smokable cocaine may also be referred to as: Paste, Base, Basay, Hubba, Gravel, Roxanne, Girl, Fry, or Boulya.

Crack and freebase are just different chemical forms of smokable cocaine, both contain four chemical effects that users seek:

1. A lower melting point, allowing it to be heated easily in a glass pipe at a lower temperature as to not destroy the psychoactive properties with the heat.
2. It reaches the brain in as little time as 5-8 seconds.
3. Is more readily absorbed by the brains fat cells, causing a more intense reaction.
4. Users obtain a much higher dose of cocaine in their systems over a shot period of time.

Crack cocaine produces a much more powerful craving than freebase cocaine. Crack makes the ability to function normally more difficult, and causes a rapid downslide.

Types of Cocaine

Types of Cocaine

There are two main types of cocaine: hydrochloride salt and freebase. Both are very dangerous and addictive, but each have it's own effects on the body.

Hydrochloride salt comes a powder form. This type of cocaine is what most people usually picture in their mind when they think of cocaine. This is because it is what most people are exposed to in movies and such. It is the white powdery substance people line up on a mirror and snort up their nose. It is made by using acid to neutralize it to form a salt substance. This type of cocaine may also be dissolved in water and injected in the veins. Because of the way this type of cocaine is ingested it has takes a little longer to take effect.
It is very easy for drug dealers to dilute powdered cocaine by "cutting" it with cornstarch, sugar, or talcum powder. Most users cannot tell the difference when they purchase the drug. An experienced cocaine user will become very upset with a dealer who is attempting to sell a diluted version as "pure, uncut". Some dealers may even cut their cocaine with another drug like amphetamines or procaine, which will still allow the cocaine to deliver the same high but with some other effects as well. On the street names for powdered cocaine are blow, coke, flake, C and snow.

Freebase cocaine is the other form of cocaine, it does not need to be acid neutralized. Because freebase cocaine is smokable the "high" is felt very quickly, usually within 10 seconds of inhaling. This makes freebase attractive to regular cocaine users, but also makes it very dangerous.

Crack is a well known type of freebase cocaine. Crack is cocaine which has been processed by taking the powdered cocaine and removing the hydrochloride, by using heat, baking soda, water, and ammonia. Crack gets its name from the crackling sound it makes when it is smoked.

In the mid 1980's crack became very popular due to the fact that it's very cheap to make and to buy. Cocaine statistics from The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) estimates that there are 567,000 crack users in the United States.

History of Cocaine

The history of cocaine dates back millions of years when the leaves of the coca shrub were used as a stimulant. Coca leaves were chopped up and placed on the gums creating an alertness and kind of buzz, much like several cups of coffee.
The alkaloid stimulant Cocaine is a derivative from the coca bush. The majority of coca bushes can be found on the slopes of the Andes Mountains in South America. But, there are some growing in the Amazon Jungle and in Indonesia. South America is by far the worlds largest producer of cocaine and cultivates 97% of the world’s crop. North America is the largest cocaine user, consuming about 70% of the worlds supply of cocaine.
In 1861, Albert Nieman, a graduate student from Germany was able to extract cocaine from the coca leaf which created a drug 200 times more powerful. This new drug gave people a really intense rush, euphoria, and an intense overpowering physical sensation. People were still absorbing it through their gums but they were also drinking it, snorting it, smoking it, and injecting it. It did not seem to matter how they experimented with it they were able to get high.
It wasn't until twenty years later when a physician, Karl Koller, found that cocaine has anesthetic abilities that cocaine became more widely used. About the same time, Sigmund Freud also started promoting the use of cocaine for treatment of depression, gastric disorders, alcohol addiction, and asthma.
But they eventually realized this miracle drug was very addictive and there were many negative things that accompanies the addiction to cocaine. Even though cocaine has been around for a very long time it became very popular in the early 1980's. That is when more and more drug treatment facilities started to see a huge increase in people seeking treatment for cocaine addiction.