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Cocaine
What is it?
Cocaine hydrochloride is white, crystalline powder derived from coca leaves. In contrast, cocaine base (crack) looks like small, irregularly shaped white rocks.
Street Names
Blow, Coca, Coke, Crack, Flake, Snow, Soda Cot
How is it used?
- Snorted
- Dissolved in water and injected
- Crack cocaine is smoked
- Cocaine users usually binge on the drug until they are exhausted or run out of cocaine.
How does it affect the body?
- Smoking or injection creates an intense euphoric “rush”
- Tolerance builds quickly, easy to overdose
- Increased blood pressure and heart rate
- Cardiac arrest, irregular heartbeat, ischemic heart conditions, sudden cardiac arrest, convulsions
- Restlessness, irritability, anxiety, paranoia
- Insomnia, loss of appetite
- Stroke or death
- The crash that follows a high is mental and physical exhaustion, sleep, and depression lasting several days. Following the crash, users crave cocaine again.
