What is Cocaine?
Cocaine is a stimulant drug that comes from the coca plant, which grows in western South America. It comes in a white powder that is usually snorted, but it can also be injected, smoked, or rubbed on the gums. Cocaine goes by many other names, including coke, blow, C, snow, flake, and crack. Classified by the Drug Enforcement Administration as a Schedule II drug, cocaine is illegal in the U.S.
The coca plant has traditionally been used as a stimulant to overcome thirst, fatigue, and hunger. South American natives chew on coca leaves, and these are also an integral part of their religion. Cocaine is made by soaking the leaves in gasoline. After this is drained and the cocaine base is dried, the remaining substance is dissolved in a solvent, resulting in a white powder.
John Styth Pemberton originally included coca leaves in his 1886 recipe for Coca-Cola. However, these were removed once the Pure Food and Drug Act passed in 1906. During this time, it was also used to treat morphine addiction and as an anesthetic.
Recreational cocaine use spiked in the 1970s and 1980s as a club drug. Since it was expensive, it became popular among the rich and famous. Cocaine use resulted in 4,300 deaths worldwide in 2013. In addition, the illegal market for cocaine is about $100 billion to $500 billion a year.
Cocaine vs. Crack Cocaine
Whereas cocaine in its powdered form is a hydrochloride salt, crack cocaine is powdered cocaine mixed with water and usually baking soda. Once this mixture is boiled, it becomes solid. The pieces you break it into are then sold as crack. The name “crack” comes from the crackling sound heard when it’s heated and then smoked.
Crack cocaine was developed so that people with lower incomes could afford it. It’s highly addictive since it’s so concentrated. From the early 1980s to the early 1990s, the U.S. experienced a “crack epidemic” that resulted in a spike in violence and crime.
