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Crack

What is cocaine?

Cocaine is a very addictive drug that is made from leaves of the coca plant found in South America. It is mostly available as an illegal drug that some people use to get high. In rare cases, it is also used as a prescription drug for for anesthesia during certain surgeries.

As a street (illegal) drug, cocaine is usually a fine, white, crystal powder. Street dealers sometimes mix it with cornstarch, talcum powder, or flour to make it look like they have more cocaine. That way they can make more money. They may also mix it with other illegal drugs. Another form of the drug is crack cocaine. Crack cocaine has been heated to make it into a rock crystal.

How do people use cocaine?

People snort cocaine powder through the nose or rub it into their gums. Others dissolve the powder and inject it into the bloodstream. Some people inject a combination of cocaine and heroin, called a "speedball." Crack cocaine is smoked.

What are the short-term effects of cocaine?

Cocaine is a stimulant that can make people feel like they have more energy and are extra alert. But it can also make people feel restless, irritable, anxious, and paranoid. Large amounts of cocaine can lead to bizarre, unpredictable, and violent behavior.

Cocaine's effects appear almost immediately and disappear within a few minutes to an hour. How long the effects last and how intense they are will depend on how the person used it.

In some cases, cocaine can cause very serious health problems such as a heart attack, stroke, or coma.

What are the long-term effects of cocaine?

People who use cocaine over the long term may develop health problems. Which problems they have will depend on how they used the cocaine:

  • Snorting it can lead to a loss of sense of smell, nosebleeds, nasal damage, and trouble swallowing.
  • Smoking it can cause a cough, asthma, trouble breathing, and a higher risk of infections like pneumonia.
  • Injecting it with a needle can lead to skin or soft tissue infections, as well as scarring. It can cause collapsed veins. When a vein collapses, the blood cannot flow through it. Injecting cocaine also puts a person at higher risk of getting diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C.

Other long-term effects of cocaine use may include malnutrition and movement disorders, including Parkinson's disease.

Repeated use of cocaine can lead to tolerance. This means users need more and more of the drug to have the same effect. At higher doses over time, the body becomes dependent on cocaine. If someone who is dependent on cocaine stops using it, they will have withdrawal symptoms. These symptoms can include:

  • Depression
  • Restlessness
  • Fatigue
  • Increased appetite
  • Bad dreams and insomnia
  • Slowed thinking

Repeated use of cocaine can also lead to cocaine use disorder, also called addiction. This is more than physical dependence. It's a chronic (long-lasting) brain disorder. When someone has it, they continue to use cocaine even though it causes problems in their life. Some examples include health problems and not being able to meet responsibilities at work, school, or home. Getting and using cocaine becomes their main purpose in life.

Can a person overdose on cocaine?

It's possible to overdose on cocaine. This happens when a person uses so much cocaine that it causes a life-threatening reaction or death. Some people use cocaine along with other drugs or alcohol. This can increase the risk of an overdose.

A cocaine overdose can cause health problems such as:

  • Stroke
  • Seizures
  • irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia)
  • Heart attack

There is no specific medicine to treat an overdose. Health care providers will focus on treating the specific health problems caused by the overdose.

What are the treatments for cocaine use disorder?

The treatments for cocaine use disorder are different types of behavioral therapies. There are no medicines which can treat it.

NIH: National Institute on Drug Abuse


WARNING: All medicines, drugs, plants, chemicals or medicial precedures below are for reference only. Many of these treatments may be harmful and possibly fatal. Do not consume any plant, chemical, drug or otherwise without first consulting a licensed physician that practices medine in the appropriate field. The owner of this website will not be held liable for any injuries and deaths cause by following any home remedies. We have no control of what is posted.

Home Remedies for Crack

CHAPPED LIPS
   Apply olive oil to lips 2 or 3 times a day. It will take a few days to for the cracks to begin healing.Garrett | November 4th, 2017
efficacy
4.0  (1)
side effects
1.0  (1)
danger
1.0  (1)

UNK


WARNING: All medicines, drugs, plants, chemicals or medicial precedures below are for historical reference only. Many of these treatments are now known to be harmful and possibly fatal. Do not consume any plant, chemical, drug or otherwise without first consulting a licensed physician that practices medine in the appropriate field.

Felter's Materia Medica on Crack

AGAR
   A dried substance of mucilaginous character abstracted from several species of sea weeds (marine algae) growing along the coast of Asia. Most of... / ...once or twice a day in dry form alone, or mixed with some cereal at meal-time. Biscuits, bread, and crackers are prepared from it and may be procured in the general trade. Agar is also used as a cultu...1

GLYCERINUM
   ...ed for water it readily removes moisture from the tissues, leaving them hardened and more likely to crack. A little water should be added to it for local use, or the parts may be moistened and left we......ferably rose water, form an elegant and emollient cosmetic lotion for chapped hands, lips, and face cracked or sore nipples, excoriated and chafed surfaces, and swollen hemorrhoids. A few grains of bo...1

OLEUM TEREBINTHINAE RECTIFICATUM
   ...Turpentine. Dose, 1/2 to 2 fluidrachms. Specific Indications.— Internal. Dry, deep red, glazed and cracked tongue, with sordes, muttering delirium, rapid feeble pulse, repressed secretions, tympanit......nd ulceration. It is indicated when the tongue is dark red, glazed, or brown-coated, hard, dry, and cracked, and there are sordes upon it, as well as upon the teeth. In this stage ulceration is active...1

PIPER METHYSTICUM
   The root of Piper methysticum, Forster (Nat. Ord. Piperaceae). South Sea Islands. Dose, 5 to 60 grains. Common Names: Kava-Kava, Ava, Ava-Pepper... / ...sed dreams. Its long-continued use by them has caused more or less obscuration of vision and a dry, cracked, scaly and ulcerated skin, and lesions closely allied to leprosy. Therapy.—Piper methysticu... / ...or testicular diseases, or pectoral neuralgia arising reflexly from nervous dyspepsia are cases for the exhibition of Piper methysticum.1


References

1) Felter, Harvey Wickes, 1922, The Eclectic Materia Medica, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Cincinnati, Ohio.