this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2024

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Have you ever smoked crack? What was it like? (lemmy.zip)

submitted 2 months ago by IceHouse@lemmy.zip to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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I never really did a lot of drugs besides smoking pot a few times but I tried crack once at a party in college and I felt pretty ashamed of myself immediately after despite high. I didn't try it again and am actually a sober adult now, not because I had a drug problem but I just grew out of wanting to try them and never liked to drink alcohol.

I never met anyone else who would ever admit to trying it though or even cocaine despite statistically knowing many people have haha. Any crack smokers on lemmy?

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[–] Lifecoach5000@lemmy.world 53 points 2 months ago (3 children)

I smoked crack in my teens. I think it’s an unfair stigma to judge crack worse than cocaine - even though I know you’re not proclaiming that or anything.

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 64 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I think it’s an unfair stigma to judge crack worse than cocaine

Like so many stupid things that don't make sense, it originated in racism.

Basically, the Reagan administration realized that more black people used crack than powder cocaine and it was the other way around for white people, so they made the sentencing for crack harsher by a margin of 100:1 to make sure there were more black victims of the War On Drugs than white ones.

This, combined with the Reagan, Bush, and afair also Clinton administrations demonizing crack users as the ultimate example of "it's their own fault for the moral failing of doing street drugs" bullshit, and the for profit yellow media happily following their lead, is why even people without a bigoted bone in their bodies still think that crack is a hundred times worse than the pharmacologically identical powder cocaine.

[–] protist@mander.xyz 22 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Let's be real though, crack is significantly more addictive than regular cocaine. The high is higher, it lights up all the dopamine receptors in your brain. The high is much shorter, and the crash is much harder, which pushes users to use more to avoid intolerable withdrawal symptoms. Cocaine is "mellower" in pretty much every way. All the bad parts of cocaine use are only magnified in crack use. All this is completely independent of fucked up drug policy

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 12 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Why? It's the same compound in the blood stream. Gonna need a source

[–] protist@mander.xyz 21 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

This is pretty easy to search, but also intuitive when you consider crack is most often smoked vs cocaine being absorbed through your nasal mucosa. Here are a few highlights from this comprehensive review, which also covers the very real socioeconomic differences in use patterns:

By virtue of its hydrophilicity, cocaine hydrochloride is generally consumed by ‘snorting.' ‘Crack’ cocaine is generally the only form of cocaine that is smoked—this is due to the fact that cocaine hydrochloride has an elevated boiling point and does not vaporise at the temperatures of combustion.

(R)outes that involve the respiratory system...allow for the stimulant to reach the brain circulation in around 6 to 8 s; the inhalation route presents higher peak plasma concentrations that are reached faster when compared to intranasal administration. It should be noted that, for the intranasal route, the vasoconstrictive properties of cocaine slow down the drug’s own absorption, causing a 60-min delay of peak plasmatic concentrations. In terms of bioavailability, the inhalation route has the greatest bioavailability, which surpasses 90%, while the intranasal route has roughly 80%.

The abuse and dependence of cocaine is strongly related to the drug’s capacity to induce the release of dopamine within the mesocorticolimbic circuit (also known as the reward system). As the user continues to consume cocaine, desensitization occurs and so larger doses are necessary to induce stimuli of the same magnitude as before, as well as to minimize withdrawal symptoms.

Another difference of inhalation vs intranasal:

Smoking ‘crack’ leads to the formation of another biomarker of exposure, AEME, which is the main product of cocaine’s thermal degradation. In vitro and in vivo studies show that AEME appears to have effects on the cardiovascular system, by acting as a muscarinic agonist. Furthermore, neurotoxic effects were also reported for this metabolite.

[–] Glasgow@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 months ago

Faster it hits you the more addictive it is. IV heroin is more addictive than smoking heroin too.

[–] Churbleyimyam@lemm.ee 3 points 2 months ago

I would be interested to see how the numbers of black people addicted to crack in the 80s compares to the number of white people addicted to prescription opioids today.

[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago

Which is more bioavailable? That would be a more sensical basis to sort if judge them without speaking to the cutting agents

[–] toynbee@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I was under the impression that they were the same thing. (It might surprise you that I have never done any illegal drugs.)

[–] Lifecoach5000@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I mean they are but technically not. I believe once you cook up cocaine with baking soda and water to make crack(at least that’s how we used to do it) that the actual chemical composition changes and that makes it different.

Someone feel free to fact check me on that cuz I’m just going off the dome.

[–] NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I double checked and wrote up the explanation in a different post but at least according to Wikipedia, you are correct.

The simple explanation is that the classy drug known as "Cocaine" is technically Cocaine Hydrochloride. The previously mentioned reaction removes the Hydrogen and Chlorine ions leaving you with Cocaine without the "Hydrochloride" aka Freebase Cocaine aka Crack.

[–] toynbee@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Well... Good to know, I suppose. Thanks for the information!