Free Basing Cocaine
FREE BASE COCAINE (“CRACK”)
The deaths of University of Maryland basketball star, Len Bias and Cleveland Browns defensive back, Don Rogers, have focused media attention on a growing substance abuse problem–free base cocaine. The use of “crack,” a smokable free base “coke” preparation, has already become epidemic among adolescents and other recreational or hardcore drug users in metropolitan areas.
Cocaine is an alkaloid drug produced by the Erythroxylon coca shrub indigenous to the Andes. Its effects are similar to other stimulants of the central nervous system such as amphetamines or “speed”: the “high” is described as intense euphoria, increased energy, excitement, feelings of well-being and decreased appetite. Addiction, especially psychological dependence, is common.
Native South American Indians chew coca leaves for the drug effect, but in this country users are more familiar with chemically extracted cocaine in the form of a white, crystalline powder of the hydrochloride (HCL acid) salt. For street distribution “coke” is diluted or “cut” with local anesthetics (e.g., lidocaine, procaine), simple sugars (e.g., mannitol, glucose) or other drugs. The purity of powdered cocaine is highly variable, ranging from less than ten to greater than ninety-five percent.
Most commonly, lines or tiny spoons of crystalline cocaine are snorted into the nasal passages where the drug is absorbed into the bloodstream. But because cocaine constricts blood vessels, its nasal absorption is somewhat impaired. Cocaine solutions given by injection directly into a vein produce faster rising and ultimately higher blood concentrations of the drug. The high is more intense with intravenous use; however, the risk of addiction and physical hazards including death is increased.
Free base cocaine is produced by converting the drug back to its alkaloid state. It has a low melting point which allows it to be burned and inhaled without decomposition. When smoked it is efficiently absorbed into the bloodstream through the lungs producing rapidly rising blood concentrations and addiction hazards comparable to “shooting up” without the mess or pain of needles and syringes. (Crystalline cocaine hydrochloride cannot be smoked because it decomposes at high temperatures.) Until the last year or two this method of cocaine administration was not widespread because of the danger and expense of making free base oneself by heating cocaine powder with a flammable organic solvent such as ether. (Remember Richard Pryor.)
The advent of “crack” or “rock” has made free base cocaine affordable and widely available. “Crack” is prepared by adding ammonia or sodium bicarbonate to a water solution of cocaine hydrochloride. The precipitate of almost pure cocaine is sold in chunks; street pushers move “single hit” vials of “crack,” enough for one twenty minute “high,” for as little as ten dollars apiece.
Free base cocaine is highly addictive compared to crystalline cocaine and can cause psychiatric disturbances, anginal chest pains, heart attack, abnormal heart rhythms, convulsions, coma and death. Its ready availability, cheap price and health risks should be a grave concern to all of us.