Cocaine in its various forms is derived from the coca plant which is native to the high mountain ranges of South America. The coca leaves were used by natives of this region and acted upon the user as a stimulant. The stimulating effects of the drug increase breathing which increases oxygen intake. This afforded native laborers of the region the stamina to perform their duties in the thin air at high altitudes. In time, science figured out how to maximize the strength and effect of the drug contained in the coca leaves.
Through chemically synthesizing the coca leaves the white crystal powder we have come to know as cocaine was created. As time passed newer methods to magnify the euphoric effects of the drug were invented which has led us to the most potent and addictive form of the drug, Crack Cocaine.
The Birth of Crack Cocaine As the land border became more tightly controlled, cocaine would be shipped via the Caribbean and the Bahamas and end up in Miami. The Contra rebels were in full flow in Nicaragua, and reportedly the CIA turned a blind eye to the rebels exporting significant amounts of cocaine for funding. Cocaine is a powerfully addictive stimulant drug made from the leaves of the coca plant native to South America. Although health care providers can use it for valid medical purposes, such as local anesthesia for some surgeries, recreational cocaine use is illegal. As a street drug, cocaine looks like a fine, white, crystal powder. The origin of the name 'crack' comes from the 'crackling' sound (and hence the onomatopoeic moniker 'crack') that is produced when the cocaine and its impurities (i.e. Water, sodium bicarbonate) are heated past the point of vaporization.
Crack cocaine is the most popularly used version of cocaine today. Smoking cocaine rocks began in the late 1970’s. Rocking-up cocaine powder and smoking it was originally the method developed so distributors of cocaine could test the purity of the drug before it was purchased from the manufacturers. Crack has destroyed millions of lives since it was first introduced to the streets of America. Crack is a relatively new drug on the scene compared to drugs like opium or heroin; nonetheless, it has been part of our history and culture for nearly 150 years.
Cocaine’s Role in American History
Cocaine was first synthesized in 1855. It was not until 1880, however, that its effects were recognized by the medical world.
The first recognized authority and advocate for this drug was world famous psychologist, Sigmund Freud. Early in his career, Freud broadly promoted cocaine as a safe and useful tonic that could cure depression and sexual impotence. Cocaine got a further boost in acceptability when in 1886 John Pemberton included cocaine as the main ingredient in his new soft drink, Coca-Cola. It was cocaine’s euphoric and energizing effects on the consumer that was mostly responsible for skyrocketing Coca-Cola into its place as the most popular soft drink in history.
From the 1850’s to the early 1900’s, cocaine- and opium-laced elixirs, tonics and wines were broadly used by people of all social classes. This is a fact that is for the most part hidden in American history. The truth is that at this time there was a large drug culture affecting a broad sector of American society. Other famous people that promoted the “miraculous” effects of cocaine elixirs were Thomas Edison and actress Sarah Bernhart. Because there were no restrictions placed on acquiring these drugs in the early 1900’s, narcotics were an acceptable way of life for a large number of people, many of whom were people of stature. Cocaine was a mainstay in the silent film industry. The pro-drug messages coming out of Hollywood at this time were receiving international attention which influenced the attitudes of millions of people about cocaine.
As a rule, famous people are role models that can and do influence the masses. Star power has proven time and again to be the most potent form of advertising. Think about it: The world’s most famous psychologist; the man that invented the light bulb; a stable of Hollywood silent film stars; and the inventor of the most popular soft drink in history—all on the pro-cocaine bandwagon. All promoting the drug’s positive effects. Some did it through personal testimonials that ran in printed pages across the nation. Others (in particular the silent film stars) promoted cocaine’s acceptability through the examples they set by their well-publicized lifestyles.
In the same way as other narcotics like opium and heroin during this time, cocaine also began to be used as an active ingredient in a variety of “cure all” tonics and beverages. In many of the tonics that drug companies were producing at this time, cocaine would be mixed with opiates and administered freely to old and young alike. It wasn’t until some years later that the dangers of these drugs became apparent.
In fact, it was the negative side effects of habitual cocaine use that was responsible for coining the phrase, “dope fiend”. This terminology came about because of the behavior of a person abusing cocaine for prolonged periods of time. Because cocaine is such a powerful stimulant, prolonged daily use of the drug creates severe sleep deprivation and loss of appetite. A person might go days or sometimes weeks without sleeping or eating properly. The user often experiences psychotic behavior.
Cocaine addicts hallucinate and become delusional. Coming down from the drug causes a severe state of depression for the person in withdrawal. This person can then become so desperate for more of the drug that they will do just about anything to get more of it, including murder. If the drug is not readily available, the depression one experiences in withdrawal can become so great the user will sometimes become suicidal. It is because of this heinous effect on the user that the word “fiend” became associated with cocaine addiction.
Over the course of the next several years, the American majority became more and more aware of the dangers of cocaine. As the severity of this problem became more and more apparent, concern mounted to an eventual public outcry to ban the social use of cocaine. This public pressure forced Pemberton to remove cocaine from Coca-Cola in 1903. Eventually, the public pressure became so great as to place a national prohibition on cocaine. The country’s legislators took notice, and in 1920 cocaine was added to the list of narcotics to be outlawed by the passing of The Dangerous Drug Act of 1920. Unfortunately, as with the opiates like heroin, the dangers of cocaine abuse were recognized by lawmakers after the fact. The market for cocaine had already been established and was deeply entrenched in American history and culture and is with us today.
Cocaine substance abuse information presented by Narconon International. See also: Cocaine Addiction | Cocaine Drug Info | Crack Cocaine | Cocaine Timeline
It was the scourge of the ’80’s and ’90s, but how did crack cocaine come about? Where was it found and how did it get to where it is now?
To explore these questions in better detail, we need to look at the basic material: cocaine.
Origins of Cocaine
Cocaine comes from the leaf of the coca tree, which is grown in South America, normally Columbia, Bolivia and Peru. It has been used for millennia, and it was brought to Europe for study by the Spanish. Its euphoric and anesthetic properties were discovered around 1860, and it soon became widely available.
The extraction process was the original barrier to purifying cocaine from the leaves, but the method was created and then improved repeatedly. It’s a relative simple process, but it requires some time and needs certain materials that were not available until the early 19th century. In 1855, it was extracted for the first time.
The discovery of cocaine led to the discovery of other local anesthetics such as Novocain and lidocaine, as pharmacologists now knew what sort of compounds they had to create. It’s all about the shape of the molecule and how it interacts with the brain or local nerves, and cocaine effectively provided a blueprint for this.
Cocaine would be effectively banned by the Harrison act of 1914 and the Jones-Miller act of 1922, both passed as a result of increasing hysteria over cocaine use. However, that didn’t stop people from using it. While cocaine use dropped sharply after the 1922 act halted domestic cocaine extraction, US borders were fairly porous-after all, helicopters wouldn’t be used to patrol the US-Mexico border until 1979, and land vehicles were near useless thanks to the sheer length of the border-and this meant cocaine could travel through Central America to the States.
The Birth of Crack Cocaine
Crack Cocaine In The 1980s
As the land border became more tightly controlled, cocaine would be shipped via the Caribbean and the Bahamas and end up in Miami. The Contra rebels were in full flow in Nicaragua, and reportedly the CIA turned a blind eye to the rebels exporting significant amounts of cocaine for funding. Unfortunately for dealers, this produced a glut, which resulted in lower prices and therefore lower profits. Dealers resorted to adding sodium bicarbonate or ammonia to the powder to make it more volatile.
This was when crack was born.
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Crack first appeared in small batches in major cities in 1981. The police didn’t recognize this new rock-like material, but chemical analysis showed it was basically cocaine as freebase (rather than as the hydrochloride salt). As the technique spread, though, it gained more adherents. The first large-scale use, and presumably mass production, was observed in 1984 in Los Angeles.
The issue was that when cocaine was sold, it was cut with around 45 percent filler. This could be anything from icing sugar to other drugs. Crack cocaine could be obtained for the same price at purities of around 80 percent. People used to taking cocaine would take an equivalent amount of crack and overdose, and hospital admissions due to cocaine overdose doubled in a year.
Crack could also be smoked much more easily, requiring a temperature of only 194°F to vaporize. While this is warm, it’s below the boiling point of water. Cocaine hydrochloride would only vaporize at 370°F, which is very close to the point at which it burns, making this method of ingestion impractical.
Naturally this set the stage for one of the media’s favorite past times: creating a moral panic. Just like in the cocaine “crisis” of 1905 where African American laborers were blamed for pretty much every crime, the media seized the stats and started disseminating hysteria, and much of it was aimed at poor African Americans living in inner-city areas. There seems to be a bit of a pattern here.
That’s not to minimize the issue of crack. Because the US was going through a recession, this meant that many people couldn’t afford much, particularly in the poorer inner-city communities. A couple of rocks could be bought for a few dollars, which meant that people who had very low incomes could afford this drug.
It proliferated in these poorer, often African American, communities, and people quickly found that the intense fifteen-minute high was incredibly addictive. People started to do anything for their next hits. Crime rose significantly thanks to this new drug, and homicides more than doubled among teenagers and twenty-somethings.
The devastation that crack wrought would last for nearly twenty years, and it set back race equality significantly. A common stereotype of a black neighborhood was that half were smoking crack and the other half were selling it. This is rather unfair, but perception of the issues often has more weight than the reality.
Police taskforces were set up to deal with this drug, and drugs became a high-priority issue, with officers being rewarded substantially when drug busts happened. This led to a major spike in arrests for nonviolent crimes, such as possession. Of course, this doesn’t deal with the root of the issue: addiction and poverty. Until those issues are addressed, it’s unlikely that the crack problem that has happened in our inner-city areas will be resolved.
Ultimately, crack is a highly addictive drug, and those who take it are much more likely to use crime to pay for their habits. It can be instantly addictive, meaning just a single dose is enough to start on the path.
Origin Of Crack Cocaine
The reason is that it triggers a massive dopamine rush in the head, and this can start immediate cravings for the drug. Consequently, quitting the addiction can require professional help, and users should find out all they can about rehab and addiction clinics. You can look at locations, facilities and the effectiveness of clinics online, and it’s easy to call us to discuss your options at 1-888-716-9806.