Because the high only lasts a few solid minutes, people who smoke crack will constantly be smoking more and more in order to feel the continued effects of the drug. The drug is broken into small rocks and then placed into a pipe or other device to be smoked. The Difference Between Powder Cocaine and Crack CocaineĬrack cocaine is typically smoked using a glass pipe. When the drug is smoked, it will crackle and pop hence the name, “crack.” On the streets, people determine the quality of crack cocaine by sinking it in water or placing a flame near it to see if the edges of the drug melt, these are two signs that the drug is pure and essentially “strong.” It can actually make a cracking noise when it is broken into smaller nuggets or pieces.

When crack is in its purest state, it will resemble a hard plastic density. It’s not soft but not so hard either, sort of an in-between density that is much harder than the powder like the cocaine it is derived from but not quite as hard as the name would imply. The drug is not quite as hard as a rock and actually has a density slightly greater than candle wax. What is Crack Cocaine?Īccording to the National Library of Medicine, crack cocaine is a rock form of cocaine that appears similar to broken white rocks. To learn more about crack cocaine abuse and its dangers, call us toll-free at 80 ( Who Answers?). Because of the relatively low-cost to produce the drug and the extreme high that results from using the drug, crack cocaine has become one of the most widely abused drugs in the United States wreaking havoc on users young and old, rich and poor, educated and very much under-educated alike.

This drug once appeared in the impoverished inner-city neighborhoods of major cities but can now be found throughout the country.

In fact, crack cocaine is actually more powerful than powder cocaine, causes physical dependence to set in more quickly and is far more dangerous than the powder counterpart.

The drug is still highly potent, very powerful and extremely addicting despite the chemical changes that take place when it is cooked. Crack is the hard form of cocaine that develops when the drug is mixed with water and other solvents and then cooked into a hard, rock form.

Cooking cocaine