Facts About Cocaine and Crack.

Essay by ginaaamarieeeHigh School, 12th grade February 2006

download word file, 3 pages 4.2

Big C, Blow, Coke, Flake, Freebase, Lady, Nose Candy, Rock, Snow, Snowbirds. These are the street names referring to the potentially dangerous, and highly popular drug called Cocaine. Cocaine is not a new drug by any means. It originates from the Andes Mountains and the Incan people revered the coca leaf as early as 500 BC. Cocaine itself was first isolated and purified from the coca plant in the mid 1800's and was popular in the late 1800's. In the early 1900's people realized the harmful effects and it became regulated as a drug.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse: Cocaine is generally sold on the street as a fine, white, crystalline powder. Street dealers generally dilute it with such inert substances as cornstarch, talcum powder, and/or sugar, or with such active drugs as procaine or with such other stimulants as amphetamines.

Cocaine is a potent brain stimulant and one of the most powerfully addictive drugs.

Stimulants are substances that stimulate the activity of the central nervous system. Stimulants are often referred to as "uppers" because they increase or speed up mental and physical processes in the body. Cocaine's effects appear almost immediately after a single dose, and disappear within a few minutes or hours. Taken in small amounts, cocaine usually makes the user feel euphoric, energetic, talkative, and mentally alert. It can also temporarily decrease the need for food and sleep. The duration of cocaine's immediate effects depends on the route of administration. The faster the absorption, the more intense the high is. The principal routes of cocaine administration are oral, intranasal, intravenous, and inhalation. The slang terms for these routes are, "chewing," "snorting," "mainlining," "injecting," and "smoking".

The short-term physiological effects of cocaine include constricted blood vessels; dilated pupils; and increased temperature, heart rate, and...