Crack & Cocaine: What’s The Difference Between Cocaine and Crack?

Crack and cocaine. If you're watching this video, you've likely heard of both cocaine and crack. But do you know the difference between them? Cocaine and crack are essentially the same drug, but they're used in very different ways. One is largely associated with clubs and glamour, while the other is associated with urban violence and devastation.

The difference between these two drugs is a mix of history and class that few other substances have. Let's dive in. What is cocaine? Cocaine is a powerful stimulant that's made from the leaves of the coca plant. The coca plant grows in the Andes Mountains of South America.

For centuries, the people of the Andes have used the coca plant's leaves as a stimulant and as a way to fight altitude sickness. Taken in this way, the leaves are a mild stimulant that's not much more powerful than tea. When leaves are processed into cocaine, it's a different story. Cocaine has powerful effects. Euphoria, chief among them, but it's not a particularly long lasting drug.

And it's why cocaine users tend to binge on it when it wears off. Users experience what's known as a cocaine comedown, a period of exhaustion and jitteriness that's similar to withdrawing from cocaine. Most people use cocaine by inhaling it as a flaky powder. It's absorbed through the mucus membranes inside the nose. Cocaine can also be rubbed in the gums, injected, and even taken orally.

But during the nineteen seventies, a new method came about, free based cocaine. What we call cocaine is known to chemists as cocaine hydrochloride, which is the substance that's isolated from the leaves of the coca plant. This is the cocaine people snort or inject. But if you mix cocaine hydrochloride with ammonia, baking soda, and water, and then heat it with benzene or ether to remove the hydrochloride, you're left with a very powerful, smokable version of cocaine called free base. Free base is crazy dangerous.

First, it's super addictive. Secondly, it's incredibly potent. And thirdly, the chemicals used to make free base cocaine are extremely flammable. And this is largely why it's fallen out of favor and has been replaced with another form of cocaine, crack. What is crack cocaine?

So crack cocaine is a sort of a premade form of free based cocaine. It's made by mixing baking soda and water with cocaine. And when the mixture is heated, it produces a distinct cracking noise, which is how crack got its name. Most people use crack by smoking it. The crack pieces are heated with a flame, and the user inhales the fumes exactly like previous cocaine is used.

In general, crack provides an intense but very short time. It's extremely addictive, and if you paid any attention to news since the nineteen eighties, you'll likely know how infamous it is. Crack is associated with a wave of extreme violence that devastated entire communities up to the twenty first century. So, essentially, crack and cocaine are the same drug that's just used differently. And this use is tied up into remarkable class differences.

And I won't get into them, but it's another reason why drug stigma is so important to get rid of. Crack and cocaine are both addictive. As one of the designers of the Edge Treatment Center's effective treatment programs, I've seen how crack and cocaine both harm people and trap them, in addition. However, with the right help, anyone can leave them behind. I'm Jeremy Artz, a licensed marriage and family therapist who helped found The Edge Treatment Center.

Thanks for watching our video. Don't forget to hit that like and subscribe button. Also, if you've had any experience with cocaine, crack, or recovery from addiction, share your story in the comments below. Again, cocaine addiction is treatable. Reach out to The Edge Treatment Center at (844) 590-0413, and we'll tell you how you can achieve real changes in your life by getting cocaine and crack out of it.