CRACK COCAINE

Crack cocaine is very similar to cocaine but is processed with baking soda or ammonia and water and formed into rocks or chunks of cocaine. Crack is usually cheaper to buy than cocaine and is most often smoked from a pipe. Crack produces a type of high when smoked that feels like euphoria to the user. Because the high achieved from crack does not last very long, drug users chase the crack high wasting money and their lives away trying to feel that euphoria again. Following the high felt off crack users come down hard, what is commonly known as "crashing" and feel many negative side effects as a result. These side effects include depression, mood swings, paranoia, and anxiety.

Heavy or habitual users will also develop an intense craving for the drug that is never satisfied. Drug users often steal, cheat and lie in order to maintain their high. Long-term effects of crack use include sensory related hallucinations, predominately tactile along with depression, delirium and problems with bodily functions. The brain's pleasure receptors are also damaged by crack use. Crack can cause heart attacks as well as fatal respiratory problems.

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