|Cocaine| is an alkaloid drug extracted from the leaves of the coca plant. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system that produces euphoria (a sense of well being). Crack |cocaine| is a powerful drug. It is a form of |cocaine| that is cheap and widely available. It comes in small lumps that look like |soap|. It is often referred to as rock, freebase, and white tornado. For this discussion, all forms will be referred to as the generic term |cocaine|.
Tachyphylaxis or tolerance to the effects of |cocaine| often sets in. This creates a tendency among many users to escalate the dosage. |Cocaine| is snorted, injected, or smoked. It is often mixed with other, less expensive, substances. Crack is made by cooking |cocaine| with baking powder. It is usually smoked in a water pipe. Crack is the most addictive form of |cocaine|.
Cocaine was originally isolated in pure form in 1844. It received little attention until 1833. A German army physician, Dr. Theodor Aschenbrandt, obtained a supply of pure |cocaine| and issued it to Bavarian soldiers during their autumn maneuvers. He reported an increase in the ability of the soldiers to endure fatigue.
One fascinated reader of Dr. Aschenbrandt's account was a poverty-stricken, twenty-eight-year-old Viennese neurologist, Dr. Sigmund Freund. Some of Freund's initial findings on |cocaine| as a psychoactive drug were amply confirmed by subsequent research. Additional research revealed that repeated use of large doses of |cocaine| produces a characteristic paranoid psychosis in all or almost all users, and the tendency to overuse or abuse |cocaine| is widespread. The hallucination that ants, insects, or snakes are crawling on or under the skin is a peculiar characteristic of this psychosis.
By 1890, the addicting and psychosis-producing nature of |cocaine| was well understood. |Cocaine| was often being used as a local anesthetic for anesthesia. In the United States, |cocaine| was being widely used in Coca-Cola, tonics, and other patented medicines. |Cocaine| was outlawed in the U.S. in 1914. |Cocaine| produces the effect of reducing |mucous membrane| swelling and enlarging nasal and bronchial passages. This most likely gave users the idea of sniffing |cocaine|, a common use even today. It is also a stimulant that speeds up the nervous system, heartbeat, and breathing.
Cocaine |addiction| differs from many other types of |addiction| in at least two respects. Even after prolonged uses of large doses of |cocaine|, if a user is deprived of the drug, they will not suffer from a significant withdrawal crisis like alcoholic delirium tremens or opiate withdrawal syndrome. The physical effects of withdrawal are minor. |Cocaine| withdrawal is characterized by depression for which |cocaine| appears to be the only remedy. The compulsion to resume |cocaine| is very strong. Overdoses of the drug can lead to |convulsions| and even death.
Moreover, |cocaine| |addiction| can lead to a severe psychosis while the user is still on the drug. This is quite contrary to most other withdrawal syndromes which set in hours or days after the drug is withdrawn.
Large doses of pure |cocaine| produce significant feelings of tension and excess agitation. |Cocaine| users discovered that mixing |cocaine| with morphine or heroin relieves these feelings. Morphine and heroin users discovered the combination increases both the "bang" or "rush" and the mood elevation produced by their particular drug. This mixture is commonly known as "speed" or "crank".
