How to Get Clued Up About Coke
A Guide to Recognising Cocaine, and the Risks it Can Bring
Nov 20, 2008
‘Freebase’ cocaine and ‘crack’ cocaine, can be smoked, and so can reach the brain very rapidly in high dosage. Snorted powder cocaine is absorbed more slowly. Hence, smoked freebase or crack tends to be much stronger and more addictive than snorted powder cocaine.
Slang Terms for Cocaine
Street names for drugs can vary around the country. For powder cocaine: Coke, Charlie, C, white, Percy, snow, toot. For crack: rocks, wash, stones, pebbles, base, freebase.
Facts About Cocaine
- Taking cocaine makes users feel on top of the world. Its effect is like the stimulant ‘amphetamines’ (speed) but is stronger and doesn't last as long. People taking it feel wide-awake, confident and on top of their game.
- Cocaine is a stimulant, so it can raise the body’s temperature, make the heart beat faster and stave off feelings of hunger.
- The effects of crack smoking are virtually immediate, peaking for about two minutes and lasting for only about 10 minutes. For snorted coke there is a slower time to peak but the effects still don’t last that long (around 20-30 minutes).
- Coke is very addictive. Cocaine and crack are Class A drugs - illegal to have, give away or sell. Possession can lead to up to seven years in jail. Supplying someone else, including your friends, can get you life and an unlimited fine.
- ‘Coke’, or cocaine powder, is a white powder that's usually divided into lines on a smooth surface and snorted up the nose with a rolled up note or straw. It is not easily smoked. ‘Crack’ is a form of cocaine made into small lumps or rocks (which makes a cracking noise when burnt). A rock of crack is about the size of a raisin. It's usually smoked in a pipe, glass tube, plastic bottle or in foil.
Street Prices for Cocaine and Crack
Both powder and crack forms of cocaine can be prepared to make a solution for injecting. Prices can vary from region to region. The prices given here are an average of street prices reported from 20 different parts of England. A gram of coke powder generally costs between £30 and £60. A crack rock costs between £12 and £20. It's sometimes sold cheaper by the slice or as a 'clubbing rock' for about £10.
The purity of crack depends on the purity of the cocaine used originally to produce the crack. After a big night on cocaine, it's not unusual for people to feel like they've got the flu.
Risks of Taking Cocaine
- The hit from coke doesn't last long and from ‘crack’ lasts even less. When the effects start to wear off there can be a very strong temptation to take more, particularly with the long ‘come down’, the crash period can happen days later.
- Crack and cocaine powder users have died from overdoses. High doses can raise the body's temperature, cause convulsions and respiratory or heart failure. Risk of overdosing increases if crack is mixed with heroin, barbiturates (sedatives) or alcohol.
- Cocaine can bring previous mental health problems to the surface. If a close relative has had serious mental health problems, it’s possible there might be an increased risk for the person in taking cocaine.
- It's easier to overdose if someone is injecting cocaine. Cocaine is a local anaesthetic and it deadens pain at the injection site. This makes it harder for users to notice the damage they may be doing.
- Alcohol and cocaine together can be particularly dangerous as the substances interact in the body to produce a toxic chemical. The risks further increase if other drugs are taken as well.
- Injecting a mixture of cocaine and heroin, known as a 'speedballing' is a dangerous cocktail – with potentially fatal results.
If someone is suspected of taking Cocaine, it’s important to seek medical support as soon as possible to provide education on use, and get help if an addiction is forming. While very intermittent use of the drug is unlikely to cause a problem, the addictive nature of Cocaine makes it difficult to control.
Source: The 'Frank', charity for drug support and advice.
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