Where did Crack Cocaine Originate From?
Crack Cocaine came from the Coca plant in South America, it is an Alkaloid found on the leaves of the Erythroxylon Coca shrub. Cocaine is a psycho stimulant that causes a euphoric feeling by blocking neurotransmitters to the mid-brain. The drug once was only used for the Inca royalty. Coca was used for many reasons by the natives such as religious, medical, social, and mystic uses in the pre Columbian days. Cocaine began to be abused by the Coqueros for relief from fatigue and hunger.
They began to use it for endurance and a state of enhanced their sense of well being. Coca was banned in Spain because the Catholic Church said it was a tool of the Devil, but later saw that they could hardly get the workers to mine the gold mines or harvest the crops. The Church then decided to disperse the Coca three to four times a day during breaks to give the workers endurance.
The Spanish Conquistadors introduced Coca into Europe and it soon became wide spread. Doctors began prescribing it to patients to get off Morphine addiction, Authors were using it for inspiration, and adventurers were using it for stamina and endurance. Cocaine was even sold over the counter until 1916 for uses such as toothache’s and hay fever. It was put in chocolate, wine, and even tablets. The Pope and Prime Minister even indorsed the Cocaine filled wine called Vin-Mariani.
The Coca leaf typically only produces 0.1-0.9 per cent of Cocaine and is rarely produces any medical problems. But if you grind up and mash it into a paste it is 60 to 80 per cent pure. Crack Cocaine was invented by those thrill seekers that looked for a more intense high than they could get from just snorting it. When concentrated with baking soda it makes a cracking sound which is were the name comes from. Base Cocaine evaporates in low heat so it makes it easy to smoke and gives the user the most intense pleasure a human being can have.
The bad side of the euphoric feeling is soon after the feeling starts, there is a horrible “crash” or coming down. The side effects of the crash that is truly dangerous such as, paranoia, irritation, fatigue, and depression. For heavy users this can be even worse with effects such as feeling like insects are crawling underneath their skin, toxic paranoid psychosis, and after a while the brain begins to lose the pleasure that it once had. At that point nost people would need to gt admitted to a crack cocaine treatment in Ontario. Some facilities will also do the detox as part of the program.
Users of Crack get a high tolerance very fast so they have to use more to get that desired feeling of euphoria that they use to get so quickly. Many of the users of Crack will continue to use the drug just to avoid the side effects of withdrawals. There are several slang terms that are used in the world of Crack, such as Crack Head, which means a person who uses all the time. A Crack House is a place that Crack is used or sold. The side effects of this drug will also be different depending on what is added to the drug but heavy users rarely care at the time.
References:http://www.cocaine.org/
http://www.cesar.umd.edu/cesar/drugs/crack.pdf