 Cocaine, the most potent stimulant of natural origin, is extracted from the coca plant. It is a white powder typically mixed with various white cutting agents. Street dealers dilute it with inert but similar-looking substances such as cornstarch, talcum powder, and sugar or with active drugs or other stimulants such as amphetamines. Crack is the chunk or rock form of cocaine.
What they look like: Cocaine can come in two main forms: cocaine hydrochloride is a white crystalline powder; Crack is cocaine hydrochloride that has been processed with ammonia or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and water into a freebase cocaine - chips, chunks, or rocks.
Also known as: Cocaine – Coke, snow, blow, nose candy, flake, big C, lady, white, snowbirds; Crack – rock and freebase.
How they're used: Cocaine – snorted or dissolved in water and injected; Crack – heated and smoked in a pipe, sometimes with use of flammable solvents (freebase).
Indicators of use: (same for both forms) Pupil dilation; elevated blood pressure and pulse; increased respiratory rate; restlessness and insomnia; irritability; anxiety; loss of appetite.
Physical/psychological impacts: Addiction; if injected, increased risk of infectious diseases including HIV and various forms of hepatitis; paranoia; seizures; heart attack; respiratory failure; constricted peripheral blood vessels (cold hands, fingers,
feet); tactile hallucinations; increased body temperature; death from overdose.
Workplace and employee impact: On the job, cocaine can cause an employee to experience lapses in attention and concentration; aggressive behavior; impaired manual dexterity and motor coordination; a tendency to overreact and overcompensate; false sense of alertness
and security; distorted vision and difficulty in seeing; auditory and visual hallucination; profound depression; anxiety; irritability; and restlessness.
How it hits home: Between 2001 and 2003, there have been slight declines in both cocaine and crack use among teens, according to the University of Michigan’s 2003 Monitoring the Future survey. The cost: an ounce of 75 percent pure cocaine retails for $900 to $1,000
per ounce in the King of Prussia area. A rock of crack sells for $5-$20. More good news: the 2001 Drug Free Pennsylvania’s Middle School survey showed that when parents frequently talk to their children about cocaine and crack, there is an 80-100 percent reduction in use.
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