Crack cocaine and crime
Crack cocaine is a potent and addictive form of cocaine that emerged in the United States during the early 1980s, quickly becoming more prevalent than powder cocaine due to its lower cost and intense effects. The drug is produced through a simpler method that yields rock-like crystals, which users often smoke for a rapid onset of euphoria. This immediate and profound high contributes to its high potential for addiction, particularly among users from lower-income backgrounds, although definitive conclusions about addiction rates compared to powder cocaine remain elusive.
The rise of crack cocaine coincided with a surge in associated violence, as dealers engaged in territorial disputes within the illegal drug market, leading to heightened community concern and widespread media coverage. As a result, significant resources have been allocated to law enforcement, prevention programs, and treatment efforts to address the challenges posed by crack cocaine use. Users frequently experience severe physical and psychological health issues, including cardiovascular problems and respiratory distress, and while there are no universally effective medical treatments for crack addiction, various therapeutic approaches are being explored. The complex relationship between crack cocaine use, addiction, and crime continues to be studied, reflecting the broader social implications of drug misuse.
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Subject Terms
Crack cocaine and crime
DEFINITION: Form of cocaine that transforms into rock-like chips during its creation and is believed to produce a more intense high than powder cocaine.
SIGNIFICANCE: Crack cocaine emerged during the early 1980s, and a seeming epidemic of use of the drug led to an intense media frenzy in the United States. Powder cocaine had been in use in the United States for many years, but crack cocaine quickly became the more popular of the two because of its cheap price and intense high. The hysteria surrounding the drug was in part a reaction to the amount of systemic violence created by crack cocaine dealers establishing territories within the black market.
Crack cocaine remains one of the most problematic drugs in the United States because of its impacts on users and their communities. Significant resources are spent on attempts to decrease the supply of crack cocaine within the United States through law-enforcement efforts, to decrease demand for the drug through education and prevention programs, and to decrease the number of those addicted to it through drug treatment. Cocaine is listed as a Schedule II drug under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, meaning that it has a high potential for abuse, is used medically with restrictions, and can lead to severe physical and psychological dependence.
Production of Crack
Crack cocaine is a pure form of cocaine that is manufactured by a simpler method than that used to create freebase cocaine. In making freebase cocaine, which was popular in the 1970s, powder cocaine is dissolved in water with ammonia and ether added; a solid cocaine base is then separated from the solution and used for smoking. was overshadowed by crack during the 1980s.
Unlike other forms of cocaine, crack does not include hydrochloride salt. In the manufacture of crack, cocaine is mixed with water and baking soda; this mixture is then heated, and when it cools, cocaine “rocks” are formed. The rocks can be smoked in pipes, heated and then inhaled, or even injected. One reason for crack cocaine’s popularity is that, unlike powder cocaine, it can be produced in small quantities; thus users at all income levels can buy the drug.
Effects of the Drug
Most crack users typically place the drug in a glass pipe with a steel wool filter and heat the pipe from below. When smoked, crack cocaine passes into a user’s bloodstream much faster than cocaine that is snorted. The drug is then transported to the brain, where it interferes with a neurotransmitter, or chemical messenger, called dopamine. Dopamine sends signals of pleasure from neuron to neuron during pleasant activities. It does so by attaching to the synapse of the neuron, sending a message, and then being reabsorbed back into the neuron. Crack cocaine disrupts this process and slows the absorption of dopamine, creating longer-lasting feelings of pleasure. Crack is thus considered to be a stimulant drug because it causes dopamine to build up and send exaggerated feelings of exhilaration. Users generally begin to feel the effects of crack cocaine in fifteen seconds, compared with fifteen to twenty minutes for cocaine that is snorted.
Cocaine is a highly addictive drug, and there seems to be a higher correlation between addiction and cocaine in its crack form as opposed to its powder form. Researchers have not been able to rule out extraneous factors that may affect this correlation, however, such as the income levels of the users of crack cocaine. In other words, it has not been determined conclusively whether crack cocaine is more highly addictive than powder cocaine or whether its users, who are generally poor, may be more susceptible to than users of other forms of cocaine.
The use of crack cocaine is associated with many of the same physical problems found in users of powder cocaine: constricted blood vessels, increased blood pressure, and risk of heart attack and stroke. Crack cocaine users may also experience extreme respiratory problems, including lung trauma and coughing. Crack use can also affect the digestive tract, causing users to lose their appetites or to feel nauseated. In large amounts, crack can make users feel restless, anxious, or even paranoid.
Unlike addiction, for which treatment with methadone maintenance is available, addiction to crack cocaine has no proven effective medical treatment, although a number of medications have begun to be investigated for this purpose. Other treatment strategies are used to counteract crack addiction, including cognitive therapy, psychotherapy, and twelve-step programs.
Researchers have examined crack cocaine's effects and possible links to violence in users, which may result in criminal acts or charges. Conclusions are difficult due to the complicated relationships between genetics, environment, and addiction.
Bibliography
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Felson, Richard B., and Luke Bonkiewicz. "Guns and Trafficking in Crack-Cocaine and Other Drug Markets." Crime & Delinquency 59.3 (2013): 319–343. Print.
Pego, Ana Miguel Fonseca. "Cocaine, Genes, and Violent Behaviors." In Handbook of Anger, Aggression, and Violence. C. R. Martin, V. R. Preedy, and V. B. Patel, eds. Springer, Cham, 2023, doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31547-3‗87
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