Crack
Pure cocaine was first used in the 1880s as a local anesthetic in eye, nose, and throat surgeries because of its ability to provide anesthesia as well as to constrict blood vessels and limit bleeding. Many of its therapeutic applications are now obsolete due to the development of safer drugs. Approximately 100 years after cocaine entered into use, a new variation of the substance emerged. This substance, crack, became enormously popular in the mid-1980s due in part to its almost immediate high and the fact that it is inexpensive to produce and buy.
Cocaine is a powerfully addictive stimulant drug. The powdered hydrochloride salt form of the drug can be snorted or dissolved in water and injected. Crack is cocaine that has not been neutralized by an acid to make the hydrochlorida salt. This form of cocaine comes in a rock crystal that can be heated and its vapors smoked. The term "crack" comes from the crackling sound made when it is heated.

Extent of Use
According to the 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH),
approximately 7.9 million Americans aged 12 or older reported trying crack at least once during their lifetimes, representing 3.3% of the population aged 12 or older. Additional 2005 NSDUH data indicate that approximately 1.4 million (0.6%) reported past year crack cocaine use and 682,000 (0.3%) reported past month crack use.

Health Effects
Cocaine is a strong central nervous system stimulant. Physical effects of cocaine use, including crack, include constricted blood vessels and increased temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure. Users may also experience feelings of restlessness, irritability, and anxiety. Smoking crack delivers large quantities of the drug to the lungs, producing effects comparable to intravenous injection. These effects are felt almost immediately after smoking, are very intense, but do not last long. For example, the high from snorting cocaine may last 15–30 minutes, while the high from smoking it may last 5–10 minutes. Evidence suggests that users who smoke or inject cocaine may be at even greater risk of causing harm to themselves than those who snort the substance. Cocaine smokers may suffer from acute respiratory problems including coughing, shortness of breath, and severe chest pains with lung trauma and bleeding. An added danger of cocaine use is when cocaine and alcohol are consumed at the same time. When these substances are mixed, the human liver combines cocaine and alcohol and manufactures a third substance, cocaethylene. This intensifies cocaine's euphoric effects, while also possibly increasing the risk of sudden death. Most cocaine-related deaths are a result of cardiac arrest or seizures followed by respiratory arrest. Cocaine is a powerfully addictive drug. A tolerance to the cocaine high may be developed and many addicts report that they fail to achieve as much pleasure as they did from their first cocaine exposure.During 2002, emergency departments (ED) nationwide reported 42,146 crack mentions to the Drug Abuse Warning Network. Crack accounted for 21% of the total cocaine mentions during the year. The number of crack ED mentions has increased from 33,789 in 1995, but has decreased from 46,964 in 2001.

Treatment
Crack cocaine represented 72% of all primary cocaine admissions to treatment in 2005. From 1995 to 2005, the number of admissions to treatment in which crack was the primary drug of abuse decreased from 207,608 in 1995 to 185,236 in 2005. The crack admissions represented 12.4% of the total drug/alcohol admissions to treatment during 1995 and 10.0% of the treatment admissions in 2005. The average age of those admitted to treatment for crack cocaine during 2005 was 38 years.

Arrests & Sentencing
During FY 2004, cocaine was the primary drug involved in Federal drug arrests. There were 12,166 Federal drug arrests for cocaine in FY 2004. The DEA made 7,082 arrests for powder cocaine and 3,921 arrests for crack cocaine during FY 2004.19 During FY 2006, there were 5,623 Federal defendants sentenced for crack cocaine-related charges in U.S. Courts. Approximately 96% of the cases involved crack cocaine trafficking.


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