FRANK helps you find out everything you might want
to know about drugs (and some stuff you don't).
For friendly, confidential advice, Talk to FRANK.
It can give a powerful high that can leave you feeling really down
Powder cocaine (also called coke), freebase and crack are all forms of cocaine. They’re all powerful stimulants, with short-lived effects – that means they temporarily speed up the way your mind and body work. Both ‘freebase’ cocaine (powder cocaine that’s been prepared for smoking) and ‘crack’ cocaine (a ‘rock’ like form of cocaine) can be smoked. This means that they reach the brain very quickly, while snorted powder cocaine gets to the brain more slowly.
All types of cocaine are addictive, but by reaching the brain very quickly freebase or crack tend to have a much stronger effect and be more addictive than snorted powder cocaine. Injecting any form of cocaine will also reach the brain more quickly but this has serious additional risks.
Here are the main effects and risks of taking cocaine:
What does cocaine look like?
‘Coke’ is a white powder. ‘Freebase’ cocaine is specially prepared ‘coke’. And ‘crack’ is a form of cocaine made into small lumps or rocks that make a cracking noise when burnt.
On average, a gram of coke powder generally costs £42. A crack rock costs between £10 and £20. Crack is sometimes sold cheaper by the slice or as a 'clubbing rock' for about £10.
How do people take coke?
Coke is divided into lines and snorted up the nose. It is not easily smoked, unless specially prepared into ‘freebase’ cocaine. A rock of crack is about the size of a raisin. Like ‘freebase’, it's usually smoked in a pipe, glass tube, plastic bottle or in foil.
Both powder and crack forms of cocaine can be prepared to make a solution of cocaine for injecting. Sharing needles and syringes or other injecting equipment, when injecting, runs the risk of the injector catching or spreading HIV and hepatitis C infection.
There is also the risk that veins may be damaged and of an abscess or blood clot developing.
Taking cocaine makes users feel on top of the world, wide-awake, confident and on top of their game – but some people are over-confident on it and so may take very careless risks. Its effect is much like speed (amphetamines), but is usually stronger and doesn't last as long.
It can also have other effects:
The effects of crack smoking are virtually immediate, peaking for about two minutes and lasting for only about 10 minutes.
When snorting coke it takes longer to peak but the effects still don’t last that long, only around 20-30 minutes.
When the effects of any cocaine use start to wear off there can be a very strong temptation to take more, particularly with the long ‘come down’, the crash period sometimes lasting for days afterwards.
What are the risks?
There are many serious risks with taking cocaine. Here’s what it could do to you.
Cocaine and alcohol
Using cocaine with alcohol (or other drugs) can substantially increase risk of side-effects. Alcohol and cocaine together can be particularly dangerous, as they mix together in the body to produce a toxic chemical, called cocaethylene.
What is cocaine and crack cut with?
Recent police seizures of powder cocaine had an average purity of just 15%. A wrap of cocaine powder can be cut with many things, such as sugar or starch.
The purity of crack depends on the purity of the cocaine used originally to produce the crack. However, recent police seizures had an average purity of 23%.
Can you get addicted to cocaine?
Coke is very addictive and it can be difficult to resist the craving for more. This powerful craving can develop because cocaine can change the way your brain works.
Although the powerful psychological dependence that can easily develop is more of a problem than the physical withdrawal symptoms, people who stop using can experience low moods and feel very rough, and this can also tempt them to take more coke.
Cocaine and the law
What if you’re caught?
Did you know?
My name is Sam. I am 25, and my husband is 26. We both use cocaine on a regular basis. It started out as a line here or there on a night out- nothing too major. Now every weekend we “get on it” and within 8 months we have spent about £15,000 on cocaine. That’s not even an exaggeration.
this is for all u that think cocaine is great , i started sniffing cocaine a few years ago like many people i was just doing it at weekends after a year or so it become every time i went out for a drink id have a couple of pints and say come on lads shall we get some coke???
Until recently I’ve started going to more parties with my friends and stealing fags off my parents. Whenever I go to a party I always smoke, drink or do drugs. I just have to. I went to this party a few days ago I smoked 12 cigarettes, 3 spliffs and took cocaine.
One of my brothers last words before he hanged himself in 9/2011. He had been addicted to crack cocaine and Meth for many years and he tried to stop but always fell back into the devils arms. My brother was doing things he would of never done if he was in his right mind. The night he called me to tell me he was going away and wouldnt see me for a long time and to pray for him he told me over and over they did this to me.
By mixing drugs you increase the chances of having a bad time. The effects of the drugs might be greatly increased, the drugs might interact in an unexpected way or one drug may stop part of your body working properly which makes the other drug(s) that have been taken more dangerous.
The effects of cocaine powder wear off quite quickly in 20-30 minutes (even faster with crack cocaine). You can still be affected with a come-down the day after you use cocaine. The detection time for evidence of recent cocaine use in a urine test is 12 hours to 3 days.
Most of the time cocaine is cut to add extra bulk so that the dealer can make more money. Cocaine can be cut with many different substances, some of which can be harmful:
Hi, have you got a few minutes to give us your views about the FRANK website?
