Powder, cocaine

Cocaine is found in several forms. It can be extracted from the coca leaf to form coca paste (basuco, pitillo), which is not water soluble but can be smoked. The paste can be further treated to form cocaine hydrochloride (cocaine powder), which can be dissolved in water and injected, or can be snorted into the nostril. 

Fig. 48 Perceived availability of cocaine among US high school students, 1998-2006 (unweighted average of 8th, 10th and 12th grade students reporting that it is fairly easy or very easy to obtain cocaine powder)...

So why is there a disparity in the federal sentencing guidelines In the 1980s, as the powder cocaine epidemic was drawing to a close, a new epidemic was emerging—crack cocaine. Crack sold for as cheaply as three to five dollars per rock. Suddenly, the market exploded and crack use spread to the young and the poor. Though cocaine powder is powerfully addictive, crack seems to be even more so. 

Powder see Cocaine Powder cocaine see Cocaine Pox see Opium Prazepam see Benzodiazepine Prelu-2 see Diet pills Prolixin see Tranquilizers ProSom see Benzodiazepine Protriptyline see Antidepressants Pseudoephedrine see Ephedra Psilocybe mushrooms see Psilocybin Psilocydes see Psilocybin Psychedelic mushrooms see Psilocybin Puffy see PCP (phencyclidine)... 

Therapeutic uses Cocaine has a local anesthetic action that represents the only current rationale for the therapeutic use of cocaine-, cocaine is applied topically as a local anesthetic during eye, ear, nose, and throat surgery. While the local anesthetic action of cocaine is due to a block of voltage-activated sodium channels, an interaction with potassium channels may contribute to cocaine s ability to cause cardiac arrhythmias. [Note Cocaine is the only local anesthetic that causes vasoconstriction. This effect is responsible for the necrosis and perforation of the nasal septum seen in association with chronic inhalation of cocaine powder.]... 

A 29-year-old woman with a painful corneal ulcer related to cocaine abuse was found to be putting cocaine powder directly into the affected eye to reduce the pain (162). Her history included prior corneal perforations. 

As soon as cocaine enters your bloodstream it goes to work, increasing your heart rate and raising your blood pressure. It increases your body s temperature and causes the pupils of your eyes to dilate. Repeated sniffing of cocaine powder causes your nose to become irritated and frequently runny. The cocaine can even eat away at the cartilage in your nose, producing holes. 

While only a tiny percentage of the revenue from cocaine finds its way back to Peru and Bolivia, in Colombia the profit cocaine generates is more clearly felt. Colombia has maintained tight control over the later stage of the cocaine industry—the business of exporting cocaine powder. 

From there, the cocaine is again repackaged and re-cut for sale to local dealers. By now, the drug has passed through several successive handlers and has been re-cut to reduce its purity at nearly every stage. The local dealers often reduce the purity themselves before selling it to users. By the time it reaches the user, the end product often bears little resemblance to the highly concentrated cocaine powder that first crossed the U.S. border. 

Figure 8.13 Cocaine powder found inside a shaving cream can. Image courtesy of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. 

Cocaine powder has a direct effect on the lungs and there is an indirect effect via vasoconstriction. Barotrauma was the most likely cause for the pneumothorax and pneumomediastinum in this case. 

Cocaine hydrochloride salt is what is commonly sold as cocaine powder, which has traditionally been injected or snorted. If the cocaine hydrochloride salt is treated with alkali, it reverts into the neutral molecular base. This can be done using baking soda (NaHCOj) to make crack, one form of free cocaine. If the hydrochloride salt is smoked, heating it up destroys most of the cocaine, whereas the molecular base crack form is more volatile,... 

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