How it affects you
- It’s a powerful stimulant, and speeds up your central nervous system.
- Your heart rate and blood pressure increase and pupils dilate.
- It gives you an intense feeling of power and control, and more energy and awareness.
- The effects of crack are even more intense than cocaine and the onset is almost
- immediate, although the effects last for only a short time.
Other names
Coke, charlie, gear, banger, snow, crack, rock, bones, stones, freebase.
Is it legal?
- Class A.
- Possession carries a maximum sentence of 7 years’ imprisonment and a fine.
- Supply or production carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and a fine.
The risks, signs and symptoms
- It can cause a powerful psychological dependence.
- It can cause death, mainly from heart failure or haemorrhaging.
- Habitual crack users will almost certainly experience bronchial problems and if you snort cocaine regularly you can end up with a perforated septum.
- Even recreational users can quickly develop disrupted sleep patterns, appetite loss, fatigue, restlessness, anxiety and paranoia.
- It depletes levels of dopamine in your brain, a chemical that helps regulate mood, so you can become suicidally depressed.
- It increases adrenaline and this can cause restlessness, extreme paranoia and aggression.
- Mixing with alcohol increases the risk of heart and liver damage.
How you can reduce the risks
- The only way to fully reduce the risks from cocaine and crack is to not take them.
- Avoid mixing cocaine or crack with other substances.
- If you develop paranoia, psychosis or violent and over-aggressive behaviour, you should try to reduce your use and seek medical help.
- You will need to sleep and eat after a period of use.
- Users are more likely to have unsafe sex, so always carry condoms if there is a chance you may have sex.
- If you have a heart condition, you should always avoid stimulants.
- Don’t share any drug paraphernalia, as blood-to-blood infection is a real possibility.