What Is Crack Cocaine?
Crack cocaine is produced from powdered cocaine by adding water and baking soda to create a dried, solid mixture. The result is a substance that is very inexpensive and highly potent. Users tend to prefer crack because of its near-immediate effects, which include:
• Feelings of euphoria
• Inflated self-confidence
• Unusual bursts of energy
• Intense alertness
• Loss of appetite and weight loss
• Insomnia
Although crack is known most commonly as a recreational drug, addiction quickly takes hold as the shortened effects cause users to seek the drug more readily. Crack also has a tendency to include toxic additives to increase the weight and volume of a batch. These substances carry increased risks of cardiovascular disease due to the pressure placed on the heart and lungs during consumption.
How is Crack Different from Cocaine?
Cocaine is derived from the leaves of the coca plant, indigenous to South America, and has the appearance of a white powdery substance. From its powdered form, cocaine can either be snorted or dissolved in water and injected into the body. Crack cocaine involves an additional step that turns the substance into a solid to be smoked.
Powdered cocaine is significantly more expensive than its solid counterpart and is also argued to have a slower onset when it is snorted. While snorting cocaine typically takes up to 20 minutes to have any effect, smoking crack impacts the brain within 20 seconds but lasts only 30 minutes as opposed to 60 minutes when snorting. It’s because of this gap in onset and its affordability that crack has found popularity, but the drug also has prolonged health risks because of its addictive nature. Long-term consequences of crack use include damaged blood vessels, heart attack, and stroke, as well as damage to the lips, mouth, and teeth, and significant cognitive decline.
The Addictive Qualities of Crack
Crack produces an intense high due to its rapid onset, but because the high is much more intense, it doesn’t last nearly as long, meaning that users experience the negative symptoms of crack use faster than they would if they used powdered cocaine. This causes an increase in consumption and simultaneously allows tolerance to build.
Tolerance begins when the body adapts to the drug, requiring more crack to be used in order to achieve the same high. Users will begin to desire more of the drug and increase their dosage, which consequently puts them at greater risk.
Crack Addiction Treatment at Genesis Recovery
Regardless of where you are in your addiction, Genesis Recovery can help you begin a life of sobriety. Our methods rely on a multi-faceted approach combined with a 12-step program and other clinical practices to help you recover from your addiction. Treatment plans are comprehensive and structured to promote goal-setting so that you can learn how to be financially, physically, and emotionally responsible. You will experience rehabilitation that is moderate in intensity with expectations for accountability and a zero-tolerance policy, but that is intermixed with extracurricular activities, a nurturing atmosphere, and an abundance of community support.
Our holistic endeavors serve to bring awareness to each one of our members that there is a power beyond ourselves who can help us work toward a fulfilled life. Through Bible study, church services, prayer, and meditation, we will begin to understand the presence of a higher power and learn how that presence can assist us in all walks of life. In addition, our treatment center is set up as a retreat east of San Diego, free from temptations associated with drug use.
During our 12-step program, we engage residents in activities surrounding addiction recovery. With the help of our certified counselors and their willingness to share their own personal experiences with addiction, we hope to show residents that a sober life is safe and rewarding. Each of our counselors has experience working with diverse populations and is capable of nurturing individuals in a way that suits their individual needs.
Contact us if you are ready to seek a life free from addiction. At Genesis Recovery, we can provide the support you need to find crack addiction treatment in San Diego.
