Common or street names: Coca, Coke, C, Crack, Blow, Rock, Snow, Flake, Soda Cot; the base form is called freebase or “crack”
What is cocaine?
Cocaine (C17H21NO4) is a powerfully addictive, psychoactive, stimulant drug. On the street it is usually sold as a fine, white crystal powder. The powdered, hydrochloride salt form can be snorted or dissolved in water and injected. Use in any form is illegal in the U.S. when used as recreational drug.
Freebase is cocaine hydrochloride that is processed to remove the hydrochloride salt. This ‘freebase’ form is not water-soluble; the powder can be heated and its vapors smoked due to the lower melting point. Diethyl ether is used to process freebase and is highly flammable and volatile, often leading to lab explosions and bodily injury such as burns. It produces a much more intense “rush” than snorting the drug and can be extremely addictive due to the quick high and repeated use.
Crack cocaine (“crack”) is another form that is processed into a rock form using baking soda and may contain a high percentage of impurities. The term “crack” refers to the crackling sound heard when it is heated prior to smoking. Crack abuse in the U.S. rose in the mid-1980’s and is considered the most addictive form of the drug. Crack looks like small, irregularly shaped chunks (or “rocks”) of a whitish solid.
People who use cocaine in any form may “binge” — taking the drug repeatedly within a short time and at increasingly higher doses — to maintain their high.
Learn More: Commonly Abused Drugs and Substances