The production, distribution, and sale of cocaine are illegal in most countries. Most illicit cocaine is produced in Colombia, with Bolivia and Peru as other major sources. The United States is the largest market for illicit cocaine, followed by Europe.
There are several forms of street cocaine, including the hydrochloride salt, “freebase” (pure), and crack cocaine, which differ in their physical properties and in the way they are taken. The hydrochloride salt can be dissolved in water and is either injected or snorted, whereas the freebase and crack forms are inhaled and absorbed into the blood through the nasal membranes.
Some users prefer to smoke cocaine. By using a highly volatile solvent, such as ether, users extract cocaine powder into freebase form, heat it over a fire, and inhale the fumes—an approach that is effective but very dangerous. When ether fumes are exposed to a flame, an explosion can result. In the mid-1980s, users discovered that when cocaine powder was dissolved in water, mixed with either ammonia or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), boiled, and cooled, solid lumps or “rocks” of cocaine were produced; the resulting “crack cocaine” could be smoked. After inhalation, crack produces intense excitatory and euphoric effects within ten to fifteen seconds. Similar effects appear ten to fifteen minutes after snorting the drug.
Whereas the hydrochloride salt is expensive, crack is very easy to make, relatively cheap—and, hence, widely accessible. The use of crack assumed epidemic proportions in the 1980s. The U.S. Congress responded in 1986 by imposing minimum jail sentences of five years for both the possession of 500 grams (17.6 oz.) of cocaine powder or just 5 grams (.176 oz.) of crack. Over the years, many criminologists have pointed out that this sentencing disparity disproportionately affected blacks, who represent 80 percent of those convicted of crack possession, as opposed to users of powdered cocaine, who are predominately white. In 2010, the law was modified, increasing possession of crack to 28 grams (1 oz.) to trigger a minimum five-year jail sentence and reducing the illegal possession disparity from 100 to 1 to 18 to 1.
SEE ALSO Coca (1532), Ether (1846), Cocaine (1884), Methamphetamine (1944).
A sign posted in a tire repair shop in the Bywater section of New Orleans prohibits loitering, selling crack cocaine, and “cat selling” (prostitution). “NOPD [New Orleans Police Department] will be called.”