Gerald wrote:
> My tentative "read" of things is that crack is impure from the
> standpoint of chemicals (baking soda) being added to it in the
> conversion process, and some of these chemicals are retained in
> the crack. It may be considered more pure because it is more
> concentrated (or is it just that it is now able to be inhaled
> as a vapor, and thus gets to the lungs and ultimately the CNS quicker?).
>
> Ideas?
Crack is very definitely an impure form. Fundamentally, it is normal
cocaine with the addition of the (inert) ingredient baking soda. The
reason it _appears_ purer is the change in the means of injestion. As a
smokable substance it is absorbed much more rapidly (and fully) into the
system, and thus has a faster, more immediately intense, reaction. In the
same manner, the apparently higher addiction rate has little to do with
the purity and everything to do with the reinforcement schedule (being
smoked, it has a much higher frequency--as is the case with nicotine).
The concentration is actually lower in crack than in a similar weight of
powder cocaine (even allowing for the baking soda) as the conversion
process actually degrades the cocaine itself to a slight degree.
Rick
