Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Justice www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/cocaine.htm*

Crack is the form of cocaine suitable for smoking.  The high received from smoking crack is much more intense than that from cocaine, but it does not last as long.  This requires the user to repeatedly smoke in order to regain the high originally attained.

Crack has many of the same effects on the heart as cocaine hydrochloride, but there is recent evidence that it may also cause coronary artery dissection, a rare heart disease usually only associated with women (Eskander et al, 2001).  Coronary artery dissection is the tearing of the interior lining of the aorta, or the intima (Hearn, 2001).  The layer underneath is exposed and the torn remains block blood flow.  This disorder is a direct result of high blood pressure and increased heart rate caused by any form of cocaine.  In Hearn's study, conducted at San Francisco General Hospital, approximately one third of the aortic dissection cases from 1981 to 2001 were the result of cocaine use.  All but one of these patients had smoked crack, while the other had simply snorted the drug.  This is especially frightening when you consider that within two days of aortic dissection, half the patients died (Hearn, 2001).

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© Copyright 2000 Department of Biology, Davidson College, Davidson, NC 28036. Send comments, questions, and suggestions to: joferguson@davidson.edu