Crack is Still Whack (but it Depends on Who You Talk to About It)

Actor Charlie Sheen may have allegedly come to the end of the road with his alleged favorite drug. The pleasure derived from smoking crack diminishes over time with continued use. Users generally smoke more of it to get the initial but unattainable high and thus ingest too much, leading to psychosis.

The other downside to crack is that it changes the brain's chemistry and physical structure which leads to clinical depression. Crack is a difficult addiction to break and breaking crack addiction takes a personal dedication from the addict. Recovering crack addicts are irritable to say the least.

However it's not hard to believe Sheen is an alleged crack statistic. He was heard on The Dan Patrick Show talking about managing the social use of crack. (What a thought: social usage of crack.) And, he warned others to stay away from crack--unless they can handle it socially.

Sheen told the radio host that he went to work, banged on the CBS stage door to be let in to work but no one answered. Folks, what type of behavior is characterized by banging on doors at work?

When ideas seemed good enough to act on but in reality are not good ideas and the only way you figure it out is by actually going through the process, either you are a child or Charlie Sheen.

No one will tell Mr. Sheen he is naked and the game is over. Did we not learn anything from the 80s and New Jack City? And of all drugs, allegedly crack is Sheen's alleged drug of choice.
I guess crack is not whack anymore among those who choose to use hard street drugs.

Crack is derived from cocaine powder through a method of mixing it with baking soda and heating it until it forms rock shapes. It is said to be cheaper and less pure than powder but it's apparent upsurge in popularity may be due to it's cheap price. Since 2007, there has been a bit of a cocaine shortage, according to drugwarfacts.org due to a world wide increase in the demand for cocaine, lower production rates and law enforcement seizures of the product.

According to a National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse fact sheet, dopamine is associated with pleasure and movement in the brain's reward circuit. In a drug-free brain, dopamine is released by a neuron in response to a pleasurable signal like a alluring cologne or perfume, and then recycled back into the cell that released it, thus shutting off the signal between neurons.

It is the initial dopamine action and reaction that that the pleasure-seeking crack addict craves.

Cocaine disrupts the dopamine from being recycled, causing excessive amounts of it to build up, making stronger the message to and response of the brain neuron, changing the way the brain communicates internally. Excessive dopamine is responsible for the crack high, which is said to be intense but brief. With repeated use, crack can cause long-term changes in the way the brain functions and its physical characteristics, leading to depression and an inability to enjoy simple pleasures like a sunset.

Crack addicts become paranoid and psychotic--which means losing touch with reality. They can also hear things that aren't actually being said--auditory hallucinations.

Another thing researchers found out about cocaine and alcohol combined is that it forms a new chemical compound in the liver named coca ethylene. Coca ethylene can cause sudden death. That means, if you smoke crack, don't drink alcohol along with it.

Statistics show that many people actually believed at one point, that crack is whack but apparently not anymore.

During 1985, at the height of the crack epidemic, 5.7 million people were cocaine users. Ten years later, that number fell to 1.5 million people.
A 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, said approximately 5.3 million or 2.1 percent of the population had used cocaine in the past year and 1.9 million or 0.7 percent of the population had used cocaine within the past month.

Of those, 726,000 were White, 256,000 were Black, and 84,000 were Hispanic.
Even though two-thirds of crack users are White or Hispanic, Blacks make up most of the arrests--a whopping 84 percent, according to a PBS.org Frontline special on popular U.S. drugs.

Sources:
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
National Survey on Drug Use and Health
National Criminal Justice Reference Service
Drugwarfacts.org
Mediaite.com
National Institutes of Health
National Institute on Drug Abuse
PBS.org