I never really did a lot of drugs besides smoking pot a few times but I tried crack once at a party in college and I felt pretty ashamed of myself immediately after despite high. I didn’t try it again and am actually a sober adult now, not because I had a drug problem but I just grew out of wanting to try them and never liked to drink alcohol.
I never met anyone else who would ever admit to trying it though or even cocaine despite statistically knowing many people have haha. Any crack smokers on lemmy?
I smoked crack in my teens. I think it’s an unfair stigma to judge crack worse than cocaine - even though I know you’re not proclaiming that or anything.
I think it’s an unfair stigma to judge crack worse than cocaine
Like so many stupid things that don’t make sense, it originated in racism.
Basically, the Reagan administration realized that more black people used crack than powder cocaine and it was the other way around for white people, so they made the sentencing for crack harsher by a margin of 100:1 to make sure there were more black victims of the War On Drugs than white ones.
This, combined with the Reagan, Bush, and afair also Clinton administrations demonizing crack users as the ultimate example of “it’s their own fault for the moral failing of doing street drugs” bullshit, and the for profit yellow media happily following their lead, is why even people without a bigoted bone in their bodies still think that crack is a hundred times worse than the pharmacologically identical powder cocaine.
Let’s be real though, crack is significantly more addictive than regular cocaine. The high is higher, it lights up all the dopamine receptors in your brain. The high is much shorter, and the crash is much harder, which pushes users to use more to avoid intolerable withdrawal symptoms. Cocaine is “mellower” in pretty much every way. All the bad parts of cocaine use are only magnified in crack use. All this is completely independent of fucked up drug policy
I was under the impression that they were the same thing. (It might surprise you that I have never done any illegal drugs.)
I mean they are but technically not. I believe once you cook up cocaine with baking soda and water to make crack(at least that’s how we used to do it) that the actual chemical composition changes and that makes it different.
Someone feel free to fact check me on that cuz I’m just going off the dome.
I double checked and wrote up the explanation in a different post but at least according to Wikipedia, you are correct.
The simple explanation is that the classy drug known as “Cocaine” is technically Cocaine Hydrochloride. The previously mentioned reaction removes the Hydrogen and Chlorine ions leaving you with Cocaine without the “Hydrochloride” aka Freebase Cocaine aka Crack.
If you want to read more about experiences, Erowid had a great library of information, including write ups of people who have used different drugs before.
This is the link for crack/cocaine.
Omg, I used to read the shit out of the experiences vault. Glad to see the site is still up.
I’m not curious enough to try. The stigma and negative consequences just don’t seem worth it.
I have an addictive personality with little impulse control (e.g. caffeine, sugar, TV, games).
I don’t do things in moderation. I know that smoking would kill me if I started, and as a dopamine chaser, I know that any drug that immediately makes me feel good will be a crutch that I will use for the rest of my life.
No thank you sir.
I have tremendous respect for people who are aware of their own weaknesses, able to admit them, and maintain boundaries for themselves. Congratulations!
This is why the one time I was around meth I asked the other party (someone I was sleeping with casually) to not let me have any if I asked to try it. I’d be on the street for sure. I didn’t ask, so I don’t know if she’d have kept her end. Either way, I’m glad I didn’t get tempted.
However, I’ll do a mountain of coke so long as I don’t have a phone number to ask for more.
Crack is one of the drugs I would never try due to the so many bad outcomes. Meth, heroin, fentanyl, and other opiates are also on my NO list.
Is it any similar to cocaine? I did try that and … it’s ok. But I didn’t get that wow feeling that coke fans swear on.
Recommended reading about drugs in general
http://erowid.org/
https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Main_Page
I have pretty crippling ADHD and I always wanted to try cocaine because of all the stories of ADHD folks trying it and feeling calm and normal.
Just curious to see if I have the same experience.
Because of that? It’d be a lot cheaper and much much safer to get a prescription for ADHD medication. You’re not missing anything.
Oh, no, I have a prescription for ADHD medication. I’ve just always been curious about whether I’d have that experience.
I haven’t done it by now and I’m pushing 40. Don’t you worry about me.
thats just how you remove impurities from the traditionally cut to shit cocaine, black people would more often recieve cut cocaine and need to purify it, as such is why its sentenced more harshly; racism.