cocaine
...et their high within 10 seconds, and it lasts longer. Now, the difference between cocaine and crack is that cocaine is generally a powder, called hydrochloride salt. This powdered form of cocaine can dissolve in water. The people who sell the cocaine usually put additives in it, to lower the purity. They will usually add things such as cornstarch, talcum powder, and/or sugar. Now, crack is the freebase form of cocaine. It has been processed to remove the hydrochloride salt, to make it smokable. It is generally processed with sodium bicarbonate or ammonia. The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) reported that 1.5 million Americans were current cocaine users (0.7 percent of those 12 and older). This number hadn’t really changed since 1992, but it dramatically changed since 1985. In 1985 there was approximately 5.7 million cocaine users, which comes out to be 3 percent of the population. The NHSDA say that people ages 18-25 have a higher chance of using cocaine then any other age group. Also, men have a higher rate of cocaine use then women. 2.7 percent of eight graders reported that they had used crack at least once in their lives in 1997. This rose to 3.2 percent in 1998. Approximately 1 out of every 4 Americans ages 26-34 have used cocaine in their lifetime. And according to the Minnesota Institute for Public Health and drug prevention resource center, reported that 5,000 adults in the United States try cocaine for the first time every day. Today it is estimated that 22 – 25 million people have tried cocaine at least once, and 2 million are cocaine addicts. Nearly half of all the emergency room visits, relating to any sort of drug, are due to cocaine. Also in 1975 there were 30,000 new users, which increased from 300,000 in 1986 to 361,000 in 2000. College students also have a growing...