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Cocaine |
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BERMUDA POLICE.COM POLICING & CRIME ON THE ISLANDS OF BERMUDA |
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CocaineA harmless looking white powder, usually sniffed but can be injected extracted from coca leaves, sometimes used in medicine as a local anaesthetic especially for the eyes, nose, or throat and widely used as an illicit drug for its euphoric and stimulating effects. Cocaine is generally imported from the United States. Bermuda is not a 'producer' and there is no reason to suggest that it is a regular transit point i.e. a Country through which cocaine passes before reaching its intended destination (the U.S., Europe etc). The cocaine found in Bermuda has therefore been imported for local consumption. One dealer (who is associated with the Miranda enquiry) is said to have been surprised at the amount of cocaine the island could absorb. See 'Coke Values' for the appeal to Bermuda importers For an excellent site dealing with the drug, visit: cocaine.org Cocoa leaves (the raw ingredient for cocaine) have been chewed by Andean Indians for over five thousand years. The coca plant is grown exclusively in South America. Its natural habitat is the higher foothills of the Andes specifically in Bolivia and Peru. The coca plant has been used for thousands of years by the native Indians of South America to relieve the effects of high altitude on the body and provide them with energy to get through their work at those high altitudes. When the Spanish arrived in South America they objected to the Indians habit of chewing cocaine leaves, claiming it was ungodly. However it was via the Spanish that cocoa leaves first reached Europe. The plant produces a small leaf, approximately one inch long. About a ton of leaf is required to produce one kilo of cocaine. The cocaine that we see typically in the west is cocaine hydrochloride and this is an alkaline precipitate of the plant. The plant is harvested, it's then treated with various solvents to produce coca base which is then further treated through various chemicals and acids to produce the cocaine hydrochloride which is typically a white powder somewhat crystalline in appearance. One of its nick names is snow as it produces a glittering effect when one looks closely at it. Crack cocaine is a very powerful form of cocaine where the hydrochloride salts that form cocaine hydrochloride have been removed through a fairly simple chemical process and the resulting rocks of crack cocaine are smoked and it produces a very instant and powerful high. In its present day form, cocaine was first synthesised in 1855, by 1880 its effects were recognised by the medical world. One of the most famous people to use and prescribe cocaine was Sigmund Freud who used and promoted cocaine use claiming it to be a useful tonic, whilst later on also acknowledging its potentially harmful side. Coco-cola was another famous source of cocaine. John Pemberton introduced it in 1886, it was made with cocaine, caffeine and syrup but, due to public pressure, the cocaine removed in 1903. Cocaine was not used widely as a 'party' drug in its purer powder form originally but was available as a tonic when introduced in the 19th century. It was first made illegal during World War 1, when rumours abounded that German made cocaine was being sold to British troops. By 1930 there was almost no 'cocaine scene' in the UK mainly due to the wide availability of amphetamines and due to efforts to stamp it out. However since then use has been rising again. Although often considered to be a drug of the well off, due to falling prices it is used by a wide range of people. However, it is still far more expensive compared to other stimulants such as amphetamines. For the powder drugs, such as cocaine, these are often mixed with other white powders, which might be powders having a similar effect to the drug but less powerful. Cocaine can often be mixed up with drugs like caffeine and ephedrine, stimulants (like cocaine is) which also speed up the body's nervous system but are much milder. Glucose powder and other sugars (which are inert, they have no drug action), are also used to 'cut' the drug, dilute it, simply because they are white powders and look like the drug the 'customer' is buying. Crack Crack was, according to legend, created by Yanqui drugs traffickers in the early 1970s as a way of testing the purity of South American bought cocaine. It first became common in the big American cities such as Los Angeles, New York and Washington. It eventually reached the UK but is still quite rare and does not seem to leave the urban areas of big cities where it is most common. CRACK is a smokable form of cocaine. Ordinary cocaine powder (cocaine hydrochloride} can be smoked but this is an ineffective and wasteful method of use.
Cocaine powder is usually snorted via the nose or injected in the USA .In the early 1970's cocaine users began to treat cocaine with chemicals which freed the cocaine base from the hydrochloride and lowered the temperature at which the cocaine melted. This enables cocaine to be far more effectively and easily smoked. Cocaine treated in this way is known as "freebase" and the process as "freebasing". Crack is a ready to use form of freebase cocaine which is easily and inexpensively produced. It needs no special apparatus and can be smoked in an ordinary pipe or heated in tin foil and; the fumes inhaled. Crack gets its name because when smoked the baking powder residue left in it crackles. Cocaine powder is generally associated with the sort of champagne lifestyle. The other side of that is something like crack which has a much stronger association with areas of inner city deprivation, in that sense cocaine could be considered an equal opportunity drug CRACK comes in the form of small off-white 'rocks' or lumps. FREEBASE cocaine, of which crack is one form, takes effect within seconds of being inhaled it is a very efficient way of delivering cocaine to the brain. There is an initial rush of immensely pleasurable feelings lasting for up to two minutes This is followed by an intense high lasting for about thirty minutes. As the effects of the drug wear off there are some unpleasant after effects. It is common for the user to feel tired, depressed, and perhaps anxious The head and body may ache and there may be increased sensitivity to light and noise. Users may feel irritable, hungry and possibly experience panic attacks .In order to avoid the unpleasant feelings crack users often take more crack as one dose wears off. The physical effects of crack, like ordinary cocaine, are similar to adrenaline it increases breathing, raises blood pressure, heart rate and body temperature, whilst suppressing sleep and appetite THE special immediate problems of crack users include black phlegm, chronic cough, and respiratory ailments like bronchitis Crack use and other forms of freebasing are more likely to lead to overdose than cocaine snorting since the effects of crack often encourage users to use more of the drug than they would if they were snorting it. Excessive doses can cause death from respiratory or heart failure, but this is rare. Crack's immensely pleasurable high followed by the unpleasant after effects encourages repeated compulsive use, which can easily lead to dependency. Crack users are more likely to have problems with their drug use than those snorting cocaine and run into problems earlier in their drug use in the USA cocaine snorters who reported problems with their drug use had usually been using cocaine for about two years. Those freebasing cocaine (which includes crack users) reported problems with their drug use after using the drug for an average of six months CRACK is simply a form of cocaine it is illegal to possess, supply or produce it. |
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