What Does Crack Smell Like?

Crack cocaine is a dangerous and highly addictive stimulant that has become one of the most abused drugs in the U.S. Because of this, it is crucial that anyone who is concerned they may have a loved one addicted to crack cocaine ask the question ” what does crack smell like?” Knowing what specific drug, you are dealing with first can help pinpoint what sort of help your loved one needs.

Statistics

Since its creation, scientists and researchers have tracked crack’s effects on Americans’ health. Given how simple the drug is to obtain and how regularly it’s used, it’s important to educate the public on the epidemic’s severity. Here are a few statistics about crack addiction:

Factors That Influence How Crack Smells Like

The smell of crack cocaine may be slightly different depending on the mixing of cutting agents and ingredients used to manufacture the cocaine base.

Chemicals Used To Make Crack

What does cooking crack smell like? The chemicals used in manufacturing crack cocaine can also change its scent. These chemicals are usually added directly to make crack cocaine.

Examples of chemicals used to make cocaine include:

Cutting Agents

Drug dealers often cut their cocaine with other substances to increase profits. Cutting agents can change the smell of crack cocaine. Lactose (milk sugar) is a typical cutting agent for crack cocaine, as it is inexpensive and often easy to obtain. Powdering cocaine increases its surface area, which allows more of it to dissolve in water or any other solvent. As a result, powdered cocaine dissolves faster and is absorbed into your body faster than un-powdered cocaine.

What Does Crack Cocaine Smell Like?

What is Crack Addiction?

Before crack addiction develops, users generally develop a physical dependency on the drug at the outset. The brain becomes physically dependent on the drugs within a short period after first starting crack. Once physical dependency sets in, users begin to experience crack withdrawal effects. With continued drug use, crack withdrawal symptoms worsen and happen more frequently.

Users will experience some crack withdrawal symptoms as soon as the initial high is gone. It is for this reason that cracks addiction is considered high-risk. The crack user will need to use it again to overcome the “let down” of crack withdrawal after a “high”. As with most highly addictive substances, tolerance is built up with each use, and more is needed to achieve the same euphoric state that the user desires.

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V), a few criteria that may indicate a generalized crack use disorder (crack addiction) include:

• Taking crack in more significant amounts or over a more extended period than intended
• Craving, withdrawal, and tolerance
• Persistent desire or unsuccessful efforts to decrease or control crack use
• Continued crack cocaine use despite social or interpersonal problems associated with its use
• A great deal of time is spent in activities necessary to obtain, use, or recover from the crack effects
• What does crack smell like in a home? Recurrent crack cocaine use that results in problems at work, school, or home

If users meet two or more of these criteria, they likely have a crack use disorder and should seek the proper help from a professional.

What is Crack Withdrawal?

A person addicted to crack cocaine who has developed a physical and psychological dependence on it may experience cocaine withdrawal symptoms when quitting. During crack cocaine withdrawal, the former crack user will often experience many uncomfortable symptoms, such as paranoia, depression, fatigue, mood swings, anxiety, restlessness, agitation, or vivid, unpleasant dreams. The psychological and physical symptoms of crack withdrawal will vary depending on many individual factors, such as the user’s tolerance, metabolism, length of addiction, severity of addiction, and the presence of underlying mental health conditions or other addictions.

What are the Signs of Crack Overdose?

The signs of a crack overdose are often much like the signs of a crack high, but they are much more intensified. There are also a number of symptoms that indicate the person is in critical condition and must be treated right away. The common signs of a crack overdose include:

• Agitation: A crack user will clearly begin to act upset and uncomfortable, often unable to sit still or speak rationally. It can be very hard to talk to someone in this state, and you should not reason with the person if they are not able to think logically. While this does often happen when a person is experiencing a crack high, it will become much more exaggerated if the individual has crack overdosed.
• Itchiness: This is another symptom that people who are high on crack will commonly exhibit, but the individual may possibly complain of it being worse or be unable to stop scratching if they have overdosed. Any time you see a symptom like this that has become worse than you’ve ever seen it, there is a strong likelihood that a crack overdose has occurred.
• Fever and Sweating: A crack user may begin to run a fever if they are experiencing a crack overdose. Even if they are not feverish, they will complain of being very hot and likely sweat profusely. This is because crack cocaine speeds up and increases many of the body’s functions, including its base temperature.
• Cold Sweat: When a crack user begins to exhibit cold sweat, this is a strong sign they are not just high on the drug but going through a crack overdose. Their skin will be clammy and cold to the touch as well.
• Black mucous: Because crack is smoked, the drug can affect a person’s respiration. Smokers may suffer from acute respiratory problems including cough, shortness of breath, and severe chest pains with lung trauma and bleeding. However, if the person has truly overdosed on crack, they will cough up mucous that will be black in color. This is an important sign that the individual needs medical help right away.
• Shakiness: The crack user may begin to shake or exhibit tremors because the amount they have smoked is too much for their system to handle. The person may even experience a seizure, which is a sign that they need immediate help.
• Irregular Heartbeat: A person’s heart will likely beat very fast if they begin to overdose on the drug. It could also lead to the feeling that the heart is beating out of their chest or that they can hear it pounding in their head. Often, crack users will complain about these issues, but it is important to ask what it feels like to them. Crack is always going to speed up a person’s heartbeat, but when it becomes extremely fast or irregular, this is a strong sign of a crack overdose.
• Dilated pupils: Because crack is a stimulant, it causes the pupils to become very large. When a person has overdosed on the drug, the pupils will grow, even more, giving friends and family members a clear sign that this is not a typical high.
• Substance-Induced Psychosis: Often, crack users who are undergoing a crack overdose will begin to act irrationally and even psychotically. Hallucinations, hostile or violent behavior, and delusions are all signs of an overdose, and these side effects can be deadly on their own. It is important to get the individual help as soon as possible and to avoid trying to reason with them or doing anything else that may put you in danger.
• Unconsciousness: When a person suddenly falls unconscious after smoking too much crack, it is a strong sign that they have overdosed. Get them medical treatment immediately, as they could have slipped into a coma.
• Cardiac arrest: In many instances, the heart can stop and an individual can die from a crack cocaine overdose. The person will likely stop breathing and fall unconscious as well.
• Stroke: A stroke can also be deadly, and its symptoms include weakness on one side of the body, a drooping face, and sudden problems speaking.

What is Crack Detox?

Cocaine detox is the first step in the rehabilitation process. It happens when a cocaine user stop taking drugs and starts a recovery program. While going through the cocaine detox process without relapsing, the crack user must experience a number of withdrawal symptoms. Medical staff or treatment professionals will work to stabilize the patient throughout this challenging time. After completing a crack detox program where the patient is stabilized and receives counseling and therapy to assist their recovery from crack cocaine addiction, the user will finally be prepared to enter a long-term residential facility.

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Cocaine Addiction Treatment

First and foremost, if you think a loved one is abusing crack, you should research the substances and their associated addiction to understand better what your loved one needs.  Next, you must plan an intervention to provide your loved ones with options to battle the effects of cocaine addiction in a safe and supportive environment. During this intervention, offer compassion and support instead of judgment. Lastly, show your support throughout the entire treatment process.

In addition, prolonged drug use can have severe physical and psychological effects on you, so it is essential to seek treatment as soon as possible. Inpatient drug rehab offers intensive care that can help you promptly get through the early stages of  crack cocaine withdrawal. 

Crack Cocaine Detox

Medical detox is often considered the first stage of treatment. It will help you navigate the complicated crack cocaine detox withdrawal but doesn’t address patterns of thought and behavior contributing to drug use. Various treatment approaches and settings can help provide the ongoing support necessary to maintain long-term sobriety after you complete the crack cocaine detox.

Cravings are very common during drug detox and can be challenging to overcome. This often leads to relapse. Constant medical care provided during inpatient treatment helps prevent relapse. Clinicians can give medication and medical expertise to lessen cravings and withdrawal symptoms.

Inpatient Crack Cocaine Addiction Rehab

There isn’t one treatment approach or style that will suit everyone. Treatment should speak to the needs of the individual. Inpatient rehab and addiction treatment aren’t just about drug use. the goal is to help the patient stop using crack cocaine and other substances, but drug rehab should also focus on the whole person’s needs.

Addiction is a complex but treatable disease that affects brain function and behavior. When someone or their family is considering different treatment facilities, they should account for the complexity of addiction and the needs of the individual. The objective of attending an inpatient rehab center for addiction treatment is to stop using the drug and re-learn how to live a productive life without it.

Following a full medical detox, most people benefit from inpatient rehab. Inpatient drug rehab can last anywhere from 28 days to several months. Patients stay overnight in the rehab facility and participate in intensive treatment programs and therapy. Once someone completes rehab, their addiction treatment team will create an aftercare plan, which may include continuing therapy and participation in a 12-step program like Narcotics Anonymous.

Psychotherapy 

Many rehab programs will also have early morning classes or programs. Group sessions occur during inpatient rehab, as do individual therapy sessions. Family therapy may be part of inpatient rehab when it’s feasible. Alternative forms of therapy may be introduced during inpatient rehab, like a holistic therapy program, yoga for addiction recovery, or an addiction treatment massage therapy.

Several different modalities of psychotherapy have been used in the treatment of mental health disorders along with addiction, including:

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) – is an effective treatment that involves changing both the patterns of negative thoughts and the behavioral routines which are affecting the daily life of the depressed person for various forms of depression.
• Dialectical Behavioral Therapy – is a comprehensive mental health and substance abuse treatment program whose ultimate goal is to aid patients in their efforts to build a life worth living. The main goal of DBT is to help a person develop what is referred to as a “clear mind.” 
• Solution-focused therapy is an approach interested in solutions that can be quickly implemented with a simple first step leading to further positive consequences.

Dual Diagnosis Treatment

Drug abuse and mental health disorders often co-occur. Traumatic experiences can often result in mental health disorders and substance abuse. Dual-diagnosis rehabilitation treats both of these issues together. The best approach for the treatment of dual diagnosis is an integrated system. This strategy treats both the substance abuse problem and the mental disorder simultaneously. Regardless of which diagnosis (mental health or substance abuse problem) came first, long-term recovery will depend mainly on the treatment for both diseases done by the same team or provider.