Addiction has become an American pandemic, impacting more people with each passing day. We hear about the opioid epidemic on a regular basis, but many people have overlooked the existing problems with things like crack cocaine. This is a serious addiction that can completely take over someone’s life and destroy entire communities.
Many people think of Crack Cocaine as an addiction of the inner-city. Unfortunately, this isn’t entirely true. Yes, it is more available in areas with a denser population. But, it’s become a widespread addiction causing problems for all sorts of communities.
Addiction isn’t a disease that’s relegated to certain socioeconomic classes. It can strike anyone from any walk of life at any time. It’s this unpredictability that makes addiction particularly dangerous.
It has to do with the way that your brain reacts to the introduction of certain chemicals. Some people liken it to a heightened reaction that isn’t necessarily normal for most people. When someone who’s predisposed to addiction uses drugs for the first time, they experience a very different association.
The drugs make them feel especially euphoric, and they associate this with a chemical brain reward pathway. This leads to chemical dependency that has an impact on a person’s physical response to drugs and Alcohol.
The psychological response is equally important and can help to fuel issues related to addiction. It’s important to understand what you’re dealing with when discussing an addiction to Crack Cocaine.
What Exactly is Crack?
Crack is a crystalline or rock form of Cocaine. It is slightly chemically altered, making it smokable and more potent. When somebody inhales Crack Cocaine, it immediately enters the bloodstream through the lungs. This creates an intense but short-lived high.
For many people, this intense high is best the first time, or after a long period of sobriety. They may experience this, and then constantly try to use more and more of the drug to achieve the same feeling. The effects of Crack can last as little as 45 minutes before the user will need to smoke it again to feel high.
Because of this, people will constantly consume large quantities of Crack Cocaine. For these reasons, this drug is fairly cheap and easier to find in areas where it’s prominent. Crack creates immediate feelings of euphoria, false confidence, and extreme alertness.
When people become accustomed to using it for a long period of time, they may also experience psychosis and adverse psychological reactions. They may develop twitches or involuntary muscle movements that give away their drug use. In addition to this, their skin may become extremely dry, they may develop open sores, and they could experience extreme agitation and weight loss.
How Does It Affect People?
Crack Cocaine is doubly dangerous due to the way that impacts a person about the psychological and a physical level. People may become dependent on crack to feel confident enough to go about their daily lives, with the short-lived high, it may start to infringe on their day-to-day activities. People often use of Crack during their workday, and this can result in job loss in legal implications.
For many, Crack begins to take priority over everything else in their life. As they become chemically dependent on it, their bodies will start to crave it and they will become increasingly agitated when they can’t get it. Crack withdrawal can it include things like psychosis, hostility, and extreme fatigue.
An overdose of Crack Cocaine can lead to serious heart problems, stroke, and even a psychotic state that ends in physically harming oneself or other people. It has an added danger unlike other stimulants because of it short-lived high and the increasing cravings that accompany crack addiction.
What Does Crack Addiction Look Like?
Like many other addictions, crack seems to take over a person’s life. Becoming addicted to this form of Cocaine can change someone’s personality drastically in a very short period of time. Not only does their physical appearance start to change, so do their priorities and their core values.
Their need for Crack becomes the dominant motivation in their lives. They may steal, lie, or even commit criminal activity to fuel their drug use. Some addicts will stop caring about maintaining their necessities and turn all of their resources towards their addiction. They may end up living on the streets, hardly eating, and losing touch with reality entirely.
Long-term use of Crack Cocaine can cause permanent damage to the brain. Even after a person reaches sobriety, they may suffer from mental issues or a number of other problems due to their drug use.
This is why adequate treatment is so important. Anyone who’s suffering from an addiction to Crack Cocaine will require a strict rehab program that truly understands what this drug does to the mind and body.
Treating Crack Addiction
Crack Cocaine has a reputation for creating addicts the first time they smoke it. This is due to the intense high and the low cost of the drug. At first, people may believe that they can control their drug use. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case.
People who are deeply addicted to Crack may require a serious life event to prompt them toward treatment. An intervention or a legal problem can help to motivate them into attempting recovery.
It’s very important that they remove themselves from the current environment, and completely commit to a program that understands Crack Cocaine withdrawals and detox. People use drugs for a variety of different reasons, and they continue to use them for these reasons as well.
This is why it’s very important that Crack addiction be treated at both the psychological and the physical level. A medical detox facility can help to get through the initial withdrawal stages, but a long-term treatment facility can see the psychological issues that accompany this addiction.
An addiction to Crack Cocaine will last a lifetime, the person will need to have continuous aftercare in order to remain sober. There is hope for sobriety, and many people are able to recover fully with the help of a licensed treatment facility. To learn more or find help for crack addiction contact us at (877) 322-2450.
