One of the most used drugs in the US today is cocaine.

This substance presents a fine white powder. If you taste some of it you would find a bitter unpleasant taste. It is consumed by inhalation or injection, and the effect that it causes can be described as numbing. The high achieved by sniffing or snorting cocaine powder lasts for approximately 20-30 minutes.

There is also another form of cocaine – a derivative form of “crack” that is smoked instead of snorted. This substance presents a form of small “rocks” that is produced by processing cocaine powder with water and baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). This form of drug is considered more dangerous and highly addicting since the inhaled smoke enters the blood stream very rapidly and brings large amounts of the drug directly to the brain, since the lungs spread it with the oxygen. Therefore, if substance reaches the brain much quicker, its effects are much more intense but last only for 5-10 minutes. The effects of this method of consumption can be compared with the effects from intravenous injections.

The history of cocaine is quite interesting. Since 1980s cocaine in the US became much cheaper and easier to get. In 1850s cocaine was first isolated from cocoa leaves by scientists, and until the beginning of 20^th century this substance was used in various medicines that treated a variety of ailments. Cocaine was referred to as “wonder-drug” and was also widely used in health tonics such as Coca-Cola. It was not until 1970 when cocaine officially became a controlled substance in the US.