Abstract
We are witnessing the unprecedented spread of a relatively new form of cocaine called freebase or “crack” cocaine, which is smoked or inhaled rather than being snorted or injected, as is the powdered cocaine hydrochloride. For most North Americans, the first awareness of the new form of cocaine came with Richard Pryor’s burning himself in 1980, allegedly while making freebase cocaine from powder using ether. General awareness of the availability of “crack” became news on the east and west coasts of the U.S. during 1985, although many drug users in North America had been making their own freebase cocaine from powder for as long as a decade. Most Americans only began to appreciate the danger of cocaine in 1986, due to intense media coverage and the sudden deaths of two young athletes from the use of cocaine in June, 1986. The cocaine hotline started by Gold and Washton (1-800-COCAINE) has been receiving a rapidly increasing proportion of calls about the freebase form of cocaine. (1)
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Jekel, J.F. (1987). Public Health Approaches to the Cocaine Problem: Lessons from the Bahamas. In: Allen, D.F. (eds) The Cocaine Crisis. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1837-8_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1837-8_9
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