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Drug Addiction
Karen Revere
Kian Eftekhari
Will Hiesinger
What happens when you smoke crack?
Euphoria
Wakefulness
Anorexia
Psychomotor activation
Increased energy
Increased confidence
Sexual arousal
Alertness/vigilance/anxiety
Racing thoughts
Tachycardia (fast heart rate)
Grandiosity
Hypertension (high blood pressure)
Perspiration
Mydriasis (pupil dilation)
Courtesy of Charles A. Dackis, MD
What is difference between CRACK-cocaine
and powder cocaine?
Crack Cocaine
Powder Cocaine
VS.
Courtesy of Charles A. Dackis, MD
 Powder cocaine is not well-suited for smoking because the temperature
at which it vaporizes is very high, and close to the temperature at which it
burns.
 Crack cocaine is insoluble in water and is therefore not suitable for
drinking, snorting or injecting. However, it vaporizes at a much lower
temperature than powdered cocaine, which makes it suitable for inhalation
 Powder cocaine, when snorted, typically begins working in about 15
minutes and can last several hours.
 Crack cocaine is absorbed immediately into blood via the lungs, where
it reaches the brain in about five seconds. The rush is much more intense
than snorting powder cocaine, but the peak of the rush is over almost as
soon the vapor is exhaled and the high typically lasts only 5–10 minutes.
 Powder cocaine is EXPENSIVE!
 Crack cocaine is CHEAP!
How does Crack get to the brain?
What does the Crack do when
it gets to the brain?
But first we need some help…
What do these words mean?
DENDRITE…AXON…SYNAPSE…NEUROTRANSMITTER
DENDRITE
Dendrites are the branched
projections of a neuron that
act to conduct the electrical
stimulation received from
other neural cells to the cell
body, or soma, of the neuron
from which the dendrites
project.
AXON
An axon is a long, slender
projection of a nerve cell,
or neuron, that conducts
electrical impulses away
from the neuron's cell
body or soma.
SYNAPSE
Synapses are specialized
junctions through which cells of
the nervous system signal to
one another and to nonneuronal cells such as muscles
or glands.
NEUROTRANSMITTER
Neurotransmitters are
chemicals that are used to
relay, amplify and modulate
electrical signals between
a neuron and another cell.
So what exactly does Crack do to
the brain?

Dopamine transmitter released
during neural signaling is normally
recycled via the transporter (DAT);
i.e., the transporter binds the
transmitter and pumps it out of the
synaptic cleft back into the presynaptic neuron, where it is taken
up into storage vesicles. Cocaine
binds tightly at the DAT forming a
complex that blocks the
transporter's function. The DAT
can no longer perform its reuptake
function, and thus dopamine
accumulates in the synaptic cleft.
This results in an enhanced and
prolonged post-synaptic effect of
dopaminergic signalling at
dopamine receptors on the
receiving neuron.