What Are The Different Types Of Cocaine?

Cocaine is a stimulant drug made from a coca plant native to the South American countries of Peru, Bolivia, and Columbia. In its most common form, cocaine comes as a white powder.

Regardless of the form of cocaine, use of the drug can lead to a cocaine addiction.

What Are Common Types Of Cocaine?

Powder cocaine is the commonly associated form of cocaine that is derived from the coca plant native to South America.

Powder cocaine is usually taken by snorting it but it can also be dissolved and injected. There are other forms of the drug and other methods of cocaine use.

Crack Cocaine

Crack cocaine is a form of cocaine that looks like rocks and is smoked. The rocks make a crackling sound when smoked, giving it the name “crack.”

Crack cocaine is similar to freebase cocaine, in that both forms of the drug are “free” of their base through chemical alteration.

Learn more about crack cocaine.

Pink Cocaine

Pink cocaine may refer to the color that the cocaine powder comes in, but it often does not have to do with the color at all.

Pink cocaine can refer to cocaine that has been mixed with other drugs, such as:

• amphetamine
• mescaline
• ketamine
• MDMA

Read more about pink cocaine.

Pure Cocaine

The term pure cocaine refers to the chemical state of the drug, cocaine hydrochloride, which was first synthesized in the late 19th century.

From that point until the first legislation regulating drugs in 1906, cocaine was used in everything from “medicinal” drinks to anesthetics.

Today, cocaine hydrochloride is still used as a local anesthetic in nasal surgery.

Learn about pure cocaine.

Fish Scale Cocaine

Fish scale cocaine is a term used to refer to pure cocaine that is sold on the street.

Dealers often cut cocaine with sugar, corn starch, or talcum powder to make their product last longer so they can get a higher profit. They may even cut it with other illicit drugs.

Cutting agents give cocaine powder a dull white or off-white look.

By contrast, fish scale cocaine has an iridescent, bright white sheen signaling that it is pure cocaine.

Learn more about fish scale cocaine.

Synthetic Cocaine

Synthetic cocaine is commonly called bath salts because of the crystalline powder form that it comes in.

Chemically, synthetic cocaine is not related to cocaine hydrochloride. Its chemical name is actually 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone.

In terms of synthetic cocaine’s effects, they are similar to other forms of the drug but much more potent.

Learn more about synthetic cocaine.

How The Different Types Of Cocaine Are Made

Different types of cocaine require different methods in order to make them. Some methods are inherently dangerous and some are complex.

The Process Of Making Cocaine Hydrochloride (Pure Cocaine)

Cocaine hydrochloride is isolated from coca leaves.

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, when cocaine is processed in South America, coca leaves are first turned into a paste.

The paste gets turned into cocaine base, then into cocaine hydrochloride.

The Process Of Making Crack Cocaine

People can make crack cocaine through a process that uses sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to separate cocaine from its base chemical cocaine hydrochloride.

As a result of the process, the drug hardens and is then broken up into “rocks.”

But freebase cocaine (which is similar) relies on ether (which is flammable) and a heat source to induce the chemical change, making it an inherently dangerous form of cocaine abuse.

The Process Of Making Synthetic Cocaine

Synthetic cocaine is called cathinone. Cathinones are not derived from coca leaves but from a plant called Khat.

Khat is native to southern Arabia and to East Africa.

Do Different Forms Of Cocaine Come With Different Risks Of Addiction?

While cocaine comes in many different forms, the effects of cocaine in all its forms lead to addiction.

The first sign of addiction is repeated drug use in order to achieve the effect that it first had on you.

With regards to the use of cocaine (as with all drugs), it takes more of it to get the high you want until you are consuming large amounts of the drug.

Signs of cocaine abuse include:

• depression
• anxiety
• psychosis
• coma
• increased blood pressure
• increased heart rate
• heart attack
• stroke
• permanent heart damage
• legal problems

Long-Term Effects Of Cocaine

As you consume more of the drug over a period of time, you start to experience the long-term effects of the drug.

Cocaine produces short-term effects of euphoria and self-confidence but it also increases your sensitivity to stress when you are not on it. This can result in violent behavior.

Other long-term effects of cocaine can include:

• weakening of nasal membranes
• damage to septum
• damage to your central nervous system
• desensitization of dopamine receptors
• increase in body temperature
• chest pain
• sudden death

Treatment Options For Cocaine Abuse

Nevertheless, cocaine substance abuse can be treated.

There are no current pharmacological approaches to treat cocaine abuse like there are for opioids or alcohol, though medications are being tested for that purpose.

The primary treatment for cocaine abuse is behavioral therapy

Therapeutic models that have been found to be effective in treating cocaine abuse include:

• cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
• contingency management (CM)
• therapeutic communities (TC), as long as they are supported by other forms of therapy and accountability

Find Substance Abuse Treatment For Cocaine Addiction

You can find treatment for stimulant drug substance use disorders at a drug rehab center near you.

Don’t wait until you experience the negative long-term effects of the drug like cardiovascular problems or conditions like hepatitis C that come from injecting the drug.

Find treatment for cocaine abuse today.