Also known as rocks or freebase cocaine. See also Cocaine.

Crack is a cheaper variant of cocaine and is becoming more widely used in the UK. Crack is an illegal Class A drug: dealing carries a maximum life prison sentence and unlimited fine, and possession can mean up to seven years in prison and a fine of £5,000.

Crack is sold in the form of small rocks, which are smoked either in cigarettes or in a pipe. Historically, crack has been associated with poor urban populations, but in fact is used by people from a wide social spectrum.

Crack is a very efficient way of delivering cocaine to the brain, and the initial rush is very strong. The pleasurable high followed by unpleasant side-effects encourages repeated compulsive use, which can easily lead to dependency.

Crack users are more likely to have problems with their drug use than those snorting cocaine and run into problems much earlier in their drug use.

Crack use has been associated with a high incidence of STIs, and crack use may increase the risk of oral transmission of HIV due to burns and ulcers in the mouth caused by crack smoking. Crack can also be injected, and some users prefer ‘snowballs', where heroin and crack are taken together.

There is evidence that crack/cocaine may accelerate HIV replication. In 2002 scientists exposing HIV-implanted mice to the equivalent of a dose of smoked crack cocaine daily for 10-12 days found that the proportion of CD4 and CD8 cells that had become infected with HIV was 38.8%, compared with 15.5% in control animals. The cocaine-treated mice had a threefold greater decline in CD4 counts and in their CD4:CD8 ratio, and a 40-fold increase in viral load.