Wrong Orifice

Jacob Sullum | May 21, 2003

From the lead of a Salon story about an online drug treatment program:

Two years ago, Jake, an engineer with a major telecom firm in Northern California, found himself snorting up to 10 lines of crack a day...

Was he also injecting bags of marijuana and smoking tequila?

Comments

stel|5.21.03 @ 1:06AM|#

Snortin whiskey... and drinkin cocaine........

geophile|5.21.03 @ 1:20AM|#

OK, maybe some people grind up their crack when they can't smoke up, but since crack is almost entirely cocaine, once it's crushed does it not once again officially become cocaine?

|5.21.03 @ 1:22AM|#

Sounds like a typical Salon screw-up to me.

|5.21.03 @ 1:30AM|#

Crack cocaine (cocaine base) is not now, nor has it ever been water soluable. That is why you have to smoke it.

|5.21.03 @ 1:30AM|#

"Trust me, you just have to crush it up and snort away. Why the hell do you folks think you're an authority on crack? Like I said, it stings a bit, but you can't always light up."

What are the odds the author would omit an explanation of this deviation from standard practice + general popular understanding if "snorting crack" were actually what he/she intended to describe? What are the odds it is a simple typo? Your assertion that crack can be snorted is irrelevant. The question: was "crack" the intended term? My money says no.

|5.21.03 @ 1:45AM|#

I once knew a chick who dated a crackhead. I swear the guy said you can either smoke or snort crack. Much like smack.

Isn't this whole conversation a little pedantic?

|5.21.03 @ 1:50AM|#

Ok it is pedantic, but I get sick of people who experimented a little in college and think that makes them experts on every drug in the world..I know a lot about baseball but I wouldn't go around commenting on cricket.

Brian|5.21.03 @ 1:54AM|#

I don't know if you can snort crack or not, but injecting marijuana hurts like hell...you have to use a really big needle...

Lefty|5.21.03 @ 2:03AM|#

You can check out this site for some interesting facts about crack and powder cocaine. The Feds sentencing guidelines make a big deal out of the difference, resulting in the brothers doing about quadruple the time whites do for possessing the same drug in different forms.

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/crack.htm

|5.21.03 @ 3:23AM|#

"the brothers.." dude, lefty is like, soooo hip.

D.Boyt|5.21.03 @ 3:25AM|#

Dear "OK it is pedantic..."

When I was a big druggie, I experimented a little with college, and it did make me an expert on higher education. As a cricket player now (and believe me I've bowled a few overs) I have no hesitation to tell you this about baseball: The designated one-hitter rule ruined the AL.

jean|5.21.03 @ 4:20AM|#

Geez, ya'll, lighten up! Seems to me our Nick here was just being facetius re what one's initial reaction on reading that might be... not trying to be Mr. drug expert or the typo police! T'was for a laugh. You all remember laughing, don't you?

|5.21.03 @ 5:56AM|#

I don't know, I'd say that the odds are that the person who wrote the article is somewhat naive, and just thought "crack = cocaine", and typed the wrong form. I mean, take a look at her explanation as to what "eGetgoing" stands for. Uhm, "e" is for "electronic". Not "e-commerce". And "get going" doesn't have to be short for anything. "get going" just means to...uh..."get going".

Lonewacko|5.21.03 @ 10:45AM|#

If it was crank, I doubt that he'd be snorting ten lines day in and day out. Ya gotta crash sometime, right? Someone with crack probably wouldn't try to snort it; coke cans have many uses. She probably thought crack and coke were the same thing.

(Based on close, non-personal observation only.)

|5.21.03 @ 11:57AM|#

Not sure what the joke is here...i've never smoked tequilla or shot mj, but crack sure can be snorted....stings a bit, but does the deed.

|5.21.03 @ 12:03PM|#

back up fool, or i gets you with my 300-mm pistol!

jaso|5.21.03 @ 12:24PM|#

Salon sucks- they don't even check the spelling (crack = crank)

|5.21.03 @ 12:27PM|#

how the hell do you know it's not crack, jaso?

|5.21.03 @ 12:34PM|#

Snort a "line" of crack? C'mon. It's a typo. Consult Occam.

Hank|5.21.03 @ 12:38PM|#

Staying up for days at a time definately sounds like crystal meth to me. Which is, as was previously mentioned, known as "crank" not "crack".

|5.21.03 @ 12:39PM|#

Slightly off topic...

There is a great piece of graffiti that all can see driving southbound on the FDR drive in NYC with the slogan: "Crack is Whack". Man, it just cracks me up (pun intended).

|5.21.03 @ 12:39PM|#

Trust me, you just have to crush it up and snort away. Why the hell do you folks think you're an authority on crack? Like I said, it stings a bit, but you can't always light up.

|5.21.03 @ 12:43PM|#

He definately had a drug problem...

...kind of like the drinking problem from "Airplane".

|5.22.03 @ 1:23AM|#

You can snort bunches of lines of crank everyday and still get some zzzz's.

Lee|5.22.03 @ 1:48AM|#

In his book Intoxication (out of print), psychopharmacologist Ronald K. Siegel relays an anecdote of a woman suffering from crippling arthritis who was able to get up and square dance again after snorting crack, which had been crushed into powder form. If I remember correctly, regular cocaine did not give the benefit, nor did crack that was smoked. Snorted, however, it provided relief from her severe arthritis. Odd.

Kevin Carson|5.22.03 @ 8:40AM|#

Brian, DUDE, you gotta inject the water from your bong!

geophile|5.22.03 @ 11:46AM|#

That does sound odd, Lee, and I'm not sure I can believe it entirely in this anecdotal case. Can the difference between crack and cocaine be that great? Thanks for the book mention though, I'll check it out. Another good one is The Case for Legalizing Drugs, by Richard Lawrence Miller.

jigga|10.3.03 @ 2:03AM|#

Ok....Ive done it all....pills: vicodin, percocet, oxy contin (the best nodd ever) loratab (same a vicodin) valium, klonopin, ativan, xanax, morphine, demerol, methadon, suboxone (outta re-hab) and many other. The illegal drugs I have done are: cocaine, heroin, crack, extacy. Havent done much crack. Although tonight my connect didnt have my yayo, so I bought a $50 piece of crack. Crack is just coke+baking soda+water+ether heated up and scraped off whatever it was cooked in. The diffrence between the coke high and crack high is that coke is a stimulant and for some reason smoking crack feels like a nodd or downer. You may feel a slight zing or up feeling for like 1 minute. But Im sitting her now looking at the crack and I wouldnt want to smoke it. Its hard as a rock and needs to be cut into hits with a razor. Im not saying it cant be snorted but im assuming the people who buy crack buy it for the euphoric and nodding reason. So for god sake stop fighting and someone try snorting crack and tell us what happens. LOL peace out.

bhink|1.24.04 @ 9:44AM|#

i'm not going to say that snorting crack gives no buzz at all, but there is a reason people smoke crack and snort cocaine. When you snort cocaine it goes up into your nasal cavity and mixes with the mucus and saliva in the back of your throat. Since cocaine is water soluble the coke dissolves into the mucus and then immediately absorbs into the bloodstream through the soft and fleshy tissue in your nose and your throat. This is why you get the rush when you snort things, because the tissue allows the drug to absorb into your bloodstream so quickly. The reason most people don't snort crack is because it is not water soluble and therefore the crack will not dissolve into the mucus in your nasal cavity. If the substance cannot be dissolved into the mucus then the fleshy tissue cannot absorb the drug. The crack will not enter your bloodstream untilit has passed through your nasal cavity and drained down your throat into your stomach, where it will eventually be broken down by your stomach acid. That's why crack dealers can swallow their rocks when the fuzz tries to bust them and then spit it up later and still be able to sell their shit.

i agree|2.2.04 @ 5:07AM|#

yeah

ip address|2.13.04 @ 7:41AM|#

Where is David message gone?

|3.2.04 @ 7:46AM|#

I am a practicing drug addict of the better part of 27 years and have tried just about every prescription narcotic and illegal drug this fine country has to offer (including designer drugs most of you probably never even heard of before). I my expert opinion anyone who would even try to snort crack is an idiot. About the only way to dissolve crack cocaine or free base is to put it in lemmon juice. It won't dissolve in water or saliva therefore it won't enter the bloodstream through the mucus membranes in the back of your throat... therefore it won't get you high or produce any other feeling other than a sore throat. So take my advice. Quit wasting your crack. Either throw it in a glass stem with some charr-boy or give it to someone who really needs it so they won't be stealing from their grandmother's purse.....or better yet, give up the crack all together and try injecting some good ole' fashion meth....oh yea...I almost forgot...you can't really get that anymore because of the bann on the chemicals.....so I guess you'll have to settle for some shit they make out of bug spray and batteries....God I love this country!

area code|3.5.04 @ 7:43AM|#

Where is David message gone?

|3.18.04 @ 8:03AM|#

i have a question. can you snort klonopin? i mean i just did it, for the first time. but is it any better than just swallowing it. what does it do anyways? i don't get it. maybe i haven't taken enough, but i'm not very impressed. how much should you take? how much is safe to take (snorting/swallowing)? is there any high associated with it?

rizo|3.31.04 @ 3:05AM|#

what up i was wondering if you can smoke klonopin
or ridalin ( don't know how to spell right now) if someone knows what the deal is hit me back thanx rizo

|4.11.04 @ 5:06AM|#

My son just came home with a whit ring around his nose. He told me he sniffed extasy. Is the possible? By the way you can not sniff rock it is not water soluble who ever thinks their grating high I have a bridge for sale

|4.15.04 @ 8:48AM|#

this site is whack give me my crack and its if its black its whack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BCracker|4.29.04 @ 1:32AM|#

Heh, I enjoyed reading this all. LOL

I have never tried to dissolve base in water but logic tells me that since cocaine is water soluable and you basically make crack by cooking off the water and other impurities leaving a new solid that is purer mixed with baking soda for a "bonding agent" that it should still be water soluable. Where in the hell do you change just chemical composition of it to no longer make it a water soluable? You simply just removed the water by cooking it off to bring it back to a solid, that means you should be able to break it back down just by adding water again. As far as it being so hard that you have to cut it with a razor, well that doesn't mean much when you compare it to glass/ice (purer crank for the simple mind, theres more too it but leave it at that for now.)

As far as crack being swallowed its swallowed in baggies duh. ;) hehe. Ever rock is always tied tight in a baggy, the rocks aren't just sitting in the persons mouth.

And the guy that asked about snorting ecstacy, yes it can be done. During my E days I snorted the same if not more than I ingested. There is a chance that he was snorting powder E and if you know what to look for thats the best to be doing. Pure E is not that bad of a drug, it the other junk people cut it with. Keep in mind, pure E will not bond. That already tells you there is some binding agent AT LEAST in a pressed pill, more than likely there is something else also.

Ok.. so that was my 2 cents. I was just looking for an extraction method for valium (to remove binding agents) and stumbled across this page. I figured I'd drop in my thoughts/knowledge before I left so I will probably never be back to this site. If anyone wants to direct something towards me please mail me. [e-mail]

|4.29.04 @ 1:55AM|#

...and just another comment that sort of pertains to this, I am unable to find anything on the extraction I am looking for so using what I know I am going to try a cold water extraction. Valium is water soluable and binding agents common "clump together" when subjected to cold water. Then you just filter out the "clumped" mass from the water. (An easy way I have found is with a filter disk (if thats unavailable a cotton ball or a _CLEAN_ cigarette filter) and a syringe.) After you have a liquid you inject it back out onto a pyrex plate (or you can use a regular plate) and let the water evaporate off. Heat may be applied in assisting the evaporation but I'm not trying to cook any impurities out. After it is finished the end result (much purer valium) will still be water soluable, this will not change just as it shouldn't in crack.

This safe sort of method is done with ketamine, ketaset, ketajet (street named "Special K"). The vials are opened, liquid dumped onto a plate and water (saline solution since its medically used) is then evaporated off. Sometimes this is done with heat, with a hotplate, over an oven or even in a microwave. Guess what folks..? Its still water soluable. ;) K is sometimes purchased in bulk in a concentrate. It is a solid, you then add salive to get the injectable liguid for your medicinal purposes.

All this and more that I don't care to elaborate on would make me think that crack should still very well be water soluable. Thus, if crushed you should be able to snort it. Of course, smoking is the most economical way and if you are a crackhead I am sure you don't want to waste a bit of it ;)

By the way, I offer this information for pure education reasons. I in no way endorse any of this. (I have been under investigation in the past for retarded shit on the net, not going to happen again.)

|7.31.04 @ 7:07AM|#

I really need to know if crck "rock" can be cruushed and snorted or how can I make it back into cocaine to snort.Do I use lemon juice or what, because im not about to smoke that shit.I want to snort it.

Gavales Diana|9.10.04 @ 12:23AM|#

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|11.13.04 @ 7:01AM|#

Cocaine is in a salt or HydroChloride form just as any other injectables (and other water soluable chemicals) So Cocaine is really Cocaine HCl. In salt (or crystaline) form most compounds are readily soluable in water or saline, and make for very easy injection/insufulation with rapid and thorough absorbtion. When crack is made with baking soda and cooked it frees the chemical bases from the Cocaine HCl to a purer chemical form (hence the term freebase). This freebase form is now a lipid soluble, so it is not easily absorbed in water (for injection) or for insuffulation (snorting) since the membranes in the nasal passages have great difficulty absorbing lipid-based drugs through the epidermis to the vast network of blood vessels just below the surface of the skin. So you may feel high from snorting crack, but it is mostly a waste since there is very modest absorbtion in the nasal passages but occurr from the drip down into the stomach where the acidity breaks down the lipid structure where it can easily pass into the bloodstream through the small intestine. Hope that helps clear up any confusion.