Cocaine:
Common or street names: Coca, Coke, C, Crack, Blow, Rock, Snow, Flake, Soda Cot; the base form is called freebase or “crack”
What is cocaine?
Cocaine (C17H21NO4) is a powerfully addictive, psychoactive, stimulant drug. On the street it is usually sold as a fine, white crystal powder. The powdered, hydrochloride salt form can be snorted or dissolved in water and injected. Use in any form is illegal in the U.S. when used as recreational drug.
Freebase is cocaine hydrochloride that is processed to remove the hydrochloride salt. This ‘freebase’ form is not water-soluble; the powder can be heated and its vapors smoked due to the lower melting point. Diethyl ether is used to process freebase and is highly flammable and volatile, often leading to lab explosions and bodily injury such as burns. It produces a much more intense “rush” than snorting the drug and can be extremely addictive due to the quick high and repeated use.
Crack cocaine (“crack”) is another form that is processed into a rock form using baking soda and may contain a high percentage of impurities. The term “crack” refers to the crackling sound heard when it is heated prior to smoking. Crack abuse in the U.S. rose in the mid-1980’s and is considered the most addictive form of the drug. Crack looks like small, irregularly shaped chunks (or “rocks”) of a whitish solid.
Learn More: Commonly Abused Drugs and Substances
Where does cocaine come from?
Cocaine originates from coca leaves, and has been used for centuries in a variety of cultural applications. The pure drug is extracted from the Erythroxylon coca bush, found primarily in the South American countries of Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia. Coca-leaf infusions or teas have been used to combat altitude sickness and boost energy in many native tribes of South America.
Heroin is an opioid drug made from morphine, a natural substance taken from the seed pod of the various opium poppy plants grown in Southeast and Southwest Asia, Mexico, and Colombia.
Heroin can be a white or brown powder, or a black sticky substance known as black tar heroin. Learn about the health effects of heroin and read the DrugFacts.
What is LSD?
LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) is a synthetic chemical, made from a substance found in ergot, which is a fungus that infects rye (grain).1
LSD belongs to a group of drugs known as psychedelics. When small doses are taken, it can produce mild changes in perception, mood and thought. Larger doses may produce visual hallucinations and distortions of space and time.
Sometimes, what is sold as LSD can actually be other chemicals such as NBOMe or the 2C family of drugs (part of the new psychoactive substances). These can be quite dangerous, as their quality is inconsistent. Taking too much of these other substances can be fatal with a number of deaths having been reported.3, 4
What it looks like
In its pure state, LSD is a white odourless crystalline substance. However, LSD is so potent that an effective dose of the pure drug is so small, it’s virtually invisible. As a result, it’s usually diluted with other materials.2
The most common form is drops of LSD solution dried onto gelatin sheets, pieces of blotting paper or sugar cubes, which release the drug when swallowed. LSD is also sometimes sold as a liquid, in a tablet or in capsules.