Is Cocaine or Crack Bought on the Streets Pure?
• When users snort or inject cocaine or smoke crack, they are almost always ingesting something else besides the drug. • The purity of powdered cocaine obtained by most users range widely from 30 to 95 percent, since most is “cut” with other substances by the seller to increase profits. These fillers include sugars, inexpensive stimulants, anesthetics, and other drugs. • The impurities increase the hazards of taking already risky drugs, because users have no way of knowing how much cocaine they are giving themselves. • In addition, some of the added impurities can cause serious side effects, such as stomach cramps, high blood pressure, nervousness, and increased heart rate.