The Effect Of "Crack" In The Body

"Most users smoke crack, although in rare cases, they may inject it. To smoke crack cocaine, the user places the drug into a small glass pipe (sometimes called a "straight shooter"). He or she then places a small piece of a steel wool at one end of the pipe tube and puts the rock on the other side of this filter. When the rock is heated from below, it produces a vapor, or smoke. The user inhales that vapor into his or her lungs. From there, the drug is taken up by the person's bloodstream.

When it gets into the body, crack acts upon a part of the brain called the ventral tegmental area (VTA).


It interferes with a chemical messenger in the brain called dopamine, which is involved in the body's pleasure response. Dopamine is released by cells of the nervous system during pleasurable activities such as eating or having sex. Once released, dopamine travels across a gap between nerve cells, called a synapse, and binds to a receptor on a neighboring nerve cell (also called a neuron). This sends a signal to that nerve cell, which produces a good feeling. Under normal conditions, once the dopamine sends that signal it is reabsorbed by the neuron that released it. This reabsorption happens with the help of a protein called the dopamine transporter.

Crack interrupts this cycle. It attaches to the dopamine transporter, preventing the normal reabsorption process. As dopamine builds up in the synapse, it continues to stimulate the receptor, creating a lingering feeling of exhilaration or euphoria in the user.


Because crack is inhaled as a smoke, it reaches the brain much faster than inhaled powder cocaine. It can get to the brain and create a high within 10 to 15 seconds, compared to the 10 to 15 minutes it takes to feel the effects of snorted cocaine. The crack cocaine high can last anywhere from five to 15 minutes."

"Marijuana" and the Body

"Every time a user smokes a marijuana cigarette or ingests marijuana in some other form, THC and other chemicals enter the user's body. The chemicals make their way through the bloodstream to the brain and then to the rest of the body. The most powerful chemical in marijuana is THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), which is primarily responsible for the "high" associated with the drug.

The most common way of using marijuana is smoking. Smoking is also the most expedient way to get the THC and other chemicals into the bloodstream. When the smoke from marijuana is inhaled, the THC goes directly to the lungs. Your lungs are lined with millions of alveoli, the tiny air sacs where gas exchange occurs. These alveoli have an enormous surface area -- 90 times greater than that of your skin -- so they make it easy for THC and other compounds to enter the body. The smoke is absorbed by the lungs just seconds after inhaling.


After inhaling marijuana smoke, its chemicals are distributed throughout the body.

You can also eat marijuana. In this case, the marijuana enters the stomach and the blood absorbs it there. The blood then carries it to the liver and the rest of the body. The stomach absorbs THC more slowly than the lungs. When marijuana is eaten, the levels of THC in the body are lower, but the effects last longer."