How are Cocaine Made and Is It Dangerous?
Cocaine Made
Cocaine is a highly addictive stimulant that is made from the extract of the leaves of the cocoa tree. The cocaine found in this form is a very highly concentrated version of the drug. While it is highly unlikely that you will run across street cocaine, it does exist in illegal markets worldwide. Cocaine users do not usually notice the effects until they reach their physical dependence point, which can be as little as a month after first using the drug.
How is cocaine made and purified? The first step on, how is cocaine made and purified is the extraction and growing of the cocoa plant. Different varieties of this plant contain slightly different levels of the necessary alkaline-creating alkaloids needed for cocaine addiction. When the right plants are grown in suitable locations, only the leaves are harvested and processed for use as cocaine. While this may seem strange, it has been proven that leaving behind the seeds of the plant which contains the alkaloid levels will result in a lesser amount of alkaloid than that contained in the actual plant.
After the extraction and drying process, what remains is a combination of several chemicals including caffeine, naphtha, and Phenyl tertiary butyl ether (TBE), which are then combined with other ingredients to create a white crystal substance that can be smoked or injected to become addicted to the drug. Inhaling the substance produces a pleasurable feeling that is commonly known as “the cocaine high”. The drug is not soluble in water, so it must be prepared by dissolving the dried leaves in tepid water, then further processing to make it soluble. Before being mixed with oil, the solution is further mixed with a base such as ethyl alcohol (ethylene) to achieve a consistency that can be smoked.
How are Cocaine Made and Is It Dangerous?
How is cocaine manufactured and distributed? When the solution is produced, it is first mixed with vegetable oil that has been distilled or filtered to remove any residual solvents from the raw materials. Next, it is evaporated at a high temperature in an oxygen-free environment to produce what is known as pure cocaine. Although there is controversy over the exact amount of pure cocaine that should be produced in each batch, anywhere from two to twenty-five milligrams of pure drug can be produced per batch. While it is extremely difficult to manufacture a decent volume of pure cocaine, the larger amounts are used in the creation of street drugs such as powdered, crack-cocaine and Seattle powder.
What are the health effects of how is cocaine made? While there have been no published reports on the negative side-effects of cocaine, most users do agree that the effects of the drug are far more intense when compared to its traditional counterpart, hemp. Cocaine, in all its forms (crack, powdered, oil, etc.) has significantly more toxic substances in comparison. This includes not only the highly toxic hydrocarbons but also much of the vitamin E compounds that are emitted during the process of how is cocaine made.
When taking into consideration the health effects of how is cocaine made, it is clear that cutting the dosage significantly reduces the potential for severe adverse reactions. However, reducing the amount of active ingredients drastically reduces the potency of the drug and may in itself increase the potential for overdose deaths due to the decreased concentration of these important chemicals. In addition, cutting down on the amount of levamisole and other opioids may greatly reduce the severity of withdrawal symptoms which can lead users to return to their former habits once they resume regular dosage. For these reasons and others, cutting down or completely removing how is cocaine completely is not advisable.