Well to do coke-heads had been "freebasing" the alkaloid (free base) for years before crack was invented. Crack just made the same thing available in small quantities to the (black) masses and a panic ensued. Tim

Said by Sampo Syreeni <decoy@iki.fi>:

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...

Crack cocaine is made using a relatively simple procedure which changes that equilibrium to where almost all of it blows into the brain at once. This is why crack cocaine is considered worse than the "regular" powder.

'Freebasing' wasn't it? Cook in high pH to release the free alcaloid form from the salt. What I do not remember is the precise reason for the high permeability - water solubility? -- end quote --

I don't think so. The hydrochloride form (regular "powder") is water-soluble, but the free alkaloid is fat-soluble. That's why it's smoked instead of snorted. But the process not only converts the cocaine, it also loses any dilution material ("cut"). So the final dose is, for all practical purposes, pure cocaine that needs no additional conversion in the bloodstream. It might not be permeability that's responsible for the different effect. Could be a simple matter of delivering a higher quantity of ready-to-permeate material.