CDR: Re: Whipped Europeans

[brflgnk at cotse.com]

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

-- begin quote --
>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.