An 8 ball is one eighth of an ounce of a drug (usually cocaine). It can also refer to a mix of crack-cocaine and heroin as well as the malt-liquor brand Olde English 800. Sometimes, it can act as a derogatory term for a black person.
Cocaine is a natural product extracted from the leaves of Erythroxylon coca Lam (coca leaves). This tropical shrub is cultivated widely on the Andean ridge in South America and is the only known natural source of cocaine. Normally produced as the hydrochloride salt, it has limited medical use as a topical anaesthetic. The free base, sometimes known as crack, is a smokable form of cocaine. Coca leaves have been used as a stimulant by some indigenous people of South America since historical times. Purified cocaine has been misused as a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant since the early years of the twentieth century. Cocaine is under international control.
Oxford Dictionary 8th Edition Crack Cocaine
Cocaine (from French: cocaïne, from Spanish: coca, ultimately from Quechua: kúka)[14] is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant. As an extract it is mainly used recreationally and often illegally for its euphoric effects, but it is Schedule II in the U.S. and recognized for its medical value. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South America: Erythroxylum coca and E. novogranatense.[15][16] These medicinal herbs naturally contain cocaine and have a history of use among indigenous American peoples. After extraction from the plant, and further processing into cocaine hydrochloride (powdered cocaine), the drug is administered by being either snorted, applied topically to the mouth, or dissolved and injected into a vein. It can also then be turned into free base form (crack cocaine), in which it can be heated until sublimated and then the vapours can be inhaled.[12] Cocaine stimulates the reward pathway in the brain.[16] Mental effects may include an intense feeling of happiness, sexual arousal, loss of contact with reality, or agitation.[12] Physical effects may include a fast heart rate, sweating, and dilated pupils.[12] High doses can result in high blood pressure or high body temperature.[17] Effects begin within seconds to minutes of use and last between five and ninety minutes.[12] As cocaine also has numbing and blood vessel constriction properties, it is occasionally used during surgery on the throat or inside of the nose to control pain, bleeding, and vocal cord spasm.[18]
Cocaine is a central nervous system stimulant.[43] Its effects can last from 15 minutes to an hour. The duration of cocaine's effects depends on the amount taken and the route of administration.[44] Cocaine can be in the form of fine white powder, bitter to the taste. Crack cocaine is a smokeable form of cocaine made into small "rocks" by processing cocaine with sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and water.[12][45] Crack cocaine is referred to as "crack" because of the crackling sounds it makes when heated.[12]
Acute exposure to cocaine has many effects on humans, including euphoria, increases in heart rate and blood pressure, and increases in cortisol secretion from the adrenal gland.[65] In humans with acute exposure followed by continuous exposure to cocaine at a constant blood concentration, the acute tolerance to the chronotropic cardiac effects of cocaine begins after about 10 minutes, while acute tolerance to the euphoric effects of cocaine begins after about one hour.[27][66][67][68] With excessive or prolonged use, the drug can cause itching, fast heart rate, and paranoid delusions or sensations of insects crawling on the skin.[69] Intranasal cocaine and crack use are both associated with pharmacological violence. Aggressive behavior may be displayed by both addicts and casual users. Cocaine can induce psychosis characterized by paranoia, impaired reality testing, hallucinations, irritability, and physical aggression. Cocaine intoxication can cause hyperawareness, hypervigilance, and psychomotor agitation and delirium. Consumption of large doses of cocaine can cause violent outbursts, especially by those with preexisting psychosis. Crack-related violence is also systemic, relating to disputes between crack dealers and users.[70] Acute exposure may induce cardiac arrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation, supraventricular tachycardia, ventricular tachycardia, and ventricular fibrillation. Acute exposure may also lead to angina, heart attack, and congestive heart failure.[71] Cocaine overdose may cause seizures, abnormally high body temperature and a marked elevation of blood pressure, which can be life-threatening,[69] abnormal heart rhythms,[72] and death.[72] Anxiety, paranoia, and restlessness can also occur, especially during the comedown. With excessive dosage, tremors, convulsions and increased body temperature are observed.[43] Severe cardiac adverse events, particularly sudden cardiac death, become a serious risk at high doses due to cocaine's blocking effect on cardiac sodium channels.[72] Incidental exposure of the eye to sublimated cocaine while smoking crack cocaine can cause serious injury to the cornea and long-term loss of visual acuity.[73]
Crack baby is a term for a child born to a mother who used crack cocaine during her pregnancy. The threat that cocaine use during pregnancy poses to the fetus is now considered exaggerated.[96] Studies show that prenatal cocaine exposure (independent of other effects such as, for example, alcohol, tobacco, or physical environment) has no appreciable effect on childhood growth and development.[97]However, the official opinion of the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the United States warns about health risks while cautioning against stereotyping:
Powder cocaine (cocaine hydrochloride) must be heated to a high temperature (about 197 C), and considerable decomposition/burning occurs at these high temperatures. This effectively destroys some of the cocaine and yields a sharp, acrid, and foul-tasting smoke. Cocaine base/crack can be smoked because it vaporizes with little or no decomposition at 98 C (208 F),[127] which is below the boiling point of water.
Crack is a lower purity form of free-base cocaine that is usually produced by neutralization of cocaine hydrochloride with a solution of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate, NaHCO3) and water, producing a very hard/brittle, off-white-to-brown colored, amorphous material that contains sodium carbonate, entrapped water, and other by-products as the main impurities. The origin of the name "crack" comes from the "crackling" sound (and hence the onomatopoeic moniker "crack") that is produced when the cocaine and its impurities (i.e. water, sodium bicarbonate) are heated past the point of vaporization.[128]
In many countries, cocaine is a popular recreational drug. In the United States, the development of "crack" cocaine introduced the substance to a generally poorer inner-city market. The use of the powder form has stayed relatively constant, experiencing a new height of use during the late 1990s and early 2000s in the U.S., and has become much more popular in the last few years in the UK.[citation needed][when?]
Before the early 1900s, the primary problem caused by cocaine use was portrayed by newspapers to be addiction, not violence or crime, and the cocaine user was represented as an upper- or middle-class White person. In 1914, The New York Times published an article titled "Negro Cocaine 'Fiends' Are a New Southern Menace", portraying Black cocaine users as dangerous and able to withstand wounds that would normally be fatal.[201] The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 mandated prison sentences for 500 grams of powdered cocaine and 5 grams of crack cocaine.[202] In the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, Whites reported a higher rate of powdered cocaine use, and Blacks reported a higher rate of crack cocaine use.[203]
In a study of HIV seroprevalence among current users of crack cocaine versus never users, 165 of 780 current users were HIV-positive (prevalence = 21.2%), compared with 40 of 464 never users (prevalence = 8.6%) (4). The PR and POR were close (2.5 and 2.8, respectively), but the PR is easier to explain.
Is there any evidence of a potential relationship between the slang 5150 meaning "an eccentric/crazy person" and 51 meaning crack cocaine or tobacco laced with crack cocaine? Are there alternative theories?
Other influences may include '5-1' in Roman numerals being the heart of EVIL (VI), symbolic use of the '5150' code by heavy metal bands and rappers of the 1980s and 1990s (for example, Van Halen's studio, song and album of that name), and the confluent history of crack cocaine use in the US, which peaked during the same time period (1980s and 1990s). 2ff7e9595c
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