Frequency Of Crack Use Research Articles

Crack use and correlates of use in a national population of street heroin users. The National AIDS Research Consortium.

Traditionally, researchers and clinicians have viewed street heroin users as representing an end point in a drug-using career. It is toward this population that major national treatment efforts have been directed. Concomitant with the historical national concern about heroin use has been concern about the increase in crack cocaine use. There has been speculation that crack use may have become a substitute for the higher risk of heroin injection. This article examines the impact of crack use in a national population of heroin users. It was consistently found that there was a correlation between the frequency of crack use and the frequency of speedballing as well as the use of other forms of cocaine, amphetamines, and marijuana. There was also a positive relationship between frequency of crack use and such HIV risk behaviors as renting needles and having a large number of sex partners. The data suggest that in this population of heroin users, crack is not a substitute for heroin but rather is a part of a drug-use pattern that includes an increased use of other drugs and increased high-risk behaviors for contracting HIV.

Pulmonary Status of Habitual Cocaine Smokers

We determined the prevalence of respiratory symptoms and lung dysfunction in a large sample of habitual smokers of freebase cocaine ("crack") alone and in combination with tobacco and/or marijuana. In addition, we compared these findings with those in an age- and race-matched sample of nonusers of crack who did or did not smoke tobacco and/or marijuana. A detailed respiratory and drug use questionnaire and a battery of lung function tests were administered to (1) a convenience sample of 202 habitual smokers of cocaine (cases) who denied intravenous drug abuse and (2) a reference sample of 99 nonusers of cocaine (control subjects). The cocaine smokers (85% black) included the following: 68 never-smokers of marijuana, of whom 43 currently smoked tobacco and 25 did not, and 134 ever-smokers of marijuana (42 current and 92 former), of whom 92 currently smoked tobacco and 42 did not. The control subjects (96% black) included the following: 69 never-smokers of marijuana, of whom 26 currently smoked tobacco and 43 did not, and 30 ever-smokers of marijuana (18 current and 12 former), of whom 21 currently smoked tobacco and 9 did not. Cases smoked an average of 6.5 g cocaine per week for a mean of 53 months. The median time of the most recent use of crack prior to study was 19 days (range less than 1 to 180 days). After controlling for the use of other smoked substances, frequent crack use was associated with: (1) a high prevalence of at least occasional occurrences of acute cardiorespiratory symptoms within 1 to 12 h after smoking cocaine (cough productive of black sputum [43.7%], hemoptysis [5.7%], chest pain [38.5%], usually worse with deep breathing, and cardiac palpitations [52.6%]) and (2) a mild but significant impairment in the diffusing capacity of the lung.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)