800-671-43048 Scary Crack Side Effects + Free Quiz to See If You’re Addicted
Published: 10/6/2025
Crack cocaine is one of the most dangerous illicit drugs. Addiction to crack can easily and rapidly occur due to the drug’s fast-acting, intense high and severe crash that creates a strong compulsion for continued use.
In addition, crack cocaine use has severe and scary physical and apsychological side effects that can lead to permanent damage or even death. Its effects can include stroke or heart attack, permanent lung, kidney, or liver damage, anxiety, depression, paranoia and hallucinations.
In this article, we will discuss:
- Differences between crack cocaine and regular cocaine
- Crack addiction and the risky side effects of crack use
- Treatment options for crack addiction
Not sure if you’re addicted? Download this free “Am I Addicted to Crack?” Quiz to see where you stand.
What Is Crack Cocaine?
Crack cocaine is a cheaper, yet more potent, form of cocaine. Crack is the street name for cocaine powder that has been processed into solid form, which then allows it to be smoked.
It is made by adding ammonia or baking soda and water to powdered cocaine and then heating the mixture. The name “crack” refers to the crackling sound heard as the added ingredients are vaporized and released. This leaves solid, rock like pieces of cocaine that are smokable.
The differences in crack vs. cocaine in powder form include, powder cocaine can be snorted, dissolved in water and injected or rubbed onto the gums; crack cocaine is smoked.
When cocaine is snorted or rubbed on the gums, the rush or high is delayed for several minutes while the drug is being absorbed into the bloodstream. Crack cocaine’s rush begins within seconds.
The duration of the high for powdered cocaine is about 15-30 minutes. Crack cocaine’s effects last only 5-10 minutes. Crack’s drug rush is more intense, but it also produces a more intense crash, due to the extreme fluctuations of dopamine (the pleasure chemical) in the brain.
This is sometimes called the “crack effect”. Shorter, higher intensity crack cocaine effects are more likely to encourage multiple, rapidly repeated dosing events that increase the potential for overdose.
Call now to find crack cocaine detox centers near you.
SponsoredWhat Does Smoking Crack Feel Like?
In 2022, a study published in Frontiers in Psychiatry described the experience of crack users during a drug high. When study participants were asked: How does it feel to smoke crack and what does smoking crack do to you?
They reported an initial sensation of being pleasantly disconnected from the world and from the negative experiences they faced in life, as well as a disconnection from the negative self perceptions they had developed due to their traumas. The drug offered temporary relief from an intolerable reality.
Unfortunately, the way crack affects the body makes that relief extremely costly. Because the high from crack is short, it is quickly followed by a crash and powerful cravings, all which trap users into repeating the cycle.
With repeated drug use, your brain and body become tolerant to crack’s effects, resulting in psychological and physical dependence that makes it ever more difficult to stop using crack.
Ironically, crack use often becomes both the escape mechanism and the cause for many life traumas, including loss of family support, experiences of violence and other negative consequences.
Side Effects of Crack Use
The effects of crack use include both short and long term consequences. Some of the scariest and most life altering crack addict symptoms are:
Extreme, Rapid Addiction
The primary effects of crack use are short but intense highs and severe crashes. These factors increase the likelihood of repeated drug use and difficulty maintaining abstinence, which can result in crack addiction.
Sexual & Reproductive Problems
What crack does to your body mimics the effects of cocaine use. Both crack and cocaine can cause erectile dysfunction and fertility issues by triggering vascular damage and poor blood flow. Crack use can also lead to risky sexual behaviors because it increases impulsivity and reduces inhibitions.
Crack Lung & Respiratory Damage
“Crack lung” is one of the most potentially life altering side effects of smoking crack cocaine. Crack lung is respiratory syndrome, or group of related symptoms, that resembles pneumonia with shortness of breath, fever, cough, chest pain and wheezing.
Other effects of smoking crack can include inflammation and possible bleeding in the lungs, heat and burn damage to the airways and damage to lung cells from toxins in the cocaine or in contaminants introduced during crack cocaine preparation.
Other Physical Damage
General effects of crack use also include damage to teeth, eyes and skin.
Dental Health Destruction
Cocaine and crack cocaine can cause severe problems with your dental health.
What crack does to your teeth involves both physical damage to the teeth and other sicknesses, including:
- Tooth grinding (bruxism)
- Gingivitis (gum disease)
- Mouth sores
- Loss of teeth
- Erosion of tooth enamel and infections (caused by bacteria from the mouth getting into the bloodstream)
Damage to Eyes
Crack use damages the eyes by constricting their blood vessels, resulting in glaucoma, or increased pressure inside the eye which can cause damage to the optic nerve, which, in turn, can lead to partial or full vision loss.
Blood clots in the retina, the eye’s light sensitive area, which can lead to partial or total vision loss and damage to the retina, which can result in a detached retina, blurry vision or permanent vision loss.
Damage to Skin
Crack cocaine use damages your skin due to the vasoconstriction and reduced blood and oxygen supply, causing necrosis or skin death, poor wound healing, sores or ulcers and purpura, or burst capillaries in the skin, creating bruise like areas that may be permanent.
Heart Attack & Stroke Risk
Crack can kill you. The dangerous effects of crack cocaine use include damage to the cardiovascular system that can lead to:
- Heart attack (caused by reduced blood flow to the heart)
- High blood pressure (caused by changes to neurotransmitters that regulate heart rate and blood flow)
- Stroke (caused by restriction of blood to the brain, or by a blood clot in the brain)
Paranoia, Psychosis and Violence
What crack does to you mentally can result in an altered perception of reality. Crack disrupts the normal flow of information processing in your mind by overstimulating your brain’s dopamine production.
Excessive surges of dopamine can lead to psychosis, a temporary distorted perception of reality and potentially paranoia and delusions. Which are misinterpretations of neutral or benign sights, sounds and experiences, which then become perceived as major threats.
Also, violence and aggression can occur due to exaggerated responses to perceived threats.
If use is heavy and prolonged, what crack does to your mind may not be reversible, even after crack use has stopped.
Neurological Damage
Long term effects of crack use can cause damage to gray matter in the brain, contributing to premature loss of cognitive ability similar to what is sometimes seen in aging. Long term crack use can also result in cognitive issues, including impaired judgment and poor emotional regulation.
Behavioral & Social Changes
Use of crack cocaine increases impulsiveness and aggression, which may contribute to behavioral and social problems. Violence has also been associated with cocaine use.
Examples of problematic behavioral and social changes related to crack cocaine use include broken relationships, financial difficulties or financial ruin and violent behavior such as domestic abuse or criminality.
Long-Term Effects of Crack Use
Long-term effects of crack use involve both the physical side effects of crack as well as negative psychological changes.
Heavy or prolonged crack use can result in irreversible physical damage due to stroke, heart attack or brain damage. In addition, infertility, vision loss and skin damage may also become permanent.
Lasting psychological crack use side effects can include chronic anxiety or depression, psychosis, poor impulse control or cognitive defects such as memory problems, poor judgment or poor decision making.
Crack Timeline: High, Crash, and Addiction Cycle
The crack crash timeline begins with usage that provides an almost immediate, intense rush or high as large amounts of dopamine flood the brain.
However, the high typically only lasts for about 10-15 minutes and then begins fading and finally crashing as the brain’s dopamine supply is depleted.
Cravings for more crack set in and intensify, as the user seeks a return to the euphoria and energy felt during the rush. Withdrawal symptoms of irritability, anxiety and depression begin if more crack is not consumed within a few hours or days.
The crash and withdrawal symptoms are so uncomfortable that most users return to drug seeking and using again. This behavior starts a long term cycle that leads to dependency and addiction to crack.
Crack cocaine effects can be fatal; call now and get help today.
SponsoredDetox & Treatment for Crack Addiction
The safest way to detox from crack and reduce its effects is through medical detox. Medical detox safely removes drug toxins from the body and manages withdrawal symptoms.
Medical supervision is typically included, which is important because withdrawal from crack addiction is sometimes associated with suicidal thoughts. Often, crack withdrawal also involves other intense psychological symptoms that may require supervision.
There are no FDA approved medications to treat crack cocaine withdrawal; however, there are some medications that can ease the psychological symptoms that come with its effects.
Therapy interventions, like individual and group psychotherapy using cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing or dialectical behavioral therapy may be used to help manage anxiety and depression.
Detox for crack cocaine use may last for several weeks to several months. Withdrawal that lasts more than 3 weeks is referred to as PAWS (Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome). Common PAWS symptoms that linger include depression, anxiety, memory problems, cravings and fatigue.
Because withdrawal from crack cocaine can be protracted, long term treatment that includes transition phases from detox to rehab to aftercare is often needed.
Unsure if your crack use is out of control? Download our free “Am I Addicted to Crack?” Quiz and take the first step toward clarity.
FAQs About Crack Cocaine Side Effects
Crack’s side effects may include:
-Damage to your lungs (crack lung)
-Cardiovascular damage (possible heart attack or stroke)
-Damage to your skin (necrosis, bruising)
-Eyes (glaucoma, retinal damage)
-Teeth (grinding, loss of enamel)
-Sexual issues (erectile dysfunction)
Mental health issues like impaired memory and judgment and social and behavioral problems like trouble with relationships, financial problems and aggression may also occur.
What are the Long Term Effects of Crack Cocaine Use?
Long term crack use can result in infertility, brain damage that reduces cognitive abilities and impulse control or permanent cardiovascular damage from a stroke or heart attack. Anxiety, depression or psychosis can also become long term or permanent.
Crack cocaine strains your cardiovascular and respiratory systems, sometimes causing permanent damage.
It also places strain on other organs, disrupts sleep and leads to poor nutrition that makes you vulnerable to infection or illness. Crack disrupts your mental balance and causes mood swings and sometimes paranoia or psychosis.
It contributes to relationship and social problems by easily triggering aggression and irresponsible or risky behavior.
Crack cocaine use can lead to gum disease, loss of teeth, mouth sores or infections, skin ulcers or sores and loss of vision
Yes, crack cocaine can kill. Heart attack, stroke and overdose are all deadly risks of crack use.
Crack cocaine produces an intense high with feelings of euphoria, energy, self confidence and disconnection from worries, problems or personal issues–for a very brief period (15 minutes or less).
When the euphoria wears off, it is replaced by a crash with irritability, anxiety and often feelings of guilt and sadness due to the loss of dopamine (the pleasure chemical) in the brain. Intense cravings and sometimes paranoia or psychosis also add to the distress of the crash.
How to Get Help Before It’s Too Late
When you use crack cocaine, you are literally gambling with your life, risking overdose and/or permanent damage that increases with every use. But cocaine detox and addiction treatment programs can make recovery possible. Don’t let the effects of crack cocaine ruin your life any longer. Act now to start your journey to recovery.
Don’t wait. Download the “Am I Addicted to Crack?” Quiz or call 800-996-6135 today to find safe, effective crack cocaine treatment near you.
