Crack Cocaine in Toronto
Now that Toronto’s Mayor, Rob Ford, has confessed to his “alleged” crack cocaine use maybe we can get some real help out to those who are suffering from their own crack addiction. For anyone not familiar with Crack it’s quite simple; first, you have cocaine from the coca plant, with the cocaine you take out any impurities by heating it with a mix of either ammonia or baking soda the result is a crystallized rock of purified cocaine. This form permits people to smoke it by inhaling the fumes from a pipe. Whereas the powder form is for sniffing or snorting but can also be injected. People who choose to use crack instead are looking for a more instant chemical effect than that with the powder form, but the addictive nature is much faster and possibly more difficult to quit.
The media has jumped all over Mr. Rob Ford for his actions and rightly so. But what is not being included in their sensationalism is the fact that there are thousands of crack addicts at any given time in the streets and homes of Greater Toronto. Where is the media on that problem? What if we look at it from a different perspective, say ten years ago there was real handling of the crack cocaine problem in Toronto and the joint efforts had contained and even lowered the presence and use of crack. The chances that the mayor would have crack to smoke might not have been available. Crack isn’t just the problem for Torontonians but all forms of drugs from cocaine to heroin, morphine and prescription drugs like Oxys and Percocet including pot and methamphetamine, just to name a few. So the real big issue at hand is not just some person smoking a bit of crack and getting caught and possibly blackmailed about it. But drugs themselves are the real social killer.
Probably the worse thing for anyone addicted to Crack for an extended period of time is the psychological effects, there’s a point in everyone’s addiction to Crack when the paranoia sets in. Strange noises make one jump, people are suspected at every turn, best friends are questioned for loyalties, wives and husbands are doubted as to fidelity. Many times when crack users are on a “binge” meaning: extreme use over a short period of time, they get into this state of mind. What may not be known to the addict is that this is a symptom of bordering an overdose in many cases the next hit will get you a free ticket to the Emergency Room, that’s if you’re lucky. Many don’t make it there and their hearts just can’t pump enough oxygen to the brain and its lights out.
Yes, it’s outrageous the mayor smoked crack cocaine, well look over to your neighbour who may be a senior executive in a multi-national corporation, downing a bottle of scotch, or the medical physician downing two and three hundred milligrams of Oxys just to make it through the day. How about the grade school teacher who goes home and smokes two joints each night just so she can fall asleep? Are they not just as guilty as Toronto’s mayor but guilty of what? Becoming a victim of drugs or alcohol?
A complex problem such as drug addiction must be looked at in a very simple manner. Deal with the underlying cause for a person’s desire to alter their state of mind and you will no longer have a reason to alter it with substitute chemicals or the like. Do you or someone close to you have a crack addiction? If so call our addiction placement counsellors today, there is hope and treatment that is right for you.
1 888-488-8434
Toll-Free Number