Manufacturing Crack Cocaine

Why "crack"?
The word "crack" comes from the cracking sound the rock crystal makes when it is heated in a crack pipe. The sound is caused by the sodium bicarbonate

Crack cocaine is also made from powder cocaine, but because its production doesn't require the use of flammable solvents, it is safer to make than freebase cocaine. To make crack, powder cocaine is dissolved in a mixture of water and either ammonia or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). The mixture is boiled to separate out the solid, and then it's cooled. The solid is then dried and cut up into small nuggets, or "rocks."


Photo courtesy U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
Step 1 (left): Dissolving powder cocaine in hot water
Step 2 (right): Adding sodium bicarbonate to the mixture


Step 3 (left): Boiling the solution to separate out the solids
Step 4 (right): Cooling the separated mixture


Photo courtesy U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
Step 5: Filtering the cooled mixture to isolate the solids


Crack cocaine (in the filter on the right)

Crack rocks are white or tan in color and typically range in size from .1 to .5 grams. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), crack rocks contain between 75 percent and 90 percent pure cocaine.

Most of the cocaine that comes into the United States today originates in Colombia, Bolivia and Peru. Cocaine is usually smuggled into the United States across the Mexican border. It arrives in the country in powder form and is converted to crack by the wholesaler or retailer (gangs make up most of the retail market in the United States).

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