Crack Cocaine: Usage and Statistics

There are some cities in which crack use is much more prevalent than others. Crack cocaine use is attached to urban areas and is most commonly used in places in New Orleans, Baltimore and New York City. Other urban centers are also very much affected by crack cocaine use.

In 1999, there were not many users who had just started to take crack. In fact, crack users mostly seemed to be habitual crack users, in general older males. However, there was some increase in use for women near the Southwest border of the country.

In 2004 all cities which had a major crack problem were featured in the Pulse Check study. Crack cocaine was found to cost under twenty dollars for each rock and in places like San Francisco and Chicago costing as little as two and five dollars for one rock. One gram of crack cocaine went for one hundred dollars in Seattle. Each rock of crack is about 0.2 grams.

More than six million people over the age of twelve had tried crack cocaine in the United States at least once. This means that nearly 2.8 percent of Americans have tried crack cocaine at least once in their lives.

After marijuana, crack is the most easily accessible drug that is easily purchased on the street by users and undercover officers alike.

Since 2002, users have started to believe that heroin is a lot more dangerous than crack. However, the perceived notion is that crack is still a drug which can have very serious consequences.

Crack is easy to purchase in almost every city but since 2002 it has been easier to purchase it on the street in San Francisco whereas it has been harder to purchase it on the street in Philadelphia. Everywhere else, the market for crack cocaine remains the same.

As of 2004, the crack cocaine using population continued to become older with only two cities reporting a new young population of users: St Louis and Cleveland.

The purity of crack cocaine rocks is about 30 to 85 per cent in each rock. The purity for most rocks sold on the street is usually about the middle of that.

Crack sellers may work independently or as part of as a structured organization - either one of these two options is likely with a fifty-fifty split happening most of time.

Crack cocaine is most often locally produced because it is cheaper and less dangerous. The federal guidelines for distributing the powder are also a little more loose than those for distributing crack.

Due to a marked decrease in demand, dealers in many places have decreased prices for rocks. These include places like San Francisco and Baltimore. Additionally, dealers have had to make allowances like breaking off rocks to meet with demand.

In 2002, crack sales were associated with prostitution and gang-related violence along with physical assaults much more than other drugs.

Teenagers very rarely use crack cocaine.