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Women And Crack Addiction, Mary Guinan

Public Health Faculty Publications

A smokable form of cocaine has recently been introduced to the United States. First documented in New York in 1985, the use of rock cocaine or crack has spread rapidly throughout the country since then. Until crack appeared, noninjectable cocaine use was largely a problem in the middle and upper classes because of its high price. Crack has changed that; five and ten dollar packages are readily available. Crack produces a short-lived high and may enhance sexual desire and performance. The rapidity of the spread of crack in inner cities is extraordinary but the movement into rural areas has been …