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Crack cocaine, a systematic literature review


Forensic Research & Criminology International Journal
André Rinaldi Fukushima,1  Leonardo Tibiriçá Corrêa,2 Juliana Weckx Peña Muñoz,2 Esther Lopes Ricci,3 Virginia Martins Carvalho,4 Debora Gonçalves de Carvalho,1 Helenice de Souza Spinosa,1 Alice Aparecida da Matta Chasin5,6

Abstract

Forensic  analyzes  that  allow  the  differentiation  of  crack  and  cocaine  combined  with  the  verification of crack adulterants allow inferences about the implication of this drug in human health, since several studies show that there is a growing number of crack users, which when compared to crack cocaine. Make use of this drug, are exposed to products occurring due to the procurement processes as well as the adulterants placed in the samples. The addition of different substances (adulterants and diluents) in crack (freebase) is a well-known phenomenon in the illicit market. Adulterants may interact with cocaine and determine new toxic syndromes by inferring the clinical state of poisoning, especially in cases where the routes of administration are changed. In Brazil, the analysis of adulterants, contaminants and/or diluents added to crack is not routine in official laboratories. Cocaine is the second most commonly used illicit drug (after marijuana) in the United States. According to national sense 2003, more than 34 million Americans (14.7%) 12 years of age and older have used cocaine at least once in their lifetime. There are no drugs approved for pharmacotherapeutic substitution (drugs taken chronically as a substitute for drug abuse, such as methadone for heroin addiction). In this context, a bibliographic survey was carried out in original articles, review articles and analysis analyzes obtained from the PubMed database. As inclusion criteria, the association between the terms “cocaine” and “crack” was used. Found 2,642 works related to the theme, being selected 48 scientific papers for the development of the present work, among them, original articles, review articles, journal articles and book chapters, because they have greater relevance to the main objective, i.e. pharmacological approach, mechanism of action, biosynthesis, adverse effects, tolerance, among others, to compose the context of this study.

Keywords

crack, cocaine, systematic review, forensic aspects

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