Today it is estimated that 22 to 25 million people have tried cocaine at least once. Conservative estimates indicate that there are over two million cocaine addicts in the United States today. In 1999, the average age of an adolescent in treatment at Caron for heroin addiction was about 17, with some patients as young as 14. During that same period, adult heroin users in treatment at Caron had an average age of 29 - a full 10 years younger than the average age of 39 for those admitted for other drug or alcohol treatment. Cocaine looks like a white crystalline powder. It is often sold in aluminum foil, plastic/paper packets, or small vials. The cocaine that is distributed on the street in two main forms: powder cocaine and crack cocaine. Crack is cocaine hydrochloride that has been processed with ammonia or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and water into a freebase cocaine — chips, chunks, or rocks. On the illicit market, crack is sold in small, inexpensive dosage units. The history of heroin dates back as far or farther than the ancient Egyptians. Records indicate that opium was used by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. The poppy even appears on Egyptian art dating back 6,000 years. Opium was imported to China around 800 A.D. By the 1600s, opium smoking was widespread throughout China. In 1680, a famous English physician named Thomas Syndenham introduced opium to the medical field. | 
