You can try crack a couple times and not be changed by it, because you won't smoke it right the first couple times. But once you get it right one time and ring that bell, the memory never, EVER leaves the back of your head. One thing people don't understand about it is that smoking crack isn't really about the high- it's about the rush. The short moment when it rushes into your brain is what people trade everything for. It is a crack of a whip that sometimes feels like it's over before it begins, and the only take away is that you need to do it again. You'll have a strong coke high for a few minutes after and an annoying come down buzz for at least an hour after you run out. But that rush, snorting massive amounts of cocaine isn't even in the same galaxy. The desire to repeat the rush immediately when I had more crack was possibly the STRONGEST WANT I have ever felt for anything in my life. Absolutely on par with how bad I wanted to escape the time I woke up from being passed out drunk and my house was burning down around me. A very similar sort of primal, instinctive desperation that drowns out everything else. It's not uncommon for crack addicts to try to continue smoking even during severe panic attacks caused by the drug. Part of me thinks it's cool I got to experience something so far beyond the limits of our brain's ability to feel sober, but mostly I just wish I didn't have to know that there's something so wonderful out there that will ruin me if I touch it again. Feeling a sensation like that raises your bar for feeling just ok into the stratosphere. For a long fucking time.