Crack is a drug pusher's dream and a nightmare for parents -- a highly portable, relatively cheap but profoundly addictive form of cocaine that provides users only a brief respite from intense cravings for another dose, with withdrawal symptoms so severe that addicts have been known to attempt suicide to end their suffering.

The pamphlet points out that crack can kill its users outright, even on the first dose, from strokes, heart attacks and disruption of heart pacing; that it destroys their lives, turns them to crime, exposes them, through promiscuity and prostitution, to AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, and can leave them depressed, paranoid, psychotic and violent.

It offers advice to family members on how to approach someone about their crack use, and suggests sources for outside help.