In the shadowy world of drug dealing, it helps to know the lingo.
Following are some of the more common terms in the drug vocabulary, according to Assistant Chief John J. Hill, head of the New York City Narcotics Division:CRACK - A purified, smokeable form of cocaine, usually mixed with baking soda and cooked. Crack is commonly sold in chunks packaged in vials less than an inch long, originally made to hold perfume samples. The drug produces one to five minutes of euphoria marked by hyperactivity and hyper-awareness, and long-term effects include paranoia, said Dr. James Cocores of Fair Oaks Hospital, a drug-treatment center in New Jersey.
PANCAKES - When the cocaine and baking soda are cooked to make crack, usually in a frying pan, the finished product comes out resembling a pale, thick pancake, which is then broken into small chunks to be sold.
NICKELS - $5 worth of narcotics, sold in bags or, in the case of crack, a three-quarter-inch vial.
TRAYS - $3 worth of narcotics, sold in bags or, in the case of crack, a half-inch vial.
JUMBOS - A $10 vial of crack, usually sold in a one-inch vial.
DECK - A $10 bag of heroin.
BUNDLE - Ten decks equal one bundle of heroin, which sells for about $100.
STEM - Glass pipes of various shapes, with a hole at one end for inhaling crack cocaine, which is melted with a propane or butane lighter outside the stem. Some users punch a hole in the side of a juice bottle, where they insert a straw. Then they heat the crack in a piece of foil placed over the bottle opening and inhale the fumes through the straw.
CRANK - Amphetamines, also known as speed, a once-popular drug showing signs of resurgence.
ICE - A smokeable form of amphetamines that originated in Asia and spread to Hawaii and the West Coast. A few puffs of ice can produce a high similar to that of crack but which lasts all day. Cocores called ice "big-time trouble" and said continued use may result in schizophrenia.
SPEEDBALL - A mixture of heroin and cocaine, usually injected as a liquid. It brings an instantaneous euphoria like cocaine, without the accompanying irritability, followed minutes later by the calmer heroin high. The same mixture, but using crack cocaine and smoked rather than injected, produces similar effects and is called "parachute."
SPIKES - Hypodermic needles used to inject heroin, cocaine or speedballs.
DUST, ANGEL DUST - An animal tranquilizer known as PCP, which is usually used to lace marijuana. A bag of dust, which sells for about $8, usually contains enough for about two small cigarettes.