Introduction
- Richard Nixon declared drug abuse to be “public enemy number one” in June 1971; this was the beginning of the war on drugs
- Nixon increased funding for drug-control agencies and drug-treatment efforts
- In 1973 the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was created
- The rates of incarceration for nonviolent drug offenses greatly increased when Reagan became president
- Rates went from 50,000 in 1980 to 400,000 in 1997
- Just Say No campaign, founded by Nancy Reagan, was a privately funded effort to educate schoolchildren on the negative effects of drug use
- In 1986, Congress passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act which allocated $1.7 billion to the War on Drugs and established mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses
- There was a massive gap between the minimum sentence for powder cocaine and crack cocaine
- 80% of crack users were black, which lead to unequal incarceration rates for black nonviolent drug offenders and also established the War on Drugs as a racist institution
- In the early 21st century, there was increased public awareness surrounding the racial disparity in the War on Drugs which lead to a series of reforms including the legalization of recreational marijuana in a number of states
- The Fair Sentencing Act, passed in 2010, reduced the discrepancy of crack-to-powder cocaine possession thresholds for minimum sentences from 100-1 to 18-1
Crack Epidemic
- Crack cocaine was popularized in the 1980s because of its low cost and immediate euphoric effect
- The crack epidemic was particularly devastating to inner-city black communities, which experienced significantly higher rates of addiction, drug-related crime, and death
Crack Cocaine
- Crack cocaine is produced by converting powder cocaine into a smokeable form that is sold in smaller portions but distributed to more people
- Unlike powder cocaine, crack cocaine is cheap and easy to produce and therefore cheaper to buy, which made it a very accessible drug
- Crack cocaine is known for its instantaneous high which leaves users wanting more and lead to a spike in cocaine addictions
- Between 1982 and 1985, the number of cocaine users increased by 1.6 million
- Between 1984 and 1987, emergency room visits due to cocaine incidents such as overdoses, unexpected reactions, suicide attempts, and detoxification increased fourfold
Arrival in America
- Powder cocaine was a major cash crop for South American countries, especially Colombia
- Before the 1960s, the demand for the drug was very low because it was not well known
- As demand increased, Colombian trafficking organizations like the Medellín cartel set up a system that was used to distribute cocaine from South America to the United States
- Crack cocaine was first used in Miami, where Caribbean immigrants taught adolescents how to convert powder cocaine into crack
- Teens introduced the business of producing crack into other major cities like New York City, Detroit, and Los Angeles
Crack in African American Communities
- Crack cocaine was introduced into socially eroded communities during Reagan’s presidency
- It was easy to produce and sell crack and the rewards outweighed the risks
- Small-time drug dealers who sold every day earned an average of $2,000 a month
- The high demand for crack lead to a rivalry between drug dealers, and, consequently, crack became linked with violence
- The introduction of crack into inner-city communities lead to a spike in crime from 1981-1985
Governmental Efforts to Address the Epidemic
- The Reagan administration began to prioritize the “War on Drugs” which aimed to end the crack epidemic
- There were significantly harsher punishments for possessions of crack cocaine than for powder cocaine
- For example, there was a minimum sentence of five years for five grams of crack cocaine in comparison to a minimum sentence of five years for five HUNDRED grams of powder cocaine
- The War on Drugs led to a massive increase in court caseloads and prison population
- By 1989, one in every four African American males between the ages of 20 and 29 was either incarcerated or on probation
- By 1995, it was nearly one in three
Citation
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “War on Drugs.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 23 July 2020, http://www.britannica.com/topic/war-on-drugs.
