Crack Epidemic Part 2
In Popular Culture
Lots of films, documentaries, TV shows and even video games have mentions of crack. Because the drug was so popular during the 80s and 90s, it was a high profile drug and the cities where its use was prevalent where used as backdrops for a lot of films. A personal favorite of mine is Paid In Full, which follows a young boy named Ace's rise and fall in the crack business, set in Harlem.
International Use
For America, the crack epidemic was cooling down as the late 90s rolled around, but for other countries, the drug was just gaining steam. In 2002, Great Britain experienced its own crack. From 2000 to 2006, there was a 74% increases in seizures of the drug. The majority of European crack users and sellers were concentrated in three major cities, Hamburg, London and Paris. The drug was also very popular throughout the Caribbean.
Effects on Families
Within the communities that were hardest hit by the epidemic, the family unit was struggling. For many users, the drug would take over their entire lives and they would become obsessed with getting their next hit. Rates of domestic violence, babies born out of wedlock, prostitution and child neglect all rose during this period. Even those seeking help had a very hard time doing so and the withdrawal effects were so painful, many chose not too. The drug also takes a terrible toll on the body, users suffer psychological as well as physical effects including; depression, increased heart rate, increased risk of stroke and seizures, severe respiratory issues as well as badly damaged kidneys and livers (the body metabolizes and filters the drug there and it is very harsh on those organs).
Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2565489/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4081881/
https://drugfree.org/drug/cocaine-crack/
Crack cocaine also had a significant impact on America's African American community. In inner city neighborhoods, the rates of drug possession, aggravated assault, manslaughter, murder, and robbery greatly increased. As drug dealers became more competitive, economic disputes quickly turned violate. Things took an exceptional turn for the worst when the Reagan administration began the War on Drugs campaign. They introduced a deterrence legislation using the 100-to-1 ratio between powdered cocaine and crack cocaine as a standard for punishment; this meant that the minimum penalty for the possession of 500 grams powdered cocaine vs. 5 grams of crack cocaine was 5 years. As a result, the United States reached the highest incarceration rate in the world, with 1 in 4 black men between the ages of 20 and 29 incarcerated/on parole/on probation by 1989. By all standards, the United States did not appropriately deal with the crack epidemic, and each year tens of thousands of people die from overdoses.
ReplyDeleteSources:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/crack-epidemic
https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/10/2/16328342/opioid-epidemic-racism-addiction
https://uproxx.com/hiphop/snowfall-1980s-crack-epidemic/