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Crack Addiction Research Paper

1332 Words6 Pages

Then, in the 1980s, a smokable form of cocaine was introduced to Americans. It was sold in “28 states and the District of Columbia”. Crack was very accessible to everyone as it was sold for only $1-3 dollars each. The cheapness of crack was another strong incentive for people to buy crack. By 1994, “about 1.4 million Americans” used cocaine, and the number of those who used too much cocaine was 500,000. Kids “as young as 10 years old” smoked cocaine. These kids were way too young to do drugs as they were only 4th graders. Kids were even the drug dealers. Cocaine’s irresistibility as a popular drug that could give kids huge profits had made kids go into an illegal business, thus becoming criminals at a very young age. Cocaine took away a child’s …show more content…

For example, crack increased the risk of contracting STDS. Crack made people engage in “high-risk sexual behaviors”. It makes sense that crack has this effect on people as crack impairs a person’s judgement. Studies showed that the number of HIV infections was 2.4 times higher for smokers than for non-smokers. Once a person has HIVs, it was incurable and sometimes led to death. The use of crack also put users at higher risk for seizures, strokes, and trouble with breathing. Very successful people also suffered from the consequences of using cocaine. “Two popular young athletes” died from taking too much cocaine. One was a basketball player who was just drafted into an NBA team. He had a basketball career ahead of him, possibly a successful one too as he was the 2nd draft pick, yet he threw away his life by succumbing to the attractions of cocaine. Hospitals were not able to do anything for the cocaine abusers. From the moment a person abused cocaine, there was nothing that could be done for the person, showing the foolishness to abuse cocaine in the first place. Not only do smokers harm themselves, they also harm others. Children born to smoking mothers were found to have “low birth weight”, behavioral, and neurological problems. These children would struggle throughout their lives with their problems caused by the smoking of their …show more content…

“From 1982 to 1989”, the percentage of “drug-related murders” out of all types of murders went up “2 to 7.4 percent”. This can be attributed to the introduction of crack into society because crack was introduced during that time frame. One person said that the innocents killed in these were the casualties of fights between drug dealers who are fighting for their spot within the drug industry. The fact that innocent people were caught in the fights of drug dealers would cause people to feel unsafe where they live, scared of being the next victims of drug dealers’ violence. These fights between crack drug dealers would not have occurred had the demand for crack not been so high, thus Americans brought these fights, although unintentionally, on themselves by giving rise to a crack

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In his article, “Toward a Policy on Drugs,” Elliot Currie discusses “the magnitude and severity of our drug crisis” (para. 21), and how “no other country has anything resembling the American drug problem” (para. 21). The best way to describe America’s drug problem is that it is a hole continuously digs itself deeper. America’s drug issues were likely comparable to other country’s at one point in time, but today it can be blamed on the “street cultures” (para. 21) that continue to use and spread the use of illegal drugs. These street cultures transcend the common stereotype of drug users, such as low income communities in cities or welfare recipients, and can be found in every economic class and location. They are groups of people who have

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By the 1980’s, people in America witnessed a massive drug epidemic. The introduction of crack, also known as cocaine, exploded during this time and became a critical issue for the youth. Drug use, abuse and misuse became the problem of the decade as the war on drugs escalated, increasing in nonblack and black communities. Many people blame rap and hip hop music for this epidemic due to rapper’s songs and music videos were highlighting and encouraging the use of drugs. The movies, Straight Outta Compton and New Jack City both demonstrate and bring awareness to the struggles and the reality of drug wars as well as police brutality and unfairness against the black community.

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Drug dealing provided the necessary income for them to be able to survive. Thus, these types of experiences would future alienate them from mainstream society and drive them into the underground economy of crack, the only place where they can go to make money, and regain a certain sense of dignity and

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The crack epidemic in the US was appearent during the Reagan era. The war on drugs began when the CIA decided to bring the drug into the low income communities. This epidemic exploded before anyone really noticed. "Crack was a plague that spread through African American neighborhoods like wildfire" (Bean, 2014). Laws changed so that the powder meant you went to jail for longer even thoough it was a non-violent offense.

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Since crack cocaine was cheaper to purchase and could be sold in small quantities, it was said to be more addicting. Although this theory was found to be false, Congress remained silent about it while the offenders were disproportionately sentenced. What this meant was that 500 grams of powder cocaine carried the same mandatory sentence as 5 grams of crack cocaine which was five years. And although there were White, Latino and African Americans cocaine users, 80 percent of those users sentenced in federal court for crack cocaine offenses were African American (Mauer,

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The use of narcotics like cocaine, claimed many lives and earned widespread coverage by media and news. Following this Nancy Reagan began the “War on Drugs”, a campaign to combat pre-existing drug usage and prevent future

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Essentially, although drugs have been held accountable for gang violence and other acts of violence that have occurred within communities, the illegality of drugs indeed may have aggravated the situation. In addition, it has become evident that one of the primary objectives of the war on drugs, which is to limit supply and demand, has been largely ineffective. CSDP (2007) “ According to the United Nations, profits in illegal drugs are so inflated that three-quarters of all drug shipments would have

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This line explains that due to drug dealing, gangsters are able to afford luxury cars such as convertible Mercedes Benz. This idea of gangsters being able to afford expensive cars due to drug dealing may influence members of the middle-class consumer to deal drugs as well and expect the same result. However, drug dealing can cause violence between others

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During the Ronald Reagan presidential era, there was a large surge of crack cocaine being distributed around South Central Los Angeles. The influx created an exposure to these “affordable” drugs and almost anyone could easily get their hands on them. Crack, in particular, can make a sane person go mad overnight and it did not help that many were mixing the substance with Marijuana. With highly addictive substances flowing through the streets, many younger individuals were exposed by either making a profit with a local gang or consuming the substance.

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