The American Cocaine Era, from the Early 1980s to early 1990s, is viewed from many as a thing of the past but the very effects that it has had on society and cities such as Los Angeles has withstood the test of time. Los Angeles felt the blow from crack cocaine early on as 1980s as it was a new way for addicts to get their “kicks.” In fact by 1982, “Los Angeles hospital emergency rooms reported the nation's greatest increase in cocaine overdoses,” which now established Los Angeles as a city that was hardest hit, the most early of all American cities from the crack epidemic (Witkin, 46). This researched fact in addition with another stating that “cocaine-dependent individuals reliably display[ed] higher impulsivity ratings” than individuals
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In fact during 1986, “Reagan issued the National Security Decision Directive 221, which designated narcotics a national security threat” and to deal with this “threat” he budgeted 1.7 billion dollars to control this cocaine epidemic (Marcy, 87). Reagan adamantly believed that the only way to gain results and end the cocaine influx, not just in Los Angeles, but throughout America was to deal with the problem head on. Nonetheless, the measly 1.7 billion dollars paled in comparison to the “17.9 billion dollars in FY in 2000” to “18.8 billion dollars in FY 2002” United States used for the Federal Drug Control Budget (United States Department of Justice, 9). And this amount continually increases to this day as the government utilizes as much money as they can to eradicate drug trafficking (which crack and powdered cocaine are 37.2% of since the year of 2013). But the increase of the amount spent on cocaine shows how the country’s mindset changed for the drug: from the thought that the drug would be quickly dealt with to one that knows it will take a lot of time and potentially money. Regardless, of the strides Nixon and Reagan made in attempting to bring an end to drug trafficking in the United States, many in the United States still viewed it as a political stint that was meant only to …show more content…
In fact, most cocaine addicts have suffered “hallucinations and paranoid thoughts [which] are consistent with a condition known as cocaine psychosis” (Skirboll, 97). And the many effects received from cocaine for a short-lived high are plainly too numerous. And just as it was in the early 1980s, with being the first city hit hardest from cocaine, “use of any illicit drug use . . . appears to be most prevalent in Los Angeles (8.5%)” (Hughes, 1482). Los Angeles, and irrelevantly Denver, has suffered the most drug use ranging from crack and powdered cocaine to methamphetamine. In the late 1970s to early 1980s, cocaine was seen by many as a status drug for the wealthy (U.S. Department of Justice). But it did not hinder only whites but also minorities and their neighborhoods as it seemed ,to the public eye, as if only predominantly black communities of Los Angeles was plagued with cocaine (regardless of it being a upper-class drug). Crack Cocaine demonized blacks and other minorities as it seemed as only the minorities were being punished for the use and trafficking of crack cocaine. Although it seemed as if only adults were affected by cocaine, young children were affected just as much. Cocaine-exposed babies sometimes were born with “. . . deformed hearts, lungs, digestive systems, or limbs—attributed to cocaine exposure in the uterus” (Rist, 30).
In fact during 1986, “Reagan issued the National Security Decision Directive 221, which designated narcotics a national security threat” and to deal with this “threat” he budgeted 1.7 billion dollars to control this cocaine epidemic (Marcy, 87). Reagan adamantly believed that the only way to gain results and end the cocaine influx, not just in Los Angeles, but throughout America was to deal with the problem head on. Nonetheless, the measly 1.7 billion dollars paled in comparison to the “17.9 billion dollars in FY in 2000” to “18.8 billion dollars in FY 2002” United States used for the Federal Drug Control Budget (United States Department of Justice, 9). And this amount continually increases to this day as the government utilizes as much money as they can to eradicate drug trafficking (which crack and powdered cocaine are 37.2% of since the year of 2013). But the increase of the amount spent on cocaine shows how the country’s mindset changed for the drug: from the thought that the drug would be quickly dealt with to one that knows it will take a lot of time and potentially money. Regardless, of the strides Nixon and Reagan made in attempting to bring an end to drug trafficking in the United States, many in the United States still viewed it as a political stint that was meant only to …show more content…
In fact, most cocaine addicts have suffered “hallucinations and paranoid thoughts [which] are consistent with a condition known as cocaine psychosis” (Skirboll, 97). And the many effects received from cocaine for a short-lived high are plainly too numerous. And just as it was in the early 1980s, with being the first city hit hardest from cocaine, “use of any illicit drug use . . . appears to be most prevalent in Los Angeles (8.5%)” (Hughes, 1482). Los Angeles, and irrelevantly Denver, has suffered the most drug use ranging from crack and powdered cocaine to methamphetamine. In the late 1970s to early 1980s, cocaine was seen by many as a status drug for the wealthy (U.S. Department of Justice). But it did not hinder only whites but also minorities and their neighborhoods as it seemed ,to the public eye, as if only predominantly black communities of Los Angeles was plagued with cocaine (regardless of it being a upper-class drug). Crack Cocaine demonized blacks and other minorities as it seemed as only the minorities were being punished for the use and trafficking of crack cocaine. Although it seemed as if only adults were affected by cocaine, young children were affected just as much. Cocaine-exposed babies sometimes were born with “. . . deformed hearts, lungs, digestive systems, or limbs—attributed to cocaine exposure in the uterus” (Rist, 30).