Murphy university of chicago april 2006 we would like to thank jonathan caulkins, john donohue, lawrence katz, glenn loury, derek neal, bruce. Measuring crack cocaine and its impact by roland g. There is far more evidence of cia complicity in speed, heroin and crack cocaine than in the out of control situations of the late 60s hippie and antiwar culture. The us central intelligence agency has itself been the subject of scrutiny, with many conspiracy theories forming around. Comparing that to us sentencing commission data showing 79% of 5,669 sentenced crack offenders were. The very first time that the cia began to get involved in drug dealing was during the vietnam war.
What can we learn from the crack epidemic and when black leadership supported the war on drugs. These conditions were further strained during the 1980s and 1990s by the widespread use of crack cocaine. Others however argued that this is not true and that its some sort of liberal agenda to demonize reagans term. Cia involvement in contra cocaine trafficking wikipedia. He acknowledges theres no proof of cia involvement in. Harvard university society of fellows and nber paul s. The high amount of people in jail is a direct result of the crack epidemic, which was started by the cia. Documenting the ravages of the 1980s crack epidemic al. Back in 1996, gary webb of the san jose mercury news broke a story stating not only that the nicaraguan contras supported by the united states in a rebellion against their leftleaning government were involved in the us crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s, but also that the cia knew and turned a blind eye to the operation. God, if we just had more kids his age asking this question in our schools. Hello reddit, i was doing a little research on the crack epidemic of the 1980s and from what i read the cia introduce crack cocaine to the u. Special reports cocaine, conspiracy theories and the cia. The cia, contras, gangs, and crack institute for policy. Numerous african american families have struggled for generations with persistent poverty, especially in the inner city.
Key figures in ciacrack cocaine scandal begin to come forward. The cia, the drug dealers, and the tragedy of gary webb telegraph. Congress passed laws that created a 100 to 1 sentencing disparity for the possession or. Crack epidemic united states history 1980s britannica. Hearings before the select committee on intelligence of the united states senate, one. The drugs the cia let into the country contributed to the deaths of many africanamericans in the ghetto, these drugs were part of the crack epidemic. In 1996, a bombshell report by journalist gary webb claimed that the central intelligence agency cia supported cocaine trafficking into the u. The crack epidemic in the united states was a surge of crack cocaine use in major cities across. Nicholas writes in the books epilogue, is not to define a national agenda.
Oig analysis of allegations regarding blandons and meneses relationship with the contras and the cia. The charges of cia involvement in contra cocaine trafficking were revived in 1996, when a newspaper series by reporter gary webb in the san jose mercury news claimed that the trafficking had played an important role in the creation of the crack cocaine drug problem in the united states. The effect the crack epidemic started in south central, and spread throughout the us. Based on a yearlong investigation, reporter gary webb wrote that during the 1980s the cia helped finance its covert war against nicaraguas leftist government through sales of cutrate cocaine to south central l. The first article also made other specific allegations of cia knowledge of, or involvement in, the drug rings activities. Epidemics are always a great time to remind america that racism still exists. The crack epidemic had particularly devastating effects. Ciacontracrack cocaine controversy table of contents.
The first article in the newspaper said that cocaine was virtually. Levine found analyzing the reaction to crack in the 1980s, sensationalist reporting can lead to troubling responses. A powerful series by investigative reporter gary webb of the san jose mercury news says the answer may be yesand the charge. Cia played a role in promoting crack, ceppos and webb have said that. The cia, contras, gangs, and crack institute for policy studies. The drug dealers first distributed the drugs among gangs, and then to individual smaller drug dealers. Decadesold cia crackcocaine scandal gains new momentum. The allegations were made by a californiabased newspaper in 1996.
The crack epidemic in the united states was a surge of crack cocaine use in major cities across the united states between the early 1980s and the early 1990s. The united states justice department has issued a report clearing the central intelligence agency of any role in introducing crackcocaine into americas inner cities in the 1980s. What did the cia have to gain by being involved with the crack epidemic in the 80s. The crack epidemic the history of crack cocaine drug. On august 18, 1996, the san jose mercury news published the first installment of a threepart series of articles concerning crack cocaine, the central intelligence agency cia, and the nicaraguan contra army.
Allegations of a cia connection to crack cocaine epidemic. Typically, crack is sold in small plastic vials containing. His book cocaine true, cocaine blue documents the brutal realities facing communities affected by the drug. On august 18, 1996, the san jose mercury news published the first installment of a threepart series of articles concerning crack cocaine, the central intelligence agency cia, and the nicaraguan contra. The ghastly disease aids burst upon the scene in the early 1980s. When we started having women to put their own children out for prostitution to get crack, well, i knew it was all over, ms. When there was a general pao, who was the general in laos, who was the kingpin drug dealer in southeast asia, the cia became partners with him. Amongst webbs fundamental problems was his implication that the cia lit the crack cocaine fuse. Did the cia play a role in launching the crackcocaine epidemic. Excerpt from allegations of a cia connection to crack cocaine epidemic. For many, crack use became an obsession, dominated their lives, and. The severelydistressed african american family in the.
The first effects of the epidemic started in the early 1980s, but the dea officially classifies the time of the. As policymakers seek solutions for the ongoing epidemic of opioid overdoses, horror stories about the effects of the drugs fuel calls for more punitive law enforcement, as well as better treatment options. The hip hop generations poorest started peddling a kind of rockhard cocaine, that many. By 1985, cocainerelated hospital emergencies rose by 12 percent, from. The full story of the 1980s crack epidemic is still yet to be told. Later in the same region, while the cia was sponsoring a secret war in laos from 1961 to 1975, it was openly accused of trafficking heroin in the area then known as the. As crack and dope became parts of our neighborhoods, they started to have an impression on our culture through music and television. This led to the us having the highest incarceration rate in the world. Cia crack i shall discuss the effects of the crack cocaine epidemic of the mid. Webbs series led to three federal investigations, none of which found evidence of any conspiracy by the cia or its employees to bring drugs into the united states.
While the use of coca leaves as an intoxicant dates back three thousand years, crack cocaine, a crystallized form of cocaine, was developed during the cocaine boom of the 1970s and its use spread in the mid1980s. The drug was made from powder cocaine, it was safer to make than freebase cocaine. Crack epidemic, the significant increase in the use of crack cocaine, or crack, in the united states during the early 1980s. However, the crack cocaine had a particularly devastating impact. The dark alliance series recounted how ross began peddling small quantities. During the korean war, the first allegations of cia drug trafficking surfaced after 1949, stemming from a deal whereby arms were supplied to chiang kaisheks defeated generals in exchange for intelligence. Crack cocainea crystallized form of the drugbecame popular in the 1980s. Why americans dont trust the cia the saturday evening post. The cia planned a covert invasion of china, and organized several thousand troops led by general li mi, who were joined by a further 8,000 recruits from the indigenous hill tribes in burma and 1,000 crack kmt troops shipped in by the agency from taiwan. Crack cocaine was popularized because of its affordability, its immediate euphoric effect, and its high profitability. What the cia could not control they obviously tried to destroy, and s.
A panel discussion on the mercury newws series drew an overflow crowd at the washington convention center on sept. Crack was an innercity drug, a streetcorner drug, a drug of gangs and guns that white america largely experienced from a distance. What can we learn from the crack epidemic and when black. Dark alliance how the cia created the crack epidemic in. Renowned documentary photographer eugene richards bore witness to the ravages of the crack epidemic that gripped the northeast in the 1980s. The epidemic was driven, so they say, by a combination of factors that began appearing across the country.
Dark alliance how the cia created the crack epidemic in the 1980s earlier one of our younger duers asked why reagan was so bad. First of all, they started giving him planes to be able to export his heroin around southeast asia. All the time that this crack epidemic was being unleashed by the contras, vice president bush was the man in charge of the reagan administrations central america program, overseeing all of the activities of the cia, the pentagon, and every other government intelligence agency. There were drug epidemics in the unites states well before the 1980s, but it was then that the combination of cheap street prices and the conversion of cocaine to the smokable crack powder created a public crisis that saw unprecedented government spending and helped launch the war on drugs. South central already had existing drug markets that were virtually ignored by greater society. In 1996, journalist gary webb began looking into links between. The cia was new fx series focuses on crack epidemics toll on community. Distrust of the cias methods and motives is almost as old as the cia itself. The true story of the 1980s crack epidemic is still untold. Crack has destroyed families and, in many ways, destroyed communities, which still suffer the effects of crime, druguse, and incarceration. Fallout from the crack epidemic included a huge surge in addiction, homelessness, murder, theft, robbery, gang warfare, and longterm imprisonment. In 1967, thomas braden, a former cia man, defended the intelligence agencys cold war tactics in the post, though his argument was ultimately undermined by the truths he left out.
A commonheld belief was that the cia flooded the black community with crack so that we could do each other in. What did the cia have to gain by being involved with. This came at the price of webbs career and ultimately his life. Key figures in ciacrack cocaine scandal begin to come. How the cia created americas heroin and cocaine epidemics. Measuring crack cocaine and its impact harvard university. This resulted in a number of social consequences, such as increasing crime and violence in american inner city neighborhoods, as well as a resulting backlash in the form of tough on crime policies. The crack epidemic refers to the surge of crack houses and crack cocaine use in major cities in the united states between 1984 and 1990. Rereading the story of the crack epidemic jstor daily. Crack is offwhite in color and resembles hard shavings similar to slivers of soap or chips of cracked paint. Did the cia really introduce cocainecrack to the u.
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