Cocaine Cowboys - &quot;Crackademic&quot; most destructive drug, many deaths in use and trafficking and proposed solution to stop usage. Especially in 1980's Peak of cocaine was in 1980's and is historical point when it reaches popularity. This is due to the conscious decision of people to become involved in the cocaine trade Crack cocaine doesn't make a scene until late 80's. Crack - cocaine where base has been removed, baked with baking soda Explaining Crack Epidemic Crack as a drug problem (Golub and Johnson) What changes are occurring within drug using populations that leads to crack epidemic? Main point of article-&gt; there were drug using precedents Siegel: did massive study of cocaine users and addictiveness of cocaine. Uses monkeys--&gt; will use cocaine whether they get the treat or not. Mammals avert smoke. People are smoking cocaine which has been around since the beginning. Cocaine cigarettes. At this point in time cocaine was free and available. You didn't get the intensity of cocaine from smoking it so they removed the hydrochloride and it becomes free base Seigel notices that a user in peru learned the technique of making free base and knowledge slowly diffused through network. Very specialized practice. So for very rich people (entertainment industry) and drug industry. Drug free-basers would rent themselves out to cocaine parties and make the cocaine for people. Then there were kits for free basing. About 300,000. In 1981, historians note there was an underground publication spreading knowledge of crack cocaine (1st recipe of crack cocaine. First in Carribbean and bahamas in 70's etc) -&gt; Baking soda method Very little knowledge on crack cocaine until there was the accident with Richard Pryor who was free-basing and caught his face on fire and major burns almost killing him. Then the public started hearing about crack Golub and Johnson received permission to study crack and it's epidemic. Argued that drug trends in general go through these distinct phases. It is like a virus and makes it's way through the body Incubation Phase (1978 - 1982): Cocaine coming in from Colombia. Price dropped so more people could afford it. Experiments in CarribBean. Then recipes come out and more people are smoking it Expansion Phase (1982 - 1986): crack and free-basing begins and it is more accessible to the rich because it is very expensive. Sometimes used microwave ovens - led to mass production because its safer and easier. People think that we could create large quantities in advance and put it in viles and sell it and make a fortune. Happens on coast - West Coast and NY and then it migrates to rest of the country Plateau Phase (1987 - 1990): people prefer to use crack cocaine. Epidemic starts with older, experienced users. Limited number of people willing to try the drug and put their body through it. Only a certain amount of people will do it Decline Phase (1990's): kids are not seeing crack as a glamorous thing, they see the destruction of it. Terms like &quot;crack baby, crack head). People are still using it but by 1990's after the graphic evidence and police reports, fewer people testing positive in major cities where it started. But in small towns (ex. Milwaukee). Crack as a policy problem (Michael Massing): Wrote The Fix Question: What did politicians do in the 70's and 80's to start the crack epidemic and what could we, as a nation, do to prevent it 1970's heroin epidemic - 1990's heroin resurgence. GI's were coming back from Vietnam addicted Reagan initiates war on drug with wife. Main cause. Dismantled of the Jaffe model. Increased anti-<a href="/keyword/drug-education/" >drug education</a> . All of the money that were going to Jeffe's plan went to this. Had a smart drug policy. This is responsible for the drastic drop in heroin usage. William Bennett: Czar during Reagan's term. Dismantle of Jeffe model. Increased anti-<a href="/keyword/drug-education/" >drug education</a> . Nancy Reagan started all the D.A.R.E. Programs and were devoted to keeping middle-class kids to stop smoking pot. This shows that the country is incapable of dealing with the cocaine epidemic. Carter: Wrath of Parent's Movement: thought weed should be legalized and cocaine wasn't that big of a deal. Liberal policy Drug Czar: Peter Bourne. Was caught writing a script that he had no business writing for valium and recreational use. Very lax attitude towards weed and cocaine. Leaning to &quot;soft drugs&quot; (marijuana and cocaine). Ignored DuPont and then got caught at a party sponsored by pro-marijuana company. Massive scandal. Model of Jeffe is focused on heavy drug users, not pot-smoking teens. Robert DuPont saw marijuana as gateway to more severe drugs. Helped create organization called families in action. Devoted to stopping teen drug use, focusing on marijuana. (Frontline did good series on this) <a href="/keyword/richard-nixon/" >richard nixon</a> was first to declare war on drugs: methodane maintenance treatment on demand -&gt; programs used to wean people off heroin founded by Jerome Jeffe. Appointed a medical man that will go around and help solve it. Nixon had good policy. Gave money to police, undercover etc. 1st to acknowledge the problem. Jerome Jaffe - 1st drug czar. Set up detox centers for men coming back from Vietnam, no questions asked, just helped them not ruin their military career. Helped a lot. Worked because it was a no-questions asked basis Crack as a social problem (Philippe Bourgois): asks why did the crack epidemic hit East Harlem? Why didn't it devastate Johnson County? Why did it hit so hard and have such devastating effects? Answer: lack of social capital and economic organization. Acutely affected by social body and differences in wealth Same bit of real estate for crack houses were the site of previous illegal places (shooting ranges, etc) In Search of Respect: Ray has more social capital in El Barrio. He is more accepting of Phillipe and has more resources and more respect, he buys Phillippe Heineken. With the newspaper incident, it is shown that Phillippe has more cultural capital than Ray and Ray gets pissed because he is illiterate and Phillppe is better at him than something even though he has two very successful illegal businesses. The FIRE sector: look at pages 152-153 (Primo &amp; Gloria), 160-161, 145-146, 158159 Objectivist studies of crime and delinquency - origin of sociology (1st case study) Crack epidemic Differential Association Theory Rational Choice Theory Constructionist (or constructivist) studies of crime (2nd case study). Crack panic, satanic ritual abuse panic Moral Panic Theory Framing Theory Labeling Theory OrgTheory (sociology blog): The Wire offers a distinct vision of the social problems facing contemporary society. David Simon, its creator, could have been an organizational sociologist, as he is clearly primed to see the problems arising not from individual attributes but from organizational and structural conditions. In the movie, the kids are in a diversion program in Baltimore public school system. They don't have enough cultural capital to know how to behave in a fancy restaurant. It shows the inequality between the street kids and the people in the fancy restaurants with their coats and ties. This makes selling heroin more attractive because they don't need cultural capital to do that on the streets.