Crack cocaine use in the United States has reached epidemic proportions. The powerful effects of the drug and its widespread accessibility on the streets of urban communities have made its eradication almost impossible. Crack cocaine is highly addictive, and users require a steady supply. Consequently, crack cocaine has been implicated in rising crime rates and an increase in underground drug-dealing activity. Crack cocaine's attraction to women of child-bearing age has spawned a crisis in the nation's social welfare systems, the long-term effects of which have yet to be realized. Crack cocaine has infiltrated every segment of American society--urban, suburban, and rural--and it has taken less than a decade to do so.
The United States is in the midst of the second major drug epidemic of its history. The current epidemic began about 1965 and continues to the present; the first epidemic lasted from about 1885 to 1915. In both, cocaine use was at first considered to be relatively harmless. During the late 19th century, drugs such as cocaine, morphine, and heroin were unregulated and readily available to the public in the form of patent medicines. Drug use per capita reached its peak in the United States during this period (DHHS, 1991, p. 3). Widespread abuse of cocaine and other drugs led to restrictions of their use by the beginning of the 20th century. Increasing public concern resulted in the Prohibition era, in which alcohol and cocaine were singled out for control.
Despite the public's softened stance on alcohol reflected by the repeal of national prohibition in 1933, America society maintained its antidrug sentiments until 1965, when a revolution in hallucinogenic drugs occurred. During the 1970s, the federal government focused its drug enforcement policy on heroin addiction. Heroin was considered a "hard" drug, whereas cocaine and marijuana were categorized as "soft" drugs. Drug abuse experts' permissive att...