A comprehensive examination of the 100-to-1 crack versus powder cocaine sentencing disparity under which distribution of just 5 grams of crack carries a minimum 5-year federal prisonsentence, while distribution of 500 grams of powder cocaine carries the same 5-year mandatory minimum sentence.
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Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion is a 1998 book by journalist Gary Webb. The book is based on "Dark Alliance", Webb's three-part investigative series published in the San Jose Mercury News in August 1996. The original series claimed that, in order to help raise funds for efforts against the Nicaraguan Sandinista government, the CIA supported cocaine trafficking into the US by top members of Nicaraguan Contra Rebel organizations and allowed the subsequent crack epidemic to spread in Los Angeles. The book expands on the series and recounts media reaction to Webb's original newspaper exposé.
Blandon, a cocaine smuggler who founded an FDN chapter in Los Angeles, was a major supplier for Freeway Ricky Ross. With access to cheap, pure cocaine and the idea to cook the cocaine into crack, Ross established a major drug network and fueled the popularity of crack. By 1983, Ross was purchasing 10 to 15 kilos of cocaine a week from CIA-backed Contra supporter Blandon - according to Blandon.[3] All the while, Webb alleges, the CIA was supporting the Contras supplying him with the cocaine. Meanwhile, the US Justice Department and its agencies - who were aware of the Contra-linked drug trafficking operations of the FDN supporters - derailed local police investigations and blocked the prosecution of the Contra-linked cocaine traffickers.[4]
Typically, crack cocaine has a very \u201cchemical\u201d smell when it is burned or freebased.\n"}Although it is distinctive, people who are unfamiliar with most intoxicating drugs do not know the difference between the smell of crack cocaine and the smell of a meth lab. Either can be dangerous, so it is important to report suspected labs and chemical-like smells to 911 immediately.
\nThe drug is solid, so it is typically smoked or freebased, a process in which the drug is liquefied, and the vapor is inhaled as it melts.\nBy changing cocaine into crack cocaine, the drug can be melted at a lower temperature. Inhaling vapor or smoke from crack cocaine allows the person to absorb cocaine more rapidly into the bloodstream through the lungs. This process causes a faster high than snorting cocaine. Powdered cocaine will typically not burn or melt at lower temperatures.\n\n"}"props":"type":"value-prop","children":nullWhat Are the Symptoms of Crack Cocaine Intoxication?When a person is struggling with crack cocaine addiction, they may appear intoxicated, to varying degrees, on a regular basis. Signs of crack cocaine intoxication include:
All defendants are charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute 280 grams and more of crack cocaine, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.
However, there is a difference in the way that the drugs are taken. Powder cocaine is snorted, injected or swallowed, while crack cocaine is smoked. Thus crack cocaine tends to be cheaper, faster acting, and the high lasts for a shorter period of time, compared to inhaling powder cocaine. How quickly the effects are felt differs based on how it is taken, as do the ways in which the associated harms can be reduced.
Despite the fact that the chemical structure of powder cocaine and crack cocaine is nearly identical, the punishment for crack possession or sales is far greater than that of cocaine. Until 2010, this sentencing disparity was 100 to 1, which means that while just 5 grams of crack would carry a 5-year mandatory minimum, it would take 500 grams of cocaine to trigger the same 5-year sentence. While the law was changed in 2010, there continues to be a disparity of 18 to 1.
This sentencing disparity has had a disproportionate impact on poor people and people of color. Statistics show that Black people are more likely to be convicted of crack cocaine offenses (even though the majority of crack cocaine users are white) and white people are more likely to be convicted of powder cocaine offenses. This means that Black people continue to receive far harsher drug sentences than white people even though powder and crack cocaine are nearly identical substances.
A series of expose articles in the San Jose Mercury-News by reporterGary Webb told tales of a drug triangle during the 1980s that linked CIAofficials in Central America, a San Francisco drug ring and a Los Angeles drugdealer. According to the stories, the CIA and its operatives used crackcocaine--sold via the Los Angeles African-American community--to raise millionsto support the agency's clandestine operations in Central America.
Amongst Webb's fundamental problems was his implication that the CIA lit thecrack cocaine fuse. It was conspiracy theory: a neat presentation of realitythat simply didn't jibe with real life. Webb later agreed in an interview thatthere is no hard evidence that the CIA as an institution or any of itsagent-employees carried out or profited from drug trafficking.
The IG's report cleared the CIA of complicity with the inner-city crackcocaine trade. It refuted charges that CIA officials knew that theirNicaraguan allies were dealing drugs. But, the report said that the CIA,in a number of cases, didn't bother to look into allegations about narcoticsAnd the Hitz report describes how there was little or no direction for CIAoperatives when confronted by the rampant traffic in drugs in Central Americanduring the 1980s.
The results of abusing crack cocaine are so severe that only the most powerful addiction would keep a person using this drug. Crack cocaine is a strong stimulant that energizes the entire central nervous system and places damaging stresses on the heart, lungs and brain. It is also very often associated with a dramatic deterioration of the quality of life.
A person abusing crack cocaine may leave behind tiny plastic bags with small off-white rocks of crack, or just a little residue of the drugs that were stored in the bag. There may be crack pipes around made of metal or glass. A person who has been smoking crack often has burned fingers or lips from holding onto the pipe while it heats up.
Crack cocaine effects do not last as long as powder cocaine, meaning that the user will need to disappear for another dose in as short a time as 10 to 15 minutes. A crack user is therefore always in need of more of the drug. This is one of the reasons that many crack users resort to crime. They have no other way to keep up with this constant need for crack. Women may turn to prostitution and men may turn to theft.
Of course, one of the major effects of crack cocaine is rapid development of addiction. Cocaine causes the strongest mental dependency of any drug. This dependency can occur within just days of starting to use crack cocaine.
Binge use of crack cocaine can result in a psychotic, over-stimulated state accompanied by paranoia and compulsive behavior. At the end of the binge, the person will normally crash, suffering exhaustion, agitation, depression and intense cravings.
While a driver who has used crack cocaine may feel invincible, he is likely to lose his concentration while driving, increasing his risk for accidents. He may also suffer attacks of paranoia, hallucinations or mood swings while driving. Lack of concentration may result in a loss of control of the vehicle. Of 253 fatally injured drivers in Michigan in a two-year period, ten percent were found to have cocaine or residues of cocaine use in their blood.
Cocaine users in the workplace often begin to deal drugs in the workplace or commit theft. Work performance normally suffers greatly because nothing is as interesting or exciting as using the drug. Employees who use crack cocaine normally miss work and deadlines.
A person may experience an overdose after swallowing their supply of crack cocaine to avoid arrest. The ingestion of crack cocaine can result in serious intoxication and may require hospitalization. It may be fatal.
Even a person addicted to crack cocaine has the opportunity to get free of it through the Narconon drug rehabilitation program. A key phase of the rehabilitation is the Narconon New Life Detoxification, a sauna-based program that also utilizes moderate daily exercise and a precise regimen of nutritional supplements to flush out old drug toxins. All drug or alcohol abuse leaves residues behind that lodge in fatty tissues and can trigger cravings. But after this phase of recovery, those finishing talk about a brighter viewpoint increased energy and lower cravings.
Figure 1: Use of any drug has not changed in the last yearProportion of adults aged 16 to 59 years and 16 to 24 years reporting use of any drug in the last year and the last month, England and Wales, year ending December 1995 to year ending March 2020 Source: Office for National Statistics - Crime Survey for England and Wales Notes:Any drug comprises powder cocaine, crack cocaine, ecstasy, LSD, magic mushrooms, heroin, methadone, amphetamines, cannabis, tranquillisers, anabolic steroids and any other pills, powders or drugs plus ketamine since year ending March 2007, methamphetamine since year ending March 2009 and mephedrone since year ending March 2011 for use in the last year and year ending March 2015 for use in the last month. Glues are included until year ending March 2010, when this drug type was last measured by the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
Questions on drug use in the last month were not asked in the year ending March 2013 and 2014. These questions were reintroduced for the year ending March 2015.
Download this chart Figure 1: Use of any drug has not changed in the last yearImage.csv.xls 2ff7e9595c
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