Crack Cocaine vs. Detroit...

[dookie joe]

What typically happens to crackheads? I know of a few families that were broken apart when the dad started in on crack. Its been years and its like they fell off the edge of the earth or something? Do they die of starvation or move to Florida, or ...?

If you are addicted to crack, do you usually end up dead or in prison?

What happened to all the zombies?

Since 1980, the US prison population has quadrupled. Since 1990 it's more than doubled. Many of these are dope cases. So that's where a lot of them end up.

But there are plenty of "zombies" still out there. I can't imagine the life span of a crack addict is too long, though. Many of them probably die curled up in an abandoned building somewhere.

My best friend became a terrible heroin junkie and we lost contact. The last time I saw him was around 2003 or so, and I was embarrassed for him. He'd lost all his teeth, and had a huge scar on his face where someone had jumped him on the street.

I saw his mom last summer, and she told me he died sitting in a wheelchair on Woodward and Willis. It's sad but inevitable. This was a really smart, good-looking guy, too. I stopped hanging out with him in our early 20s, because even by then he was too far gone on that shit, and I wanted no part of it.

[Russix]

Atleast the Contras and their buddy [[Reagan) will always be thankful for the all the money Detroit ponied up. The crack explosion was the result of three factors: extremely depressing economic conditions in early eighties Detroit; comparatively cheap prices due to subsidization; highly addictive nature of crack. Many people who lived in Detroit from the 1960s through 1980s claim that it really didn’t get that bad until the early 1980s.

[MichMatters]

I agree with whoever said that the crack epidemic finished off whatever tiny chance that Detroit still had to stabilize during the 80's. 80's Detroit, particularly the late 80's/early 90's in these neighborhoods is so much worse than what a lot of folks have to deal with, today, even though things are still very bad.

At the very beginning of the 80's, Detroit's homicide rate had plummeted to 35 homicides per 100,000 residents, from high of over 50 per 100,000 in the early 70's. By the time Reagan was leaving office, the rate had went from about 35 to 65 homicides per 100,000 citizens. For as bad as we've had it since then, the rate still averages "only" 40-45, which still ranks Detroit regularly among the highest rate of large cities, but gobs better than the late 80's and early 90's. That was a horrible, horrible time in Detroit's modern history.

[lilpup]

I know for a fact that's not true, because I have friends who tried it a few times and never did it again.

I don't think crack is any worse than heroin as far as addiction goes. [[And, yes, I know people who also tried that only a few times). The difference is in the buzz.

The brain chemistry and neurological changes resulting from coke, crack, and meth use are well documented. Whether one can stop after a single use is not predictable nor worth the risk of trying. Coke and meth kill. Within an hour of use the risk of a heart attack increases 24 fold. The compulsive craving is due to changes in the brain's risk/reward chemical processing system. The body tries to adjust to the drug, resulting in abnormal chemical conditions that persist even after the drug wears off.

Heroin does not induce the same brain chemistry changes and does not kill at anywhere near the same rate. The drug seeking of heroin addicts is to avoid a nasty but non-lethal withdrawal syndrome, not to get the high in order to function like coke users do. While it's possible to od on heroin it's often other issues that kill [[cutting agents, contaminants, general accidents while under the influence, opportunistic diseases like hepatitis or HIV).

[KOMPOST]

Riots and a bottomed-out auto industry are absolutely devastating to a city.
But, nothing compared to freeways and crack cocaine.

[56packman]

Ronald Regan should have sent the Marines into every large American city,
put two soldiers on every block, and had daily crackhouse raids, a platton at every house, as fast as they cropped up. Arrest young suburban punks coming into the city for crack. But others said it best, no one saw it coming, or knew how to react.

[Blarf]

Anyone who voluntarily does crack, after seeing what it has done to others, does not deserve five seconds of sympathy.

The same goes for alcohol, which is just as destructive, if not more, than any "hard drug".

[313WX]

Ronald Regan should have sent the Marines into every large American city,
put two soldiers on every block, and had daily crackhouse raids, a platton at every house, as fast as they cropped up. Arrest young suburban punks coming into the city for crack. But others said it best, no one saw it coming, or knew how to react.

You do realize you're talking about Ronald "Anti-Government" Reagan, yes?

[Patrick]

There is a video out there of Reagan in Queens or the Bronx during his first run for president and the people just verbally beat his ass. One lady asked "well, what are YOU going to do about this?" and Reagan was pissed she even asked the question. He said that the are looked like London after the Blitz. He reallly had no clue and wasn't even prepared for the crack issues in urban areas.

[terryh]

Crack cocaine addicts need accessible and long term treatment....a hit of crack is an extremely euphoric rush that is intense and brief .....the crack addict loses self respect and dignity and shows a blatant disregard for the well being and personal property of community members, it....I wonder how many lung diseases can be attributed to crack cocaine and also the adverse effect it has on the psychological well being of a community where there are zombified and hyped crack addicts lurking about....

[Jimaz]

Ronald Regan should have sent the Marines into every large American city, put two soldiers on every block, and had daily crackhouse raids,...

Except that would have undermined the very means of funding his "freedom fighters" in Nicaragua.

[Lombaowski]

Riots and a bottomed-out auto industry are absolutely devastating to a city.
But, nothing compared to freeways and crack cocaine.

This is what I tell people who aren't from Detroit that ask me what happened to the city. My family left in 1986 because even a good west-side neighborhood like Franklin Park that escaped all the bad stuff that happened prior to crack, was overrun with fear and crime in the 80s. We went from never having any break-ins on my street to two or three a week, and anything that wasn't nailed down was gone every morning. It's no way to live, and the last of the middle class tax base just couldn't take it anymore.

People joke that "crack kills." Well it kills more than the users, it kills the family, neighborhoods, and it was the final bullet in Detroit's abdomen IMO.

[Stosh]

It's all about what the government will tolerate. And they tolerated the crime and drug activity. I can't for the life of me say why that happened. Probably something to do with a knee jeck reaction to the opressive [[to some) tactics of the DPD, but once the legs were cut out from the department, all bets were off, I guess.

[redfordman]

A very depressing thread to say the least!

[Zacha341]

LOL! For a second or two I did not get it!!

The most destructive dopes are those found at the north corner of Woodward and Jefferson.

[Zacha341]

I heard dat... of all the challenges one can have in their young or adult life, dope usually makes it much worse. So I say NO to dope... Yes to FOOD however !

A very depressing thread to say the least!

[Fury13]

I know for a fact that's not true, because I have friends who tried it a few times and never did it again.

Same here, I knew people who tried it once or twice and then never again. They were lucky. Must be something having to do with individual body chemistry and response to addictive substances.

[Hermod]

Ronald Regan should have sent the Marines into every large American city,
put two soldiers on every block, and had daily crackhouse raids, a platton at every house, as fast as they cropped up. Arrest young suburban punks coming into the city for crack. But others said it best, no one saw it coming, or knew how to react.

Just a little problem called the Posse Commitatus Act which forbids use of Federal troops for law enforcement.

[Hermod]

Powder Cocaine is God's way of telling you that you make too much money.

[Hornwrecker]

Just a little problem called the Posse Commitatus Act which forbids use of Federal troops for law enforcement.

You're mostly correct; the act prohibits the Army, thus the USAF and the NG under federal orders, and doesn't mention the Navy Dept branches. It is a DOD directive that applies it to the Navy and USMC, which was done relatively recently, in1986, I think.

[Hermod]

You're mostly correct; the act prohibits the Army, thus the USAF and the NG under federal orders, and doesn't mention the Navy Dept branches. It is a DOD directive that applies it to the Navy and USMC, which was done relatively recently, in1986, I think.

When the act was passed back in the latter half of the 19th century, the Navy consisted of just ships and the Marine Corps was a miniscule part of the Navy.

The Democratic controlled Congress was trying to keep Republican presidents from using the Army to enforce the reconstruction laws in the south.

[Hornwrecker]

I think they just want to keep an option open, since all it takes is a stroke of a pen for SecDef to rescind that directive. There have been numerous other laws since then that spell out things, but most still leave an opening and are rather confusing to figure out what applies where.

What I forgot in my first post, that was on topic, was that the USMC was on active patrols on the southern border during the 1980s-90s doing drug interdiction. If I remember they stopped doing that around a dozen years ago after mistakenly shooting a child. There were a few incidences of them exchanging fire with drug smugglers across the border.

[Hermod]

I think they just want to keep an option open, since all it takes is a stroke of a pen for SecDef to rescind that directive. There have been numerous other laws since then that spell out things, but most still leave an opening and are rather confusing to figure out what applies where.

What I forgot in my first post, that was on topic, was that the USMC was on active patrols on the southern border during the 1980s-90s doing drug interdiction. If I remember they stopped doing that around a dozen years ago after mistakenly shooting a child. There were a few incidences of them exchanging fire with drug smugglers across the border.

They can do recon, they can operate detection devices. They cannot make arrests.

If the president declares "martial law" in an area, then he can send in troops to put down a riot, "detain" individuals, and otherwise get the attention of the local populace.

[313hero]

Glad someone finally mentioned this. Crack is the worse thing to EVER happen to Detroit. Regardless if you use it or not you are affected by it in many different ways. I have friends I've grown up with that had crack head parents and its a terrible situation. Out of everybody I know that had crack head parents only one of them is doing OK. And by OK I mean not in jail or dead. My generation have alot of crack babies and they wreak havoc on schools, neighborhoods etc. The other side is the dealers. They open up shop everywhere and will kill and sell to anyone. The Detroit of today is a direct example of what Crack does to a community. The plants left cause many of the workers were drug addicts, and many of the factories became big ass dope houses. The Big 3 bought a whole lot of crack and heroin over the years. Maybee thats why they left. well at least one reason. The quality of product they were producing dropped because they had a bunch of crack heads assembling their cars.

[Django]

Hard drugs are addictive no brainer. When we try and regulate what ppl use or ingest by way of threatning prison is where it really gets fucked up. More people die OVER drugs than BY drugs. Look at Mexico ant the cartels. This week 35 headless bodies were found on a highway as a warning from cartel to another. We have it easy here in the states if you ask me. Now we are so imbedded in the war that theres big money in privatized prisons which is like modern day slavery. Storing humans for profit is just sick and wrong. California tried the hardest to wipe out drugs with its three strikes laws and now their just broke and have more prisoners than any other state by far.
The war on drugs is the longest war America has ever had and the biggest failure. Instead of putting these addicts in prison they should be given treatment. Drugs being illegal has just driven the price of drugs way up creating things like the decline of Detroit.
Let me give you an example of what kind of profit can be made off of heroin for example. In the Golden Triangle of Asia a gram of pure heroin goes for about $10. Here on the streets of Detroit that same gram will fetch $1000. Do the math and then tell me your going to stop the supply and demand of drugs by threatening prison time.
The drug war is a complete failure.