Crack Cocaine

During the 1970s, a crystallized form of cocaine, known as crack cocaine, was developed. It was created in response to a large quantity of cocaine that was exported to the United States, which lead dealers to develop a crystallized form of the drug in order to sell at a faster rate. This new form of cocaine was very profitable for dealers and was smoked out of a pipe. It spread around urban parts of the United States starting from the early 1980s, as reports of the drug were appearing in Los Angeles, San Diego, Houston, and the Caribbean. There was a surge in this drug between 1984 and 1990, a period that was known as the "crack epidemic". The effects of the crack epidemic raised the number of cocaine addicts in the US by about 5 million individuals. As a response to the epidemic, the United States passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which enacted mandatory minimum sentences for consumption of crack cocaine. More specifically, it increased the minimum sentence for crack cocaine by almost a year. This law is aligned with the US Mass Incarceration Rate, which was specifically targeted towards African Americans. Overall, crack cocaine increased the crime rate in the United States and spread the use of cocaine around almost every state.