Cocaine And Crack

Discusses how cocaine and crack affect the mind and body and presents a brief history of cocaine use.

This book provides information on the dangers of cocaine and crack cocaine, a stimulant drug that affects the central nervous system. Use of the drug can result in sudden death, even upon first time use. Within this book, readers will learn about the long and short-term effects of cocaine and crack cocaine which include physical addiction, emotional addiction, expense, health problems, arrest for drug possession, and for other drug-related crime and overdose. Personal stories of teens who used drugs and the realities they faced invite the reader to understand the effects of the drug on a personal level. These stories seamlessly unfold along with advice on how to deal with peer pressure when choosing to say no. Most importantly, there is an entire chapter devoted to getting help. This book is an essential resource and provides concise information about a difficult topic.

The crack cocaine years: from deviant globalization to the 'get money' culture of late twentieth-century America.

Cocaine was once considered the elite's drug, with a price so high that only the very wealthy could afford it, and thought by many to be 'safe'. But during the 1980s, a dangerous and cheap derivative began appearing on the street. This drug, crack, is a cocaine free-base produced relatively safely and easily. Because of its low production costs, crack became popular among the lower classes, leading to an epidemic in the late 1980s, with estimates that over one million people used crack cocaine. The drug's name became synonymous with gangs, crime, and violence. Because of the intensity and apparent suddenness of the crack crisis, people began to wonder if there were any warning signs public officials missed and how exactly crack spread across the nation. Some even floated the theory that agencies like the CIA and FBI encouraged the use of crack in inner cities. No matter where it came from, crack is a menace that, though no longer 'epidemic', must be combated along with all other illegal drugs. This book makes a close examination of the development, responses to, and effect of the crack cocaine crisis in the United States. Included are descriptions of cocaine, crack, and the free-basing process. Also examined are the health questions surrounding the abuse problems and the allegations that governmental authorities had advance knowledge of crack. With the war on drugs a perpetual and critical battle in America, the facts and analyses presented here are of paramount importance to the understanding of a major issue of society's safety.

In The Big White Lie, Michael Levine, former DEA agent and bestselling author of Deep Cover, leads the reader through a decade of undercover work. Levine's prose is fast-moving, highly readable, and hard-hitting. He tells how the beautiful South American "Queen of Cocaine" seduced the CIA into protecting her from prosecution as she sold drugs to Americans; how CIA-sponsored paramilitary ousted, tortured, and killed members of a pro-DEA Bolivian ruling party; and how the CIA created La Corporacion, the "General Motors of cocaine," which led directly to the current cocaine/crack epidemic. As a 25-year veteran agent for the DEA, Michael Levine worked deep-cover cases from Bangkok to Buenos Aires, and witnessed firsthand scandalous violations of drug laws by U.S. officials.

Providing insight into drug use from the point of view of female users, this book tells of the complex lives, challenges, and choices of women who use crack cocaine. While popular images of these women present them simply as unreliable individuals, unfit mothers, and women who will do almost anything for crack, Claire Sterk's years of ethnographic research reveal the nature and meaning of crack cocaine use in the larger context of their lives -- including the impact of such issues as gender, class, and race. Focusing on active crack users, Fast Lives compiles information from participant observation, informal conversations, individual interviews, and group discussions. Sterk details the ways in which use affects the lives of these crack users. She captures how these women arrived at their use; how they survive under current circumstances, such as the constant threat of HIV/AIDS and violence; how they combine the multiple social roles of mother and drug user; and how -- as they share their aspirations and expectations for the future -- their stories underscore the effects of poverty, sexism, and racism on their lives. Many of these women recognize their own responsibility for ensuring positive change. Sterk's book, which includes an argument for a harm reduction approach, reminds us that their strength and courage will too often be futile without social policies that are realistic and appropriate for women. Fast Lives will engage readers interested in social problems as well as students of cultural anthropology, sociology, criminology, public health, ethnography, substance abuse, and women's health.

This book provides information on the dangers of cocaine and crack cocaine, a stimulant drug that affects the central nervous system. Use of the drug can result in sudden death, even upon first time use. Within this book, readers will learn about the long and short-term effects of cocaine and crack cocaine which include physical addiction, emotional addiction, expense, health problems, arrest for drug possession, and for other drug-related crime and overdose. Personal stories of teens who used drugs and the realities they faced invite the reader to understand the effects of the drug on a personal level. These stories seamlessly unfold along with advice on how to deal with peer pressure when choosing to say no. Most importantly, there is an entire chapter devoted to getting help. This book is an essential resource and provides concise information about a difficult topic.

"Focusing on lyrics that emerged in 1990s New York rap, which critiqued the music industry for being corrupt, unjust, and criminal, Bogazianos shows how many rappers began drawing parallels between the "rap game" and the "crack game." He argues that the symbolism of crack in rap's stance towards its own commercialization represents a moral debate that is far bigger than hip hop culture, highlighting the degree to which crack cocaine has come to represent the entire paradoxical predicament of punishment in the U.S. today"--Provided by publisher.