Reagan Administration, Ronald

The Drug Epidemic

The landscape of drug use changed dramatically in the 1980s. Although cocaine had seen periods of relative popularity in the country before, it had not seen widespread use since the early 1900s, largely due to its high price compared to other recreational drugs. During the 1970s, use of cocaine was limited mainly to affluent whites, while heroin was targeted by the media and public opinion as the drug of choice for minorities and the poor. The advent of crack cocaine would change that.

Crack cocaine is a chemical derivative of cocaine, made by combining cocaine hydrochloride (powdered cocaine) with water, ammonia, and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). It produces an intense high similar to pure or “freebase” cocaine, but it is much less dangerous to produce and is inexpensive. Although not physically addictive, the use of cocaine and especially crack cocaine leads to patterns of compulsive use due to psychological addiction. The drug's strength, simplicity of production, and meager price tag gave rise to a new drug market that was easy to enter and that offered the potential for huge financial reward.

This new form of the drug allowed it to spread into all levels of American society. No longer was it a drug only for the rich. Drug dealers scrambled to supply this new market, and as they competed for clients and market “turf,” violence, which is intrinsic to such markets, increased dramatically. Despite the fact that overall rates of illegal drug use had peaked in the late 1970s, the popular media was quick to report on the rising levels of violence, to claim drug use, and particularly crack use, was reaching epidemic levels, and to blame crack use for the rise in violence. Despite the fact that use of crack cocaine had peaked by 1986, this was the year the media began efforts to demonize the drug. Crack cocaine was blamed for the decay of the educational system, crime rates, and a wide range of physical and mental health problems. The result was the propagandizing of the “drug epidemic” that needed to be combated.

Responding to this drug epidemic and public outcry for action, the Reagan administration took an aggressive stance. Although the term War on Drugs[Page 681]was first used by President Richard Nixon, it was President Reagan who enacted more militant policies in this war. Under the Reagan administration, the War on Drugs was to be fought on numerous fronts, including legal changes, law enforcement directives, program implementation, and drug use prevention.

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