Crack’s Effect on New York City

Crack’s Effect on New York City

In the summer of 1985, New York City was introduced to the drug crack. The ensuing seventeen years have culminated into some of the most turbulent, and crime ridden years in the history of New York City. Crack is the street name for a form of cocaine introduced in the mid-1980s. Crack is smoked, rather then sniffed through the nose, or injected, which are all other ways to use cocaine. Users of the drug inhale the vapors that are given off when the crack is heated (Berger pg.20). Crack cannot burn, and in order to give off the drugs vapors it must be heated to a very high temperature. After the crack has been heated the user will proceed to inhale the vapors. The drug will then pass from the lungs to the person’s bloodstream and then reaches the brain, all within seconds. The user will immediately feel the euphoric sensation that crack brings.

Crack is the strongest form of cocaine available. A New York state drug prosecutor put it this way, “Crack is to cocaine what the atom bomb is to TNT” (Berger pg.21). Crack is extremely addictive and users are usually left addicted after just one use. The drug is relatively cheap and a $10 vial is enough for two hits. The drug will eventually become a very expensive habit though. The high that crack gives is very short-lived and the user finds his or herself in a horrible cycle where they will crave the drug over and over. An addicted user will have a habit that will cost any where from $100-$1500 a day. The user will often steal and commit crimes to supplement their habit.

The risks of getting hooked on crack are far greater than with other forms of cocaine. Addicts, who used cocaine only occasionally, said that after ...

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Newspaper articles

Barron, James. “Woman Throws Her Two sons From Fourth Floor”. New York Times. Nov. 28, 1986, Final ed. Sect B.

Egan, Tim. “A Drug Runs its Course, Then Hid with its Users”. New York Times. Sept. 19,1999, Sun. ed. Sect A

Kerr, Peter. “City is Setting Up New drug Squad”. New York Times. May 22,1986, Late ed. Sect A

Kerr, Peter. “Crack Burdening a Justice System”. New York Times. Nov. 24,1986, Late ed. Sect A

Lubasch, Arnold H. “US Breaks up Major Crack Ring in New York”. New York Times. July 31, 1987, Late ed. Sect B