Join me for a brief history of cocaine, an overview of the biopharmacology, and roadmap for how to undo the damage done by the war on drugs.
Crack cocaine is just cocaine. The only difference is it can be smoked, which means it kicks in harder and wears off faster. And because of that, it can also be sold in small doses. These differences, which aren't differences, have been used to defend a racist war on drugs. More than 80% of Reagan-era crack sentences were given to black men, even though black folks don't use or sell drugs at rates any higher than white folks.
In this episode I cover the history of crack in the United States from the late 1970s up to the present, including Richard Pryor's accident, Len Bias's (alleged) overdose, Freeway Ricky Ross, the Iran-Contra Scandal, Oliver North, the Rampart Scandal, and stereotypes about crack.
