Jun 20, 2018 this essay argues that race and class influence drug laws through politicized means. Criminalization and drug wars or medicalization and health. Further, they contend that reagans war on drugs was actually a political spectacle that advanced the. A comparison of the representation of the crack cocaine and opioid epidemics in the media. Television news, the anticocaine crusade, and the reagan legacy is a truly interdisciplinary work that will attract readers across the humanities and social sciences in addition to students, scholars, journalists, and policy makers interested in the media and drugrelated issues. In that election year, as in 1986, overwhelming majorities of both houses of congress voted for new antidrug laws with long mandatory prison terms, death. Reeves and campbell s landmark study revealed that the public was misled in the socalled crack cocaine epidemic, principally in television news coverage, into believing that use of this drug was extremely widespread.
Read cracked coverage television news, the anticocaine crusade, and the reagan legacy by jimmie l. By 2002, the united kingdom was experiencing their own crack epidemic, with the number of crack addicts seeking help climbing nearly 50% that year. Reeves and campbells landmark study revealed that the public was misled in the socalled crack cocaine epidemic, principally in television news coverage, into believing that use of this drug was extremely widespread. Carefully documenting the deceptions and excesses of television news coverage of the socalled cocaine epidemic, cracked coverage stands as a bold indictment o. The american crack epidemic was a surge of crack cocaine use in major cities across the united states between 1982 and the early 1990s.
Found in common medicines and popular soft drinks, cocaine addiction sweeps across the country during the early 1900s creating a nation of drug fiends, and. Documenting the ravages of the 1980s crack epidemic al. The crack epidemic had particularly devastating effects within the african american communities of the inner cities by causing the increase of addictions, deaths, and drugrelated crimes. Carefully documenting the deceptions and excesses of television news coverage of the socalled cocaine epidemic, cracked coverage stands as a bold indictment of the backlash politics of the reagan coalition and its implicit racism, the mercenary outlook of the drug control establishment, and the enterprising reporting of crusading journalism. The social construction of the crack epidemic in the print media. Someone convicted in federal court of possession of 5 grams of crack cocaine received a minimum mandatory sentence of 5 years in federal prison, compared to the sentence for powder cocaine. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. The crack epidemic in the united states was a surge of crack cocaine use in major cities across. Crack cocaine and methamphetamine production, sales, and use were met with criminalizing efforts because of their respective association with african americans and poor whites, two groups that have been differentially identified as threatening to hegemonic power. The ensuing antidrug campaign preached that crack cocaine use indicated pervasive moral decay across the country. Apfelipe dana with a nose full of cocaine, he set off, ready for another day. A portrait of epidemic cocaine addiction in brazils crack. Media studies scholars reeves and campbell screened all the news items between 1981 and 1988 the reagan era listed under the subject heading cocaine in the vanderbilt television news index.
Blumstein contended that youngsters who joined the illicit drug industry felt it necessary to carry guns for selfprotection from other armed juvenile. The uk reported an increase of 74% in seizures of crack cocaine in drug raids between 2000 and 2006. The number of initiates of crack cocaine ranged from 209,000 to 353,000 in 2002 to 2008 and declined to 95,000 in 2009. Levine 1997 america discovered crack and overdosed on oratory. Measuring crack cocaine and its impact harvard university. Publications national criminal justice reference service. Crackcocaine users show more family problems than other. According to new york senator charles schumer in a statement made in august 2004, twenty years ago, crack was headed east across the united states like a mack truck out of control, and it slammed new york hard because we just didnt see the. Carefully documenting the deceptions and excesses of television news coverage of the socalled cocaine epidemic, cracked. A further weakness in the claim that ross and blandon are responsible for the spread of crack nationwide is ross inconsistent accounts of his distribution networks across the country.
I was at ground zero on detroits cass corridor during the epidemic and it was a frightening place. This resulted in a number of social consequences, such as increasing crime and violence in american inner city neighborhoods, as well as a resulting backlash in the form of tough on crime policies. Television news, reaganism, and the journalistic crusade against cocaine use. These representations racially code urban drug epidemics, such as crack cocaine, as black or brown. One politician after another reenlisted in the war on drugs. The crack attack politics and media in the crack scare craig reinarman and harry g. Michael omi and howard winant, in racial formation, describe racialization as the extension of racial meaning to a previously racially unclassified relationship, social practice or group. Media studies scholars reeves and campbell screened all the news items between 1981 and 1988 the reagan era. The crack epidemic crack first emerges in 1980, powder cocaine first emerged in miami, but its oversaturation of the market resulted in an 80% drop of its valueforcing drug dealers to get creative to see profits. Increases in drug and opioid overdoses united states, 20002014. Blending theoretical and empirical analyses, jimmie l. Television news, the anticocaine crusade, and the reagan legacy 9780822314912 by reeves, jimmie l campbell, richard and a great selection of similar new, used and collectible books available now at great prices. Pdf we examine effects of the crack cocaine era on two. Cooper was a journalist for the village voice, who had received acclaim for a 1987 story about the crack epidemic in detroit titled kids killing kids.
Then he rolled up a bill and dumped a small mound of white powder in his palm for snorting. His book cocaine true, cocaine blue documents the brutal realities facing communities affected by the drug. When crack cocaine became readily available, there in turn, was a decline in the use of other drugs. Crack epidemic appears to wane the washington post. The crack cocaine epidemic had enormous associated violence. The crack epidemic in the united states was a surge of crack cocaine use in major cities across the united states between the early 1980s and the early 1990s. In documenting deceptions and excesses associated with television news coverage of the socalled cocaine epidemic during the 1980s, this book indicts backlash politics of the reagan era in terms of racism, the mercenary outlook of drug control efforts, and crusading.
Crack users take crack cocaine by putting the cocaine rocks into a crack pipe and smoking them. Duke university press publicity manager box 90660 durham, nc 277080660. Cracked coverage television news, the anticocaine crusade. Mar 19, 2007 remembering the crack epidemic as a young man, freelance writer kenji jasper watched the crack epidemic destroy some of the people he grew up with. Cracked coverage is more than a brilliant and provocative study of televised discourse on cocaine in american society during the 1980s. In fact, reeves and campbell believe the medias cooperation was crucial to forwarding the new rights social agenda through drug control. The united states crack epidemic refers to the surge of crack houses and crack cocaine use in major cities in the united states between 1984 and 1994. During his interview with the oig, ross said he had sold a total of 30 to 50 kilos of cocaine in tyler and dallas, texas, from 1984 through 1986. Its scope prompted significant public outreach, but. Although they do not use the term, what reeves and campbell have identified in the cocaine narrative is a process of racialization. Television news, the anticocaine crusade, and the reagan. New york times editorial, october 4, 1988 47 this new york times editorial had a certain unintended irony, for americas paper of record itself had long been one of the leading. Reeves and richard campbell explore how tv news not only interprets reality in ways that.
Crack epidemic united states history 1980s britannica. The true story of the 1980s crack epidemic is still untold. Campbell and reeves take what could have been another narrow study of the way network news represents the current drug crisis and turn it into a remarkable examination of race, class, and gender under the reagan years. The crack epidemic the history of crack cocaine drugfree. The opioid epidemic is a major us public health crisis. The invention of crack represented a technological innovation that dramatically widened the availability and use of cocaine in inner cities. Television news, the anticocaine crusade, and the reagan legacy, cracked coverage, richard campbell, jimmie l. Americas first cocaine epidemic newspaper and current. Now, fxs new show snowfall is bringing this period of time and all of its complex issues. Crack cocaine was popularized because of its affordability, its immediate euphoric effect, and its high profitability. To our knowledge, this is the first study in brazil to compare crack users to cocaine snorters and other substance users.
Crack mothers, crack babies, and black male dope dealers. The crack epidemic had particularly devastating effects. In documenting deceptions and excesses associated with television news coverage of the socalled cocaine epidemic during the 1980s, this. Television news, the anticocaine crusade, and the reagan legacy kindle edition by reeves, jimmie l. Television news, the anticocaine crusade, and the reagan legacy english edition ebook. Reeves and campbell characterize their study as an indictment of. Our results show that crack cocaine users have more family problems than other substance users and describe what those problems are. Mchenry claims that the films main character, nino brown. Crack epidemic, the significant increase in the use of crack cocaine, or crack, in the united states during the early 1980s. New jack city eats its young, the article was one of the first exposes of the effects of the crack epidemic on innercity communities.
Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading cracked coverage. Thus, the media portrayed upperclass and largely white cocaine users as victims of a disease and lowerclass and largely black crack users as delinquents and deviants. Mar 23, 2014 renowned documentary photographer eugene richards bore witness to the ravages of the crack epidemic that gripped the northeast in the 1980s. The number of initiates of crack cocaine has been similar each year since 2009 e. The primary alkaloid of this plant, cocaine first called erythroxyline, earned a reputation throughout the twentieth century as the quintessential american drug. Superpredatorsand othermythsabout juveniledelinquency. Television news, the anticocaine crusade, and the reagan legacy. In their critical analysis of 270 news stories broadcast between 1981 and 1988, reeves and campbell demonstrate a disturbing disparity between the earlier presentation of the middle and upperclass white drug offender, for whom therapeutic recovery was an available option, and the subsequent news treatment of the innercity black.
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