No Crack?

In the early 80's crack cocaine burst on the the scene. It was in no way the first hard drug, cocaine and heroin both were already in America for about 100 years before crack. The lost cost and highly addictive nature of crack allowed it to pass powder cocaine and heroin as the street drug of choice. Crack became the most destructive drug in the country and held that title unchallenged until recently with the rise of meth. Even now crack hasnt lost its stranglehold on the streets, it just shares the top spot with meth.
What if crack was never invented? How would the look of the American inner city change? How would policing be different? How would the American street gang be different?
 
I think there's a throwaway line in Freakonomics where the authors point out that crack cocaine managed to single-handedly destroy the societal progress of African-Americans. I'm no expert on racial issues in the USA but preventing crack could well mean a much more racially mixed middle and political class today, and possibly a better-performing economy due to less urban deprivation.
 
Agreed with the above, without the crack epidemic, the black middle class would be stronger in America. That said, I've never seen a good explanation as to why the urban black community went from a brilliant Renaissance in the 1970s to the horrors of the 1980s. Perhaps it was the recession, inflation, and high energy prices, since economic downturns seem to hit minority communities the hardest.

In any case, crack was invented because by 1980 there was simply too much cocaine coming into the U.S. and the price plummeted. In order to stay profitable, they changed their product slightly and marketed differently. So, to avoid crack, you need PODs in Latin America. Perhaps stronger governments that curtail production and work closely with American authorities like the DEA.

Also, we might have to prevent Reagan from getting elected. His policies only made the epidemic worse and there is a decent amount of evidence the CIA was helping the traffickers get their product into the country.
 
I understand what you are saying about the POD, maybe I just asked wrong. Sorry, Im new.
Again, sorry about wording it so poorly. Im not wanting to rewrite the history of South America, and from what youre saying I cant uninvent crack without doing just that.
Everything stays the same, crack gets invented but it doesnt catch on, it never becomes big deal. The crack epidemic never hits America, how does that change things?
 
No worries, dude.

Well, if crack doesn't catch on, then I would imagine American inner cities wouldn't become the hellholes they were in the 1980s. The black middle class, while still hurting from the recession, would rebound. Gentrification and urban renewal will be big things in the late 80s and early 90s. In fact, we could see a slowdown in urban sprawl and the growth of suburbs, less white flight (though that was mostly over by the 80s).

Just off the top of my head...
 
That said, I've never seen a good explanation as to why the urban black community went from a brilliant Renaissance in the 1970s to the horrors of the 1980s. Perhaps it was the recession, inflation, and high energy prices, since economic downturns seem to hit minority communities the hardest.

I would really like to see evidence or a citation supporting this statement. I've never even heard of this. On the other hand, a lot of the inner cities were shitholes even before crack entered the fray. In fact, many never recovered from the riots of the late 60s. But, perhaps I am misinformed.
 

Delvestius

Banned
Agreed with the above, without the crack epidemic, the black middle class would be stronger in America. That said, I've never seen a good explanation as to why the urban black community went from a brilliant Renaissance in the 1970s to the horrors of the 1980s. Perhaps it was the recession, inflation, and high energy prices, since economic downturns seem to hit minority communities the hardest.


Also, we might have to prevent Reagan from getting elected. His policies only made the epidemic worse and there is a decent amount of evidence the CIA was helping the traffickers get their product into the country.

filler----
 
A lot of places were bad before crack, Detroit, inner city LA, Washington, most of New York, and things had gotten very bad during the 1970's. The economy was slowing, white flight was a thing, and scum like Frank Lucas had caused a heroin epidemic even before Crack came along.

Crack was more a symptom of the wider problems, namely the slow collapse of the American heavy industries which disproportionately hit the black inner city communities. This in turn caused an economic collapse in these areas which in turn led to people turning to drugs as a way out.

The Vietnam war had let people like Lucas get direct access to the Golden Triangle which to quote American Gangster let him, "Sell shit that's twice as good for half as much." Alongside this you had the rise of the South American Guerrilla movements who were happy to sell vast quantities of cocaine to finance themselves. That led to oversupply and the need to create a new product to compete...result crack.

Truth be told Crack isn't that much worse than heroin or standard Cocaine but as the drug of the streets, it was a target that could still ignore the cocaine parties on wall street.

Without crack heroin probably remains the big thing, with cocaine as the "rich man's drug." You'd almost certainly still see the Reagan era crackdown, which in turn would be handled badly and target the victims, throwing thousands of black men into jail for possession. That in turn still lets the gangs rise on drug profits and prison recruitment, its just smack stays the boogieman until Meth comes along.

The combination of a badly mishandled drug war and the desire of certain groups to make money off the stuff was always going to happen, the only real possible difference was what drug caused the epidemic.
 
Truth be told Crack isn't that much worse than heroin or standard Cocaine but as the drug of the streets, it was a target that could still ignore the cocaine parties on wall street.

Without crack heroin probably remains the big thing, with cocaine as the "rich man's drug." You'd almost certainly still see the Reagan era crackdown, which in turn would be handled badly and target the victims, throwing thousands of black men into jail for possession. That in turn still lets the gangs rise on drug profits and prison recruitment, its just smack stays the boogieman until Meth comes along.

The combination of a badly mishandled drug war and the desire of certain groups to make money off the stuff was always going to happen, the only real possible difference was what drug caused the epidemic.

So no matter what the inner city would have fell apart, the cops would have armed to the teeth, no matter what we were looking at a drug war its just a question of which drug would be at the root of it all?
Thats depressing.
 
I would really like to see evidence or a citation supporting this statement. I've never even heard of this. On the other hand, a lot of the inner cities were shitholes even before crack entered the fray. In fact, many never recovered from the riots of the late 60s. But, perhaps I am misinformed.

No you are correct. I remember reading a few articles about the economic progress of black Americans in the 60s and 70s which demonstrated quite a bit of progress. Looking back at them again, I see that the studies didn't account for a urban/suburban/rural divide. There were exceptions, but most inner cities never experienced much progress because of continuing urban flight and the loss of manufacturing.
 
So no matter what the inner city would have fell apart, the cops would have armed to the teeth, no matter what we were looking at a drug war its just a question of which drug would be at the root of it all?
Thats depressing.

If the drug war had been handled better, focusing on crushing the suppliers and helping (rather than jailing) the users, it might have been possible to avoid the worst. Unfortunately drug enforcement was woefully mishandled while investment in the inner cities tanked...end result:(
 
If the drug war had been handled better, focusing on crushing the suppliers and helping (rather than jailing) the users, it might have been possible to avoid the worst. Unfortunately drug enforcement was woefully mishandled while investment in the inner cities tanked...end result:(

It would probably have helped if the hippies weren't such potheads, too. The counterculture of the 60s led directly to the "personal responsibility" and "just say no" ethos of the 1980s.
 
No you are correct. I remember reading a few articles about the economic progress of black Americans in the 60s and 70s which demonstrated quite a bit of progress. Looking back at them again, I see that the studies didn't account for a urban/suburban/rural divide. There were exceptions, but most inner cities never experienced much progress because of continuing urban flight and the loss of manufacturing.

Yes, there was economic progress, but this simply made wealthy and middle class black people leave their neighborhoods, to live in "their" own suburbs.

Being a minority doesn't necessarily give you solidarity.
 
Yes, there was economic progress, but this simply made wealthy and middle class black people leave their neighborhoods, to live in "their" own suburbs.

Being a minority doesn't necessarily give you solidarity.

I lived in Detroit for awhile and I worked for a middle aged well off black man. He was maybe 40 years old and had been raised in the city.
One day while talking about how I found it strange that in a black city black folks didnt own the majority of the stores, arabs did.
He blamed this on his parents generation. He said that when he was a teenager most of the black store owners sold out to the arabs and then moved out of the city into the suburbs.
You really might be on to something with thinking the middle class would have moved anyway.
 
Pop culture doesn't get this

crackkills.jpg
 
In any case, crack was invented because by 1980 there was simply too much cocaine coming into the U.S. and the price plummeted. In order to stay profitable, they changed their product slightly and marketed differently. So, to avoid crack, you need PODs in Latin America. Perhaps stronger governments that curtail production and work closely with American authorities like the DEA.
Assuming that this is true how about a cocaine cartel? The various producers realise that flooding the market will cause the price the crash, casting around one of the largest groups hits upon the idea of copying OPEC to regulate the production levels and stabilise prices. Since this is pre-crack and there is not yet an easy alternative they're able to sell the idea to the other groups, anyone declining to join or found to be violating the rules afterwards has the combined cartel turned against them and generally doesn't survive long. Cocaine prices stay high and it continues to be a high- or middle-class drug.
 
Assuming that this is true how about a cocaine cartel? The various producers realise that flooding the market will cause the price the crash, casting around one of the largest groups hits upon the idea of copying OPEC to regulate the production levels and stabilise prices. Since this is pre-crack and there is not yet an easy alternative they're able to sell the idea to the other groups, anyone declining to join or found to be violating the rules afterwards has the combined cartel turned against them and generally doesn't survive long. Cocaine prices stay high and it continues to be a high- or middle-class drug.

I'm sure some cartels have thought of that, but as with most illegal enterprises the most likely result is war between the rival factions, so a lot of people dead or in jail.
 
I'm sure some cartels have thought of that, but as with most illegal enterprises the most likely result is war between the rival factions, so a lot of people dead or in jail.
Possibly, it's really a case of building up enough of a critical mass. If the two largest groups could come to an agreement then it becomes easier to convince the third largest group that yes they really want to do want to agree to this proposal, once they're on-board/destroyed it becomes easier to recruit the fourth largest group etc. Alternatively you go the opposite way and start recruiting the smaller groups and work your way up the chain. It was just a random idea I had though.
 
The devastation and havoc it wreaked on black communities that were already reeling from the Heroin and gang epidemics of the 70s can't be overstated.

At a bare minimum, hundreds of thousands of people would still be alive and/or not incarcerated.

Hip-Hop music would be less bleak, apocalyptic, and obsessed with death. The gangster shit might be more of a niche instead of eventually dominating like IOTL. Biggie sold crack, 2pac watched his mom get addicted to it, and ODB liked to smoke it.
 
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