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Crack Cocaine Crisis: Joint Hearing Before the House Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control and the House Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families, July 15, 1986

NCJ Number
112150
Date Published
1986
Length
251 pages
Annotation
Testimony discusses the incidence and effects of cocaine abuse, particularly crack abuse, and treatment and law enforcement efforts to deal with this growing problem.
Abstract
Two basketball figures discuss the effects of cocaine on young athletes and describe a public education program that uses professional athletes as role models. A recovering crack user and her mother describe the effects of the abuse on the family. Data are presented on the extent, character, and pattern of drug use and drug-related deaths. Research into cocaine use and the mechanism of its effects also is discussed. Several drug abuse prevention and education programs are described, including those involving police-school partnerships, a nationwide media campaign, and a substance abuse ministry training program. Also highlighted are the crack production process and the role of the Drug Enforcement Administration in drug intelligence gathering, eradication, and interdiction, both domestically and internationally. Drug use and drug-related arrest trends in Detroit also are presented. Additional data discuss the crime-drug use relationship; drug abuse-related education, prevention, treatment, and law enforcement costs; the Government's commitment to the war on drugs; the role of organized crime in drug trafficking; and the use of forfeiture laws in combatting the drug problem.