1980s Drug Abuse

In the 1980's there was a significant influx of cocaine and crack into American cities, in particular, southern cities like Los Angeles and San Fransisco. The second image from the right is a recent image describing the drug war that has arisen and is believed to be an outcome of the influx of drugs in the 1980's. The statement: ‘Some Wars Aren’t Meant To Be Won’ comes from the overpowering amount of money that comes from America’s involvement in the world of drugs. Drugs related money stimulates the economy in mysterious way and the economy is therefore at stake 24 hours a day. Drugs money doesn’t only run the economy in a major way, but America’s prisons, on top of that it has affected the CIA on a smaller scale. The CIA has ever since the 1980’s, had a somewhat negative image concerning drugs, and therefore America as a whole has been affected by this.

There is a conspiracy that crack and cocaine was brought into America in the 1980’s because of America’s involvement in funding the contra- rebels in Nicaragua. This funding was part of America’s fight against communism, all together known as the Cold War. Nicaragua was in a state of poverty and saw the chance of receiving help from the American government as a way of investing. What is not believed to be socially acceptable is the thought that the government’s secret service, the CIA, would be in knowledge of the introduction of cocaine and crack into the American cities. Why has not always been quite clear to people, but money reasons have always been prevailing in capitalist America. Many interviews show people being confused and not sure whether to be angry, since it involved an intelligence agency, one of the things known to be safest most reliable to Americans.

A cultural outcome of these events was that ghetto communities in the outskirts of the cities felt that they were being personally attacked by the incoming of drugs to their, often poorer, communities. Especially, black people felt it as an attack for the government to prove that they were a bad influence on society. This fuelled the debates on possible reasoning for the CIA to get involved in drugs transportation. A long-term affect it had on society was a raise in suicides and early deaths, as well as an increase of poverty.

The introduction of drugs had major effects on not only America’s cities, but also American culture in a general sense. In July 1986 the figure of drug abuse in America had risen from a fluctuating, ‘2-4 percent to 8 percent’ (The Decade of the 1980s: Measures of Public Concern), which placed drug abuse on number 4 of social problems in America. Drug abuse has been fluctuating higher than that percentage ever since. Drug involvement seemed to trigger more fear of AIDS, as the advertisement poster above indicates that drug abuse or a partners drug abuse could cause a person or their baby to get AIDS.