7: Crack vs. Cocaine: Welcome to Incarceration Nation

2021/8/11

Chapters

Bailey Sarian introduces the topic by discussing her personal experience with cocaine in Los Angeles and the stark contrast she observed between the use of cocaine and crack in different communities.

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

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Hi friends, how are you today? I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian and this is the Dark History Podcast. Welcome, how are you? I hope you're having a fantastic day. If you're a curious cat like myself, then come on this journey with me and let's learn something new together. Story time! Who's ready for story time? Okay, welcome. Sit down. So, when I first moved to Los Angeles...

It was kind of a bit of a culture shock, to be honest. Come to find out when moving here that a lot of people out here in Los Angeles tend to do some cocaine. Ha ha ha.

And I'm so sorry to out you, Los Angeles, but goddamn, you've got some white stuff hanging out your nose. You know? Yeah, you know. Anyways, you could go from dinner party to party to get together to a restaurant, and you best believe cocaine may be offered every step of the way. Now, it seems so normal out here, kind of like a cup of coffee, just a thing to kind of help you get up

and get going for the day. So after I watched my friend Martha do a bunch of blow, she mentioned how sad the crack epidemic down on Skid Row was. They have a serious crack problem down there. Like it's really bad. It's so bad for them.

And I was thinking to myself, well, what's the difference, Martha? Because you're like 90 pounds and you haven't slept in three goddamn days. I think that's a problem, but sure, girl. So a thought came into my noggin. Well, what is the difference between crack and cocaine? One seems, at least we've been told, it's way more dangerous than the other, right? And well, after some Googling, I came across the honest truth.

There is basically no difference between crack and cocaine. Huh? How can this be? Why the different names then? I mean, I had so many questions and honestly, not many answers. It turns out though, I didn't know a damn thing and my bet is maybe you don't either. What if I told you the death of an American basketball player on the rise would be the catalyst for some of the most aggressive and toxic drug laws the nation had ever seen?

What if I also told you that 22% of the world's prison population is from the United States? What if I also told you you could save a bunch of money by switching to Geico? I mean crack, it's cheaper. Okay, so where do we begin? Let's go on a journey with a girl I know named Cocaine. Sounds kind of romantic, huh? Cocaine-a. Mm-hmm.

All right, how did coke or cocaine get introduced to Americans in the first place? Well, most Americans were introduced to cocaine in 1884, where it was being used as like a local anesthetic because it was hard to come by or honestly just expensive. But in turn, using the cocaine was more of a risk than it was a benefit because it was like addictive and it was easy to give an incorrect dosage, which nobody wants that.

so it kind of fell off in the medical world. But there was a use for it. It was fun, it stimulated the brain, it gave you energy, it put you in a great mood, helped numb pain, and overall just made you feel so much better. I mean sign me up, you don't have to tell me more. In the late 1890s, cocaine would be used in products, cures, and medicines that you could easily purchase from your Sears and Roebuck catalog.

It's how people would shop back then. Sears Roba catalog. It was like an Amazon, but in print. We've all probably heard the rumor that Coca-Cola actually had cocaine in it. Well, that's because it was true. I mean, it did. And honestly, that's why no one drank Pepsi.

not only that, cocaine was in so many different items throughout this time. there was hair treatments claiming to cure your baldness, hemorrhoid cream, you know for that thing, medicine for toothaches, cough drops, cigarettes with cocaine mixed in, i mean honestly take me back. it just sounds like a good time. people didn't even think twice about it, but also this was just a different time when you could just make wild claims like hey

Cocaine helps with your hair growth and nobody was fact checking that, you know? It was just a good time. It's kind of like today, sugar being in everything. Back then, they were just throwing cocaine into everything.

In 1906, the Pure Food and Drug Act was passed, which essentially meant businesses needed to let consumers know what's in the product you're eating slash drinking. Also, disclose any potential dangers with ingredients like cocaine, which again, it wasn't regulated. And they couldn't back up the bold claims they were putting out there to consumers that it was going to help with your sore throat.

You know, like I'm sure it would a little, but they couldn't actually prove it. So say goodbye to cocaine, you know? She was out of there. The whole public perception of cocaine would end up changing in 1914 when the shady-ass New York Times published an article titled, this is their title, not mine. Negro Cocaine Fiends Are a New Southern Menace. That was the title.

In this article, it described the effects of cocaine on the Southern African American community specifically, alleging it made them immune to bullets. I'm not even kidding there. Immune to bullets, paranoid and prone to violent rage. Now this article was creating a fear and crisis within the white community. It made it seem like Southern white American women were in literal mortal danger because African Americans were using cocaine and wreaking havoc.

The article, it gets worse. It says, and I quote, End quote. End quote.

supposed danger. This led to hysteria surrounding cocaine, which then led to the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act in 1914, which officially cracked down on cocaine, making it illegal. Now, this is the first time that we know of, of the media portraying black Americans on cocaine as a threat to public safety. If you couldn't guess...

That thing was going to come up again. Okay, maybe a few times. Okay, maybe that's what this whole goddamn episode is about. Cocaine use in the U.S., it dropped off for a long time. Now, there isn't a ton of information about how it was being used throughout the 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s. But I mean, come on. You know some people are hitting the slopes.

It's just really not written about. Cocaine was kind of like Jesus. It went away for a while and then it rose from the dead. But in this case, people were like, fuck yeah, cocaine is back. She's not even mad we ignored her for 40 years. She's a resilient beast.

So it's the 60s and you know, there's peace, love and drugs. Charles Manson, hippies, Woodstock, Vietnam War, free love, civil rights movement, birth control. We went to the freaking moon. There was a big shift in American culture. The hippie movement was a big middle finger to the man who was still pushing the American dream from the 40s and 50s.

Susie Homemaker was found dead in her two bedroom house with a white picket fence and 2.5 kids in 1961. Obviously Susie isn't a real person, but the point is Susie was the American dream and the old boring buttoned up TV dinner, leave it to beaver American dream

was dead. I think now is the perfect time to pause. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better even when it's impossible to make time for them.

Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow. Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

Visit BetterHelp.com slash Dark History today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash Dark History. In the 1960s, people started experimenting with mind-altering drugs, including our homegirl cocaine.

People had more of an open mind about things. There was less judgment surrounding sex, love, and drugs. But when the hippie movement started to fade, people's love for drugs, it still carried on, you know? Then came the shiny disco era of the late 1970s. Like, I wish I was there, okay? It just seemed so magical and shiny. Cocaine was everywhere.

And it's a cool person thing to do. Studio 54, Hollywood, the disco clubs, rock stars. I mean, everyone seemed to be doing cocaine. That whole era had normalized it to a point that if you wanted to be someone, then you probably should start doing cocaine. I mean, think about it.

We were coming out of the Vietnam War and everyone just wanted to party and stop being so uptight. The American dream was changing and the late 70s were essentially like the 60s but on cocaine and Quaaludes. But they don't really make those anymore. I don't think. Anyways, everyone was so sexual and free and if you wanted to toot on the old blowler coaster, you bought a ticket.

You didn't get addicted to it. You just had a good time. I mean, even Dan Aykroyd said while filming The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s, they put cocaine in the movie budget. So within a movie budget, they would set aside money for like props, you know? And yeah, cocaine would just fall into the prop section. He said that they would use it as a reward during the night shoots to keep the crew alert and motivated. But at the time, it wasn't like a scandalous thing to do. They

They did a little pick-me-up and they moved on with their day. In magazines or newspapers, you would come across print ads for cocaine that made it look fashionable, enviable, and even desirable.

One ad would say, "Go ahead, you deserve it." And it's like showing a fancy straw, spoons, and vials next to a mountain of coke. Which like, sure, I do deserve it. Thanks. There were many popular songs and media that would reference cocaine, again, cementing it as a symbol of luxury. Going out for the night? Grab your mink coat, gold straw, and a mountain of cocaine.

Now then comes the 80s. At this point, it's not a new thing. Everyone knows cocaine. It's like the go-to party drug. It's for rich people, businessmen, and party animals alike. Well, guess what? The low-income people, they went in on it. They felt like they deserved it too.

And now the supply chain is at a place where it can get to those communities, but it's too expensive to buy. So it's not really selling that fast. This is where we meet the great freeway, Rick Ross. Now, some of you might be thinking Bailey, the rapper question mark, nay nay. This is a different person. This is not the rapper. In fact, freeway, Rick Ross sued the rapper over stealing his name. This is the original Rick Ross. Now,

Brick was a cocaine dealer in Los Angeles in the early 1980s, and he was really freaking good at it. He knew cocaine was easy money because it was in high demand and it was insanely popular.

Well, by this time, smoking cocaine had become more common. It was also called freebasing. But in order to freebase it, you had to cook it up and prepare it so that it would smoke properly. Well, Rick learned that some people were making their cocaine last longer by mixing it with baking soda, which would create small rocks of cocaine. So Rick decided he would just pre-bake his cocaine and sell what he called Ready Rock,

or what we know as crack cocaine. With crack cocaine, the high was similar to regular powdered cocaine, but I guess it hit quicker, was more intense. Downside, the high lasted for a shorter amount of time.

It had a similar effect as the injectable cocaine that was used medicinally in the early 1900s. The only reason the effects are different is because snorting something just doesn't get absorbed as fast as smoking or injecting something. Ready Rock was a huge hit. Ross's business was so successful by 1982 that he was moving $3 million worth of cocaine every day and 1,000 pounds per week.

Ross's business expanded outside of Los Angeles, too. He claimed to have thousands of employees all over the country, anywhere from St. Louis to Oklahoma to Cincinnati, Cleveland, Seattle. I mean, he was everywhere. Later, federal prosecutors would estimate that his gross earnings were over $900 million. He was making money.

While Freeway Rick never claimed to invent crack cocaine, he does admit that he was the one who made it popular. Nobody was making or selling more crack than him. Freeway Rick Ross would end up getting caught and arrested. He would serve time in prison, but when he got out, he became a drug educator, speaking at different schools. Now, crack culture never really got to have a proper renaissance with cool movie appearances like

cocaine culture did. Most of the time we would see it in movies and stuff when there was like some kind of lesson being taught.

She usually found herself in the poorer neighborhoods surrounded by negative stigma and racism. Yes, racism. Why? Because crack and cocaine are the same drug. Yes, they have the same exact effect on the brain. It's just a different way to consume it. It's like the difference between smoking weed as a joint versus eating it as an edible. So why the hell do we treat crack and cocaine?

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And we're back. Welcome. So let's rewind now. Kate's in 1960s. America's at war with Vietnam.

President Richard Nixon is obsessed with winning at all costs, even though we are losing very badly. And there's a huge anti-war movement. The civil rights movement is gaining momentum alongside the women's rights movement, and this was all leading to protests in the streets. This seemed to annoy President Nixon, who wanted to get the cities back under control. So Nixon made fear his whole campaign. But

But ironically, he was a fearful person himself.

Fear drove everything he did and was how he gained his power. Fear of protesters, drugs, of the economy failing. So he sowed the seeds of using drugs as a stepping stool, as a way to get more power. Nixon was popular as hell when he was president, but it all went to shit when he let fear and paranoia get the best of him and he started to tap his rival's phones for secrets.

That's not really related to this story, but the point is Nixon paved the way for using fear as a political tool. I kind of feel like Andrew Jackson was doing that first, but it's debatable. A lot of people say Nixon, but I'm like, after the Andrew Jackson story. Anyways, how about both? Great.

So the media was dipping its toe into sensationalism and fear-mongering regarding drugs. Nixon was calling for law and order, which was cracking down on criminals in the streets, quote unquote, which was essentially African-Americans on drugs. Does that sound familiar at all? Like the 1914 New York Times article about African-Americans on drugs?

History just freaking goes in circles, doesn't it? His crackdown of law and order appealed to the poor white voters who were afraid of the approaching danger. This was a dog whistle. A former advisor to Nixon said of the Nixon White House, quote, we had two enemies, the anti-war left and black people.

We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.

I mean, shouldn't that be enough? I mean, geez, like we don't even have to guess. They just said it out loud. These slimy men in suits knew exactly what they were doing. So then big surprise, right? Nixon declares drug abuse as public enemy number one.

heroin, LSD, and marijuana were the main drugs that Nixon was focusing on. He even worked with the government of New York to establish narcotic courts, which would begin to process drug-related issues as crimes rather than a health issue.

Heroin use did decline as a result of his new policies, but his real target were the anti-war protesters who primarily used pot and LSD, and those drugs were considered serious crimes. In the media and within the government, Nixon linked it to criminals and criminals only. He was like, we need a reason to throw them in jail, and that was his reason.

Nixon brought wartime propaganda to your own backyard. Wartime propaganda, it wasn't a new concept. But what Nixon did was apply this to drugs and brought the war to your own home, which made it even more personal and more scary.

With more Americans able to purchase home televisions, you could see the president speaking to you through the TV. I mean, it was incredible. You're watching me right now, maybe on YouTube. And like, look, incredible. Could you imagine when it first came out? It would blow your mind, right? So everyone's getting TVs and you could see the civil rights movement happening right there on your TV. You could see the war happening on TV.

And most importantly, you could see President Nixon making the connection crime equals drugs and drugs equals crime on TV. This is when Nixon is laying the groundwork for what comes a little later down the road, some really damaging policies around drugs. Now, Nixon, he didn't really accomplish a lot, let's be honest, but Nixon did plant the seed.

and Ronald Reagan came in with his big old jug of Wawa, and he just nurtured that seed. Enter to the scene Ronald Reagan. In January of 1981, Reagan was seated as the 40th president of the United States. Reagan was super proud to water Nixon's seed, which was, again, the war on drugs. Now, Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, they were party poopers and just very anti-drug.

Boo. The panic about crack in the mid-1980s started because it was a drug associated with Black people and the inner city that seemed to be spreading into white suburbs. But these concerns weren't just coming from white people. Low-income Black communities really were being ravaged by crack, and Black political leaders were pushing for action against the drug.

The media was creating a sense of fear around drug-related crimes. And in 1982, the New York Times, shady, had reported that deaths due to cocaine abuse quadrupled between 1976 and 1981. And in another article, they basically said drug users were responsible for the economy being bad. With all this fear-mongering going on, the American people were very much against drugs, again, associating it with just drugs.

bad people. In my mind, it makes sense that they're associating drugs with bad people, right? And if you disagree with that, then you're considered un-American.

Nancy and Ronald represented the American dream and what America was supposed to be. The country kind of went off the rails during the 60s and 70s, which, like we mentioned, were the complete opposite of everything Nancy and Ronald stood for, and they wanted to reclaim America. They're trying to resurrect Susie Homemaker, like Jesus, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Homemaker. ♪

Meanwhile, Mr. Reagan's wife, Nancy, she wanted to, like, have her own campaign. So she did, and she started the Just Say No campaign. And it's that simple. A scary man is going to offer you drugs one day, kids. All you got to do is just say no.

Because if you say yes, you're going to become a flesh-eating zombie and end up in prison. Or worse, dead. The campaign was essentially a child-friendly version of the war on drugs. I mean, you got to get them when they're young, you know? I think in my mind, if they're associating drugs with bad people, you're un-American if you disagreed with that. And you're one of them. In 1984, Congress passed something called the Comprehensive Crime Control Act.

Now, this act was the beginning of the end. Congress and Reagan, they put it on the table that they were not fucking around like Nixon was. They were not here to play. If you were a drug user, you were going to be punished heavy.

This bill said if you were arrested with a drug-related crime, you would receive a mandatory minimum sentence, something they had not done before. But wait, what's a mandatory minimum sentence?

Basically, there are some crimes where if you get caught doing them, there's a minimum punishment you have to accept. And drugs are one of those. So just barely a year after the bill went into effect, there was a 32% increase in prisoners just because of this bill. In order to crack down even harder on the war on drugs, the government really needed a spark to set off the explosion.

And that spark would happen in the most unlikely of places, the death of a rising star in the basketball world. His death would be the spark that blew this whole fricking story apart. Lenny Byas was an up and coming basketball player who grew up in the Maryland suburbs. He went to Northwestern High School and went to play basketball at the University of Maryland.

Now Len Bias, he was good. He was real good. And he was constantly compared to Michael Jordan in terms of raw skill. And the two of them were considered the best of their time. Now Len would be selected as the second NBA draft pick in 1986. He was a hometown hero in Washington, D.C. and a symbol of athletic excellence and a role model around the country. Len was living the dream.

June 19th, 1986, 6:30 AM, a 911 call rolls in from a guy named Brian Tribble. Brian called to report that Len Bias was slurring his words and having a seizure on the floor. He told the 911 dispatcher, "This is Len Bias. You have to get him back to life. There is no way he can die."

8:51 a.m., Lenny Byas was pronounced dead at just 22 years old. Because Lenny was seen as the golden child and on his way to becoming a rock star for the Boston Celtics, somebody working on the inside knew that his death was going to be a very big deal.

So a quote unquote source called a news reporter and said that Lenny had cocaine in his system. And not long after, a second source came in saying Lenny had died of a cocaine overdose. The news was reporting it everywhere and the entire nation was completely shocked. I mean, it was literally everywhere. Len Bias was supposed to be safe from this drug epidemic that Reagan and Nixon had been warning us about.

He was a superstar athlete, and this kind of thing just wasn't supposed to happen to him. Now, Lenny had no previous association with drugs, and his reputation was squeaky clean, and everyone assumed that this was his first time trying cocaine. Imagine if Michael Jordan never got a chance to become Michael Jordan. That's what people were saying about Len Bias. Yes.

Michael Jordan's draft was a big deal, but he became a six-time champion and arguably the best player ever. Len was robbed of those accomplishments. I mean, he was having like the best week of his life and it was sadly cut short. According to Maryland's chief medical examiner, Len died from an unusually pure dose of the drug. Now rumors are going around and lots of people are saying that Lenny never did drugs. He didn't even drink at the club. So this whole story,

Complete shock. And there was one report that came out saying that Len had done crack cocaine instead of powder cocaine. Now this was untrue, but it seemed to get a lot of traction. From that one report, TV networks, they started airing segment after segment about the dangers of crack and cocaine. They would say that it was crack that killed Lenny when it was really cocaine. But by then, the damage, it was already done.

Len's death sent shockwaves through the nation and throughout Congress because crack was no longer just in the inner city. It was creeping into suburban people's life and the danger was everywhere.

Even though Len had used cocaine, they still made it all about crack and also saw it as an opportunity to write new laws that would be even tougher on crime. And now let's hear a word from our sponsor. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking.

Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance. It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts.

discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner, and more. So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24, 7, 365 days a year so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

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Two months it took to pass this bill. Can you think of any other bill that has passed in two months? No offense, but can you even think of any bill? What was the urgency?

Well, essentially, this act would give any drug-related crimes harsher punishments and longer sentences to an unheard degree. What's the point of even going to court now? A little piece of crack, bam, prison. Even if you're just holding it for a friend. So if I had five grams of cocaine and let's say Joey, the lighting guy, had five grams of crack,

I would be blessed and be let go with a little slap on the wrist. And Joey, he would be locked up for a minimum of five years. It could be a little longer if the judge didn't like Joey's face. And you should see Joey's face, the lighting guy. Yeah, he would get a long time. And that's one of the things most famous about the Anti-Drug Abuse Act. It was actually called the 100 to 1 ratio of powder cocaine to crack cocaine.

I know, sorry to bring math into this, but now remember, they're the same drug, right? Okay. But carrying five grams of crack got you the same sentence as carrying 500 grams of powder cocaine. So for example, let's use Oreos as our example.

If Oreos were illegal and you got caught with one Oreo, that is crack, and I get caught with 100 Oreos, that is powder cocaine, we get the same sentence. I know. I know my Oreos. And that's wild because, again, technically the same thing. Just powder versus rock.

But in the end, you would not receive the same charge. The crazy part is that Congress intended for these mandatory minimums to apply to high level drug dealers, not drug users on the streets. But the mid-level guys didn't carry crack. They only sold powder. Then the street level guys would make it into crack since it was so easy to make.

So the only people affected by the mandatory minimums were not the people Congress was trying to get. So if you're gonna put one in your trouser, pick the powder. Like I said, Congress wanted to go after high level offenders. Now in order to pass this bill, Congress needed to define what that meant. So they needed numbers.

So they could have picked dollars, like a dealer who earns $1 million or more from the drug business, or a dealer who ships hundreds of thousands of doses a month for six months. When Congress saw those big numbers, a congressman from Louisville, Kentucky, complained that they didn't have these big drug dealers in Louisville, so the plan honestly wasn't making sense.

Unfortunately, the congressmen from the other states did not say, "Ron, look, no disrespect, but big dealers don't go to Louisville to do an international drug deal. It's nothing like Miami or Los Angeles or, you know, New York. You should be glad you don't need this law in Louisville." Instead, the other members of Congress were like, "Yeah, Ron's right. A million dollars in, like, drug business doesn't make any sense. It needs to be a smaller number."

That's when they turned to a consultant named Johnny St. Valentine Brown Jr. That is quite the name. It's really cute actually. Johnny St. Valentine, that's a cute little name.

Anyways, he's not a good person. In short, Johnny would be the main guy to recommend how harshly to punish people with drugs. He came up with his own system, the 100 to 1 ratio, which we mentioned just a bit ago. This guy essentially said crack should be punished more harshly over cocaine. In other words, he's probably doing like massive amounts of cocaine. Come on. All right.

Because of this bill, arrests from drug-related crimes shot up to their most dramatic rates in history from 1986 to 1990.

They even expanded the bill in 1988 and somehow made prison sentences even worse. From 1985 to 1990, the number of adult arrests for drug violations had grown by 74%. And as a result, the prison population had grown by 137%. That's insane. Because now, unlike the 70s, drug arrests were leading to serious prison time. Now here's the kicker.

Here's the kicker. John St. Valentine, do you remember? You remember that cutie. That respected man who Congress looked to for guidance when it came to drugs? Well, he was a liar. In the year 2000... Isn't that a Jonas Brothers song? Something in the year 2000... No, it's 3000. Anyways, in the year 2000...

Johnny would be sent to federal prison for lying about graduating from Howard University and also about his qualifications as a pharmacist. Johnny, he even typed up some fake letters from judges to help him out of this lie he had cooked up.

To put it simply, the numbers used for the Anti-Drug Abuse Act were provided by some dude who faked his whole career. Ugh. He held no expertise, nothing. Other than being a good liar, I guess we can give him that. Bravo, man. After all, he was an undercover drug cop. He has to be a good liar, I guess.

His fake expertise was used to create policy that has affected hundreds of thousands of Americans, and it was a total sham. But a lot of these policies are still in effect today. Let me ask you this. How come if you want to work at McDonald's, you have to get a background check? But Johnny St. Valentine over here, he just waltzed his way right into Congress and literally changed how this whole country approached drugs. Ba-da-ba-bop.

Ain't that some shit? Welcome to Incarceration Nation, where we provide you with an unlimited array of prison cells and bad meals. There is free healthcare, though. That's a bonus. The war on drugs had increased court cases and prison sentences in a very large way. More arrests, more time in prison, overpopulation, poor prison systems. It was a domino effect of just pure, uncut shit.

By 2016, the United States was home to 22% of the entire world's prison population. It wasn't a problem with one group of people or one law. It was a full-on systemic issue. But wait, what's a systemic issue?

Research shows the ugly cycle of some people being born in a low-income area that is considered quote-unquote high crime. So it doesn't get any public funding to get fixed up. And the people in that area don't have access to basic services and job opportunities, so they turn to whatever they can or whatever they have available to them, which is often selling drugs.

They're making do with what they have, and then unfortunately, some get caught doing so and they get arrested. And because of all these stupid laws and mandatory minimums or whatever, they don't really get a fair chance at having their case reviewed fairly in court, so they were forced to take a plea bargain, which lands them in prison.

Then while in prison, there are no resources to rehabilitate them and help them to reintegrate into society that doesn't include selling or using drugs. They are then released right back into the situation they were in before, but now they can't seem to get a reliable job because McDonald's does background checks. So what the hell are they supposed to do? It's just this endless hamster wheel of bullshit. It's like, thanks, Johnny.

Let's think about where we are right now. We have this idea of what crack is in our heads, and it's really based on racism and fear that's been spoon-fed to us. Black versus white, crack versus cocaine. Cocaine just always seems to be like this rich person drug, and crack is the poor person drug. The New York Times labeled black people as cocaine fiends. Nixon hated protesters and tried to criminalize the civil rights movement.

Reagan ran with Nixon's baton. Then Len Bias died from cocaine overdose, which allowed the government to push for new laws that changed the United States into Incarceration Nation. So that is where we're at.

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So get this. In 1989, one out of every four black men aged 20 to 29 were either in prison, on probation, or parole. Then in 1995, those numbers were updated, now showing that it was one out of every three. One out of three. Everyone expected that most of the people sentenced under the new tough penalties for crack would probably be black, which they were. And that's why Congress...

They just didn't seem to care in 1986 about the ridiculously excessive sentences that got handed out for having pretty damn small amounts of crack cocaine. And that's why these laws have stuck around for so long. Let me tell you about a man named Derek Curry.

Derek was black and a friend of Len Bias, who friends would say never drank or even did drugs. Derek was arrested for driving a drug dealer's car. Again, he wasn't known to do drugs, and there was no proof he profited off of drugs, but crack was found in his car. Allegedly. Allegedly. Now, Derek was arrested and sentenced to 19 years and seven months in prison. For what exactly?

possession of a crack dealer's car. Seriously, they gave him 19 years for driving a car. Derek's sentence was nearly three times the prison sentence served by most murderers in America. Yeah, this is why the 100 to 1 ratio thing is so fucked up, because it's so reactionary and based on bullshit media hype. Meanwhile, the real and dangerous criminals aren't punished with the same scrutiny. I mean, you see it on my Monday uploads.

We're judging. Now I wanted to be fair here. So I was looking for, you know, someone to compare to Derek's story. So I came across Lindsay Lohan's story. Lolo was arrested in 2007 for a DUI, felony possession of cocaine, and driving with a suspended license. She had two extra charges on top of her cocaine possession.

Derek didn't have that, okay? Just saying. Anyways, she pleaded guilty to misdemeanor cocaine use and driving under the influence. Now, Lindsay was sentenced to one day in jail, community service, an alcohol education program, and three years of probation. Now, I'm not saying let's all go after Lolo, but when we look back at Derek's sentencing, like, come on, what the fuck? Cocaine versus crack.

This, my friends, is just a little small example out of the sea of people in prison for these small crimes. Everyone else is out running around just doing cocaine like nothing. Because of the growth of how many people are arrested, it leads to the private prison industry, which is a whole other topic.

This has turned into, honestly, a money game. It's providing funding for police departments and the private prison system. It gives politicians the moral high ground in that they know what's best and that we have to give them the power to make the decisions to fix the crisis. Spoiler alert, they created the crisis, and it's just this endless cycle of crisis.

Politicians are like, "Look, look at how many bad people we caught though. We're doing such a great job. We're safe because all the bad guys are locked up. Look, we're doing great things for you." If we had done this earlier, Lenny Bias might still have been alive.

Derek and Lolo's stories are pretty typical for many decades to come throughout our country, but in 2010, the Fair Sentencing Act was passed, which reduced the sentencing between crack and cocaine offenses from 100 to 1 to 18 to 1. Remember the whole thing earlier about the Oreos? Okay, well, instead of it being one gram of crack for every 100 grams of powder Coke,

Now it's 1 gram of crack for every 18 grams of powdered coke. Many have pushed back saying the only reasonable sentencing ratio is 1:1 because these drugs are essentially the same freaking thing. But as of right now, this is where we're at. So once again, if you're gonna put one in your trouser, pick the powder.

Cocaine and crack should catch the same amount of flack. Oh, just filled with rhymes today, too. Look at me go. Wow.

Well, in 2011, they tried to make the Fair Sentencing Act even more fair by attempting to overturn sentences for those who received honestly very ridiculous sentences for drugs they had on them. Or in Derek Curry's case, just being in the freaking wrong car. So in May 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States tried to decide if they should overturn old sentences. And I know what you're thinking at home. Yes, they should, right? Yes.

No questions asked. You know, it gives us a little hope for our future. But this is America. And they were like, nope, not today. Earlier this year, June of 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people arrested for crack cocaine could not get their sentences reduced. So the Fair Sentencing Act means moving forward, it's 18 to 1. But anything in the past, they just have their blinders up. They're like, nope, don't see it. Which, that sucks because...

America is just one complicated bitch. Not even, she's one frustrating, awful bitch. Well, where is she now? As in cocaine.

As of 2020, police still make over 1 million drug possession arrests countrywide each year, many of them leading to long-term prison sentences. So how are we supposed to change our perception of crack versus cocaine when every possible example of the drug in movies is it's always powder cocaine? Most of the times in TVs or movies, crack is used like it's a punchline or it's like

Someone doing bad things, you know? And there's rarely a crackhead redemption story. But on the other side, there's plenty of stories where cocaine is glorified or the hero does cocaine and just makes it work.

Scarface, American Psycho, Wolf of Wall Street, Boogie Nights, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Talladega Nights, The Departed, Goodfellas, all of the Tarantino movies. They make that shit look fun, honestly. And on top of that, what do all of these movies have in common? I'll give you a hint. They're all whiteys. Just saying. I just observed it. I think the point of all of this is to say that crack and cocaine are the same thing.

crack existed for only a couple of years before they started making these insane laws against it. And I think based off of what we've learned here today, these laws seem very racially charged and mainly affecting poor communities that were typically communities of color. Pretty much from the start, we have all known that the war on drugs hasn't done what it was supposed to do.

It didn't reduce crime, it created more of it. It didn't reduce drug use because shocker, you can't tell drug addicts to just say no. The powers that be had an agenda when they made these laws. They were criminalizing drugs so they could look even cleaner, making you constantly think of dark and scary drug dens next to someone in a suit with a family, smiling and reassuring you it's all gonna be okay.

co-opting drug users to inflate their own importance and gain more political leverage. We don't fall for that shit anymore. Okay, we do. We still do. Let's be honest. And whoever was in charge, the political party saw an opportunity to use this as leverage to arrest them all and put the crack users in jail, even though everyone was doing it. And everyone knows that these laws don't actually fix anything.

Even traditionally conservative places like Mississippi and Texas have had judges rule that these laws are unjust, yet nothing seems to change. They needed votes, and they needed an enemy to unite against, and these policies are still in effect today. Imagine how many people they could have helped if instead of using all that money for police and prisons, they put it towards, I don't know, public health, which is like the real issue here, you know?

Actual rehab? Just an idea. Tune in next episode when I get a Nobel Peace Prize for solving this problem in 40 minutes. Well, friends, here we are at the end of this podcast episode. Normally, I like the idea of like leaving you with some closure or maybe a thought-provoking sentence.

But after much thought, honestly, I've got nothing for you. Crack and cocaine, they're the same thing. We've said that over and over again. I think you get it. But I think it's pretty clear that the only major difference is who is using it. So what do we do now?

I want to hear your thoughts. Do you know more about this? Let's continue the conversation over on socials using the hashtag dark history. Join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs and also catch up on my murder mystery and makeup, which drops every Monday. Thank you so much for hanging out with me today. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. You make good choices and I hope to be seeing you next week. Bye.

Let's go do some coke, man. Me and you, bird.

This podcast is executive produced by Bailey Sarian, Chelsea Durkin from Slash Management, and Fanny Baudry from Wheelhouse DNA, producer Lexi Kiven, Daryl Christian, and Spencer Strassmore. Research provided by Ramona Kivett and Jed Bookout, writers Jed Bookout, Michael Oberst, Joey Scavuzzo, and me, Bailey Sarian. And I'm your host, Princess of the Dark, Bailey Sarian.

A big thank you to today's historical consultant, David Alan Sklansky and Eric Sterling. Dark History is an Audioboom original.

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7: Crack vs. Cocaine: Welcome to Incarceration Nation