This book provides information on the dangers of cocaine and crack cocaine, a stimulant drug that affects the central nervous system. Use of the drug can result in sudden death, even upon first time use. Within this book, readers will learn about the long and short-term effects of cocaine and crack cocaine which include physical addiction, emotional addiction, expense, health problems, arrest for drug possession, and for other drug-related crime and overdose. Personal stories of teens who used drugs and the realities they faced invite the reader to understand the effects of the drug on a personal level. These stories seamlessly unfold along with advice on how to deal with peer pressure when choosing to say no. Most importantly, there is an entire chapter devoted to getting help. This book is an essential resource and provides concise information about a difficult topic.

Discusses how cocaine and crack affect the mind and body and presents a brief history of cocaine use.

The crack cocaine years: from deviant globalization to the 'get money' culture of late twentieth-century America.

Major Motion Picture based on Dark Alliance and starring Jeremy Renner, "Kill the Messenger," to be be released in Fall 2014 In August 1996, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Webb stunned the world with a series of articles in the San Jose Mercury News reporting the results of his year-long investigation into the roots of the crack cocaine epidemic in America, specifically in Los Angeles. The series, titled “Dark Alliance,” revealed that for the better part of a decade, a Bay Area drug ring sold tons of cocaine to Los Angeles street gangs and funneled millions in drug profits to the CIA-backed Nicaraguan Contras. Gary Webb pushed his investigation even further in his book, Dark Alliance: The CIA, The Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Drawing from then newly declassified documents, undercover DEA audio and videotapes that had never been publicly released, federal court testimony, and interviews, Webb demonstrates how our government knowingly allowed massive amounts of drugs and money to change hands at the expense of our communities. Webb’s own stranger-than-fiction experience is also woven into the book. His excoriation by the media—not because of any wrongdoing on his part, but by an insidious process of innuendo and suggestion that in effect blamed Webb for the implications of the story—had been all but predicted. Webb was warned off doing a CIA expose by a former Associated Press journalist who lost his job when, years before, he had stumbled onto the germ of the “Dark Alliance” story. And though Internal investigations by both the CIA and the Justice Department eventually vindicated Webb, he had by then been pushed out of the Mercury News and gone to work for the California State Legislature Task Force on Government Oversight. He died in 2004.

What's it like to be married to a drug addict? What should you do if you think your spouse is addicted to crack cocaine? What is crack cocaine? Having been raised during the 50s and 60s, the author had little exposure to drugs except alcohol. Then, through the eyes of his younger wife ..., he got the education he never had previously. ... His world was falling apart from a substance he knew nothing about.--Page [4] of cover.

An in-depth look at the lives, struggles, and dilemmas of women who use crack cocaine.

An up-to-date consideration of women who are plagued by crack cocaine addiction, Crack Cocaine, Crime, and Women provides integral information on the legal, lifestyle, and treatment issues specific to these drug addicts. Author Sue Mahan discusses the divergent perspectives surrounding the controversial status of these women and offers insight into their tormented reality. In a clear and practical manner, Mahan examines the common patterns of crack-addicted women and the implications for policy and practice. This informative volume also addresses the tragic consequences of children born to addicted mothers and stresses the need for policies and resources that support their well-being. Crack Cocaine, Crime, and Women offers a broad and informed perspective on the problem of crack-addicted women for a wide range of urban human service professionals, including counselors, social workers, law enforcement personnel, public health professionals, women's services providers, criminal justice professionals, and advanced students preparing to work in these fields.

Cocaine was once considered the elite's drug, with a price so high that only the very wealthy could afford it, and thought by many to be 'safe'. But during the 1980s, a dangerous and cheap derivative began appearing on the street. This drug, crack, is a cocaine free-base produced relatively safely and easily. Because of its low production costs, crack became popular among the lower classes, leading to an epidemic in the late 1980s, with estimates that over one million people used crack cocaine. The drug's name became synonymous with gangs, crime, and violence. Because of the intensity and apparent suddenness of the crack crisis, people began to wonder if there were any warning signs public officials missed and how exactly crack spread across the nation. Some even floated the theory that agencies like the CIA and FBI encouraged the use of crack in inner cities. No matter where it came from, crack is a menace that, though no longer 'epidemic', must be combated along with all other illegal drugs. This book makes a close examination of the development, responses to, and effect of the crack cocaine crisis in the United States. Included are descriptions of cocaine, crack, and the free-basing process. Also examined are the health questions surrounding the abuse problems and the allegations that governmental authorities had advance knowledge of crack. With the war on drugs a perpetual and critical battle in America, the facts and analyses presented here are of paramount importance to the understanding of a major issue of society's safety.

Using first-hand experience, the author presents a practical treatment approach, originally designed for crack patients, but generally applicable to chemical dependency problems. It also explains the social, biological and psychological factors in crack addiction and various barriers to treatment.