During the 1980s, the spread of crack cocaine in the United States led to a large increase in drug-related deaths, hospital visits, and violent crime, and it led to a larger conversation
regarding fear mongering and the push for a more modern racial divide within the U.S. Between 1985 and 1988, reported cocaine-related deaths went up from 717 to 2,252. Emergency department visits and treatment admissions also increased during this time.
Bush writes about the crack epidemic dramatically escalating drug-related issues. The author argues that the government’s heavily punitive response, driven by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, resulted in mandatory minimum sentences that disproportionately targeted poor and Black neighborhoods.