1986 NEWS SPECIAL: Crack Row | The Drug War

Crack everywhere you go. It's called Crack Row and the people there are crack addicts and they've been there for 30 days. They're living in the benches literally doing their crack. The addicts on crack row are the most obvious victims. But across America, all sorts of people are doing it. In the east, it's called crack. In the west, it's known as rock. Some call it base. It's cocaine powder mixed with baking soda, then cooked in water to a crystal form that can be smoked. so simple, crack can be made in small individual amounts like this, or mass produced in much larger chunks in stove tops or even microwave ovens. Recently, some homegrown evil genius has discovered a cheap, efficient way to make crack accessible and available to all those who can afford it. And afford it is only5 $10. Sterling Johnson, New York narcotics prosecutor. Some of the people who have taken uh this crack said uh it is a greater uh experience than a sexual orgasm. That's what they equate it with for $5. For that five or $10, the buyer gets a tiny vial like this with chunks of crack in it. Enough for one or two smokes. Crack is not just the latest drug fad. There has never been a drug on the market cheaper, easier to use, or more addictive than crack. It's so cheap, so available, an estimated 2,000 Americans try crack for the first time every day. Many of them are teenagers. It just numbs you all over. You hear bells. You're always moving. It's pretty good. Sometimes the inhaled cocaine vapor goes straight from the glass pipe stem to the brain, affecting the smoker much faster than cocaine powder snorted. In 5 to 15 seconds, the crack user is high. When you put it down, it like the stem talks to you. Walk away from the stem. It's saying calling you back. Come