Issues with Drugs/Crime in 80's

Issues with drugs

• In the mid-80s, the introduction of crack cocaine turned youth drug use into a truly terrifying issue. Crack was cheap, plentiful and hideously addictive.

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• Cocaine use increased, especially a concentrated form, crack cocaine, which made users hostile and aggressive.

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• First Lady Nancy Reagan tried to discourage teen drug use with her “Just Say No” campaign. \Many young people, however, continued to use drugs, especially marijuana and amphetamines. Drug use spread from cities to small towns and rural areas.

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• Ongoing problems with drug abuse in the 1980s made many city neighborhoods dangerous. Drug users often committed crimes in order to get money for drugs, and dealers backed by street gangs fought to protect their territory.

Decades of Drug Use

• Since the 1970's the US had spent more than a trillion dollars attempting to dismantle drug cartels

Decades of Drug Use

• Since the 1970's the US had spent more than a trillion dollars attempting to dismantle drug cartels

1980's

• During the 1980's Peru, Bolivia, and Columbia were responsible for 65% of the world's cocaine production

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• The Medellín Cartel was an organized network of drug suppliers and smugglers originating in the city of Medellín, Colombia.

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• It was founded and run by Ochoa Vázquez brothers Jorge Luis, Juan David, and Fabio, together with Pablo Escobar, George Jung, Carlos Lehder and José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha
• (One of the Unites States biggest problems)

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• Abuse of alcohol was also a serious concern. Teenagers with fake identification cards could easily buy alcoholic beverages.

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• Although teen alcohol use declined during the 1980s, thousands of alcohol-related auto accidents involved young people.

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• In 1984 Congress cut highway funds to any state that did not raise the legal drinking age to 21. All states quickly complied.

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• In 1981 researchers identified a disease which caused seemingly healthy young men to become sick and die.

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• They named it “acquired immune deficiency syndrome,” or AIDS. AIDS weakens the immune system, lowering resistance to illnesses such as pneumonia and several types of cancer.

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• Centers for Disease Control had identified more than100,000 AIDS cases in the United States.

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• http://www.gallup.com/poll/6352/decades-drug-use-80s-90s.aspx