Anyone I could interview about the history of crack?

[Luther Blissett]

I am currently working on a website (not a blog, not a news site…I don't know what to call it other than a "website." Think a small-scale good.is, but pushier and containing much more rigorous intuition) and want to write a piece about the history of crack in America, but this is one subject where the real gnostic details seem very hidden and convoluted. Most other content that I'm working on I've had some success with research and thought construction, but I'm at somewhat of a loss when it comes to the rise of crack in the American ghettos.

Basically this project is a way for me to leverage my skills in design and research since I find a lot of really progressive "activist" pages to be severely lacking in formal design and visual communications. I'm of the school of thought that bad presentation denigrates the message and in some cases even discredits it. I'm sure we've all tried linking to a poorly-designed site in order to support an argument, only to have our opponent tell us that they can't or won't trust the message based on bad presentation. I don't have any big dreams for it, but I want to use what I know constructively for good. For instance, I have a HUGE al qaeda interactive timeline / map in the works, as I've never seen anything like this before and I think it would really help researchers understand the connections in tracing back to Afghan-Soviet war, the rise of radical Islam, and it's connections to US defense and intel.

You don't need to apply your personality or personal info at all, as this won't be like a punk zine q and a format; it's for pure information-gathering purposes only. You can use a a pseudonym as I'll be writing/designing under a pen name anyway (and rigorous intuition will probably be one of the only places that i'll be linking the site to a personal account).

I have no timeline for publication but I plan on letting the lounge know when I launch.

What's funny is that searching the forums for "crack+cia" only returns hits that mention this connection offhandedly as if it's something we're just supposed to "know" - and not just Reagan-era contra connections, but the more complete history dating back to the 70's and earlier.

[American Dream]

I saw your inquiry- not sure what you're ultimately looking for- Mike Ruppert is a paradoxical character but he did write something on the earlier history of the CIA and freebase coke- says they knew how compelling the smoke is because Ron Seigel at UCLA did early research which showed them that.

Also, he did appear at a Crack the CIA forum in LA where another speaker- a black man- spoke about being a dealer who used to sell to rich white rock groups and seemed to know a lot about the early history of the trade from the inside.

Is that the kind of thing you're looking for, and/or something else?

[Simulist]

Anyone I could interview about the history of crack?

Oh. You meant the drug.

[American Dream]

Here are a few of the easier to find citations:

Blacks Were Targeted for CIA Cocaine - It Can Be Proven
http://www.copvcia.com/free/pandora/bla ... geted.html


Drug War: Black Fiends
http://www.drugwar.com/blackfiends.shtm


The CIA Has the Real Dope
http://www.drugwar.com/pciadrugsconnections.shtm

[Nordic]

Didn't Gary Webb write a book about exactly this?

[Laodicean]

Not a book. Just real investigative journalism.

Webb's Dark Alliance series in its entirety.

[Luther Blissett]

I was trying to put a twist on the subject that, in talking it out via pm with American Dream, I realized had a really indistinct angle. I might revisit it but for now I have a series of essays in the works with a lot more polish and focus.

I've always liked Gary Webb (is he included in the suicides and accidents list?), but really only recently learned that his work had been largely vindicated posthumously. Growing up as a young Tribe Called Quest kid in the early 90's exposed me to a lot of stuff like Webb, even if I couldn't always wrap my head around the implications at the time. I do think he wrote a book version of Dark Alliance, later in his career.

I think it's worthwhile to discuss the subject, and we don't have any threads specifically about crack (at least, I don't think so). Are there any non-Freeway, non-Gary Webb sources on the involvement of the state in crack cocaine in the US?

One interesting tidbit I learned this week - at the close of 1986, crack was only available in 28 states. In today's world of dumbo Friedman books and Aronovsky-directed Meth PSA's aimed at middle america, this is kind of mindblowing to me.

[American Dream]

Are there any non-Freeway, non-Gary Webb sources on the involvement of the state in crack cocaine in the US?
.

Depends where you draw the line between international wholesaling and domestic retailing, amongst other things.

The best single source for information on this topic that I can think of would be Cocaine politics: drugs, armies, and the CIA in Central America, by Peter Dale Scott and Jonathan Marshall.

[wordspeak2]

Yeah, that- PDS.

But if you're interested in the topic politically but slightly less conspiratorially, Luther, I'd recommend Eric Sterling, a prominent drug policy reform activist who used to work in the government in the 80's. He's pretty accessible.
http://www.cjpf.org/about/ericbio.html