The Crack Epidemic (1984-1990)
Crack cocaine first began to be used on a massive scale in Los Angeles in 1984. Between February and July 1984 cocaine abuse and related violence had exploded to unprecedented levels in the city, and by 1985, crack was available in most of the major American cities. South Central, where the crack cocaine problem was the worst in the country, became the site of many police raids. Previously unknown gangs were growing and new were emerging. The rap music genre, TV shows and movies portrayed that part of Los Angeles as a no-go zone and a highly violent area.
Read more about this topic: Crime In Los Angeles
Famous quotes containing the words crack and/or epidemic:
“You waves, though you dance by my feet like children at play,
Though you glow and you glance, though you purr and you dart;
In the Junes that were warmer than these are, the waves were more gay,
When I was a boy with never a crack in my heart.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“This movie deals with the epidemic of the way we live now.
What an inane cardplayer. And the age may support it.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)