If Meth were like Crack...

[soulflower]

Actually, it isn't BS. I've known a number of heroin addicts over the years and no surprise, they didn't start with heroin.

And most Crack addicts tend to be 30 and older.

You'll come across very few people addicted to Crack in their 20s...

[Wizard777]

The primary user of Meth first tries it is a young white male, between 14 and 19-years-old.
The primary user of Crack first tries it is a young black male, between 14 and 19-years-old.

While Crack has a stronger "high" and stronger addictive qualities, adding to its quick spread in city communities, let's just assume they're close enough.

The biggest difference is policing and sentencing.

5-grams of Crack gets you mandatory 5-years minimum sentence.

90-grams of Meth, I recently read here, gets you 5-months.

Imagine if it were also 5-years?
Imagine if all those young white males, from 2000 to 2012 that were caught with a few grams of meth, let along a friggin' lab, were still in prison or just possibly getting out?

Try and imagine the disastrous effect it would have on their communities and "white culture" as a whole?

Imagine if, instead of social campaigns to stop Meth use the government used policing campaigns - thus increasing the incarceration rate?

I think, and hope, you might recognize it would be horrendous. Perhaps you might understand how and why Crack cocaine and the sentencing of it's possession, would have such a huge impact on "Black America" still today.

Slavery (destruction of culture, language, history) -> Jim Crow (destruction of economic development, disenfranchisement of voting rights) -> Crack (destruction of community)

Slavery was from Birth of the Nation until 1865, Jim Crow was 1865 until 1965, Cocaine and Crack from 1970 until 2000 (when use dissipated).

These are not discrete effects upon Black American society, but cumulative.

If Meth were as bad as Crack, "White America" may not have the first two as strong a drag upon them, but it'd be suffering mightily under the weight of Meth...

Actually Meth is the stronger high and it lasts longer. Meth is also more addictive for two reasons. The first is that most meth users started with cocaine then switched to meth because it's cheaper and the effects are more pronounced. With a lot of people what they actually like about a cocaine high actually comes from the amphetamines it's cut with. Not the cocaine it's self. The second reason is that Meth is psychologically harder to quit.

[Wizard777]

Actually, it isn't BS. I've known a number of heroin addicts over the years and no surprise, they didn't start with heroin.

I'm not saying that everyone is that way. But there are drug users that have never used Marijuana or other drugs. Some people don't need to experiment because they found their perfect drug or drug of choice first time out. There was a study done on the Gateway Theory back in the 90's. They found groups of people in Chicago that have never used anything other than heroin. They also found people that have been life long marijuana users that have never used any other drug. For the Gateway Theory to be anything other than BS neither of those groups can exist. Yet they do.

[Wizard777]

And most Crack addicts tend to be 30 and older.

You'll come across very few people addicted to Crack in their 20s...

There are trends in drug use just like anyother market. There are people using crack in their teens and 20's. But it does currently trend toward older people. Right now teens are trending away from marijuana to pills. Most, but not all, are opiates. Hillbilly heroin is poised to become the new Gateway Drug. So not only can you move the goal posts. Apparently you can move the Gateway too.