Cocaine Use Explodes in the 80's

Cocaine Usage Hits New Peak in the 80's

The 80's was truly a decade of excess. Big hair, outlandish fashions, outrageous parties. It was fun indeed, but Cocaine use in the 80's was no laughing matter.

Cocaine usage reached an all time high in the mid 1980's.  The reason being there was an over-abundance of the drug  at the time, thus the price was right. You did not need to be rich to indulge.

It was being shipped to Miami from the outer islands of the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic, and these Islands had shit loads of it. The basic principle of supply and demand caused a price drop of almost 80%. At the time also, the US was not too up to speed on stopping it. It's estimated over 8 million Americans were using Cocaine in the 80's.

Crack Rears Its Ugly Head

To make matters worse, a new form of Cocaine, Crack hit the streets in large scale around 1984. Crack was even cheaper to buy then traditional Cocaine, and first reared it's ugly head in  Los Angeles.

Soon, it became an epidemic in most inner cities. By 1986 Crack appeared on the streets of over 48 major US cities.

This ugly drug led to increases in poverty, crime, unemployment, violence and inevitably death.


There is no doubt the 80's were a magical time in my eyes. This is one part of culture and history we truly could of done without.