Cocaine

Paper Summary:

This paper provides a brief history of cocaine use and an overview of the disparity between powdered cocaine users and crack cocaine users and will enumerate the reasons for the disparity. The paper also looks at the disparity between the sentencing of powdered cocaine users and crack cocaine users.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Review of Related Literature
Cocaine: Facts and History
Effects of Cocaine
History of Cocaine Use
Social Classes of America
Upper Class
Middle Class
Working Class
Lower Class
Crack vs. Powdered Cocaine
Powdered Cocaine
Crack Cocaine
Class Disparity on Powdered Cocaine and Crack Cocaine Use
Introduction of Cocaine to the Capitalist Economy
The Disparity of Crack vs. Cocaine Use
Sentencing Policy on Cocaine and Crack Cocaine
Racial Disparity
Legislative History
Litigation
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"In the case United States v. Armstrong, four defendants in Los Angeles charged with trafficking crack cocaine filed a motion for discovery or dismissal, alleging that they were victims of "selective prosecution" by race. This motion was made after the federal public defender's office found that all 24 crack cocaine cases closed in Los Angeles in 1991 involved blacks. The district court and the circuit court upheld the motion, but the federal prosecutor refused to comply. The government then appealed to the Supreme Court, which decided in favor of the government."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Archer, Louise et al. Higher Education and Social Class: Issues of Exclusion and Inclusion (RoutledgeFalmer, 2003)
• Bayer, Ronald, and Oppenheimer, Gerald M., eds. Confronting Drug Policy: Illicit Drugs in a Free Society. Cambridge : Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge , 1993.
• Coyle, Michael. "Race and Class Penalties in Crack Cocaine Sentencing." The Sentencing Project. September 2007 www.sentencingproject.org
• Dennis Gilbert; The American Class Structure Wadsworth, 2002
• Grusky, David B. ed.; Social Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective (2001) scholarly articles

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