�percent of the entire population of the United States has tried cocaine during their lifetime. It is adults, especially men who have the highest rate of cocaine use (Rees). We live in an addiction culture. Our drug of choice is as individual as the kinds of clothes we wear. Certain drugs have status in this country. Cocaine is more expensive and is seen as a white elitist drug of choice, while its cheaper counterpart, crack, is for lower class people of color who can't afford the luxury of cocaine. There are standards, even in the drug world. This is about cocaine and its cheaper counterpart crack. In previous years the legal penalty for crack cocaine dealers has been much more extensive than their powder cocaine buddies. This, in my opinion, has been due in large part to the class and wealth breakdown of the two drugs mentioned before. The legal system has severely punished the poor and impoverished who either use of sell crack cocaine. Even more so than their more wealthy counterparts selling and using powder cocaine. Also, the wealthy are more likely to post the bail needed or pull the strings necessary to avoid any serious jail time all together. The poor were being punished while the rich are virtually left alone to wallow in their drug induced bliss as long as they contribute to the capitalist society and keep the wheels of commerce moving. This has changed with the advent of the Obama administration's attempts to equalize the penalty between the two drugs. The Assistant Attorney General, Lanny Breuer, was quoted stating that the gaps between the minimum sentencing for the two drugs has undermined people's trust in the "judicial institutions" (Meyer). As of right now, it takes up to one hundred times more powder cocaine to warrant the same sentencing as crack cocaine.Cocaine as a Basis for Addiction Research
: http://alcoholdrugstreatment.info/cocaine-as-a-basis-for-addiction-research
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