9. The Reagan Administration accelerated the War on Drugs
When Ronald Reagan entered the White House in 1981, he quickly announced that the weak efforts of his immediate predecessor would be replaced by strong action. “We’re taking down the surrender flag that has flown over so many efforts”, Reagan intoned, promising that it would be replaced with a “battle flag”. Despite Reagan’s promise, the use of cocaine in the 1980s exploded, as it became the drug of choice among many celebrities. It was during the 1980s that the use of crack cocaine emerged and began to spread in urban areas. Wearing a coke spoon on a necklace was a popular fashion accessory. Then in 1986 the University of Maryland basketball star Len Bias died from the effects of cocaine upon his heartbeat. Reagan seized upon the death of the basketball star to shepherd through Congress the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986.
The rapid growth of the use of crack cocaine was widely reported on and generated enough public support for the act that most congressmen, though expressing some concerns over portions of the bill, reacted by voting for it (it was an election year). When signed into law the act established mandatory sentencing for most drug offenses (including cannabis) which were quickly under criticism as being in part racially divisive. The possession of five grams of crack meant a sentence of a minimum of five years without parole. The same sentence, under the mandatory sentence provisions of the act, for the possession of powder cocaine required the offender to possess at least 500 grams. Crack was widely viewed as being a problem within black communities, and the sentencing disparity aroused civil rights groups.