Office of National Drug Control Policy -- Publications -- Pulse Check: Trends in Drug Abuse, Summer 1998

Table 5
Law Enforcement Report on Cocaine/Crack

	City
	Birmingham, AL	Los Angeles, CA	Denver, CO	Bridgeport, CT
Use	Up	Down	Stable	Down slightly
Who's Using/ Change in Users	Increased crack use in middle-class users; more young users.	Mostly adult African American male users.	Wide variety of users; all races.	Wide variety of users; all ages.
Method of Use	Smoking Snorting	Smoking	Snorting Smoking	Snorting
Drugs in Combination	Marijuana		Methamphetamine
Who's Selling	Young African American males.	African American males, 18-26.	Mexican nationals.	Sold in housing projects, low rent areas.
Purchase Amount/Purity	$50 per gram but variable in price; variable purity.	$10 per rock.	$1000 per ounce; 40% purity.	$5 per bag; 50% purity.
Other/ Comments

Table 5 (cont'd.)
Law Enforcement Report on Cocaine/Crack

	City
	Washington, DC	Miami, FL	Chicago, IL	Boston, MA
Use	Stable or down	Stable at high level	Stable	Up slightly
Who's Using/ Change in Users	21-50 years; 60% male, 40% female.	"Everyone"; middle school to early 60's; more males than females; increased incidence in schools.		Mostly young inner city users; more powder cocaine in suburbs.
Method of Use	Snorting	Snorting		Snorting Smoking
Drugs in Combination	Heroin	Marijuana
Who's Selling		Multi-drug sellers.	Gangs.	"Everybody"; wholesalers in city.
Purchase Amount/Purity	$10 for <60 mg; $20 for 80-150 mg; $50 for 350-500 mg; $100 for 800-1000 mg; 47%-86% purity.	$17,500 per kg; $600 per ounce; fairly high purity (50%).	$10 for 1/5 gram.	$40 per gram; variable purity.
Other/ Comments	Low grade or no drug content is sometimes sold so color-coded bags are used to indicate purities.

Table 5 (cont'd.)
Law Enforcement Report on Cocaine/Crack

	City
	Baltimore, MD	Columbia, MD	Trenton, NJ	New York, NY
Use	Stable	Stable	Up slightly-crack; stable- powder cocaine	Stable
Who's Using/ Change in Users	Both males and females; 25-40 years; Caucasians and African Americans.	20's-30's.	Crack: both males and females; African Americans; 16-32 years. Cocaine: Caucasian males and females; 21-35 years.	Wide range of users; powdered cocaine used in club scene.
Method of Use	Smoking Snorting	Smoking Snorting Injection	Smoking Snorting	Smoking Snorting
Drugs in Combination	Heroin	Heroin	Marijuana	Alcohol
Who's Selling	Variable; typically African American males under 25 years; dealers often move from city to city according to market.	Usually African Americans from inner city.	Crack dealers are predominantly African American males; powdered cocaine dealers are predominantly Latino.	Mostly young (15-18 years); mostly male; usually do not sell other types of drugs; all ethnicities; all types of neighborhoods.
Purchase Amount/ Purity	$10 per rock	Powder: $180 for 1/8 ounce; $375 for 3 ounces. Crack: $25 per rock, $395 for 3 ounces; fairly high purity (60-70%).	Powder: $40-$50 for ½ gram, $75-$100 per gram. Crack: $40 per gram.	Powder: $25-$30 per gram; $24,000 per kg; variable purity. Crack: $3,$5,$10 per vial; high purity.
Other/ Comments

Table 5 (cont'd.)
Law Enforcement Report on Cocaine/Crack

	City
	Cleveland, OH	Eugene, OR	Austin, TX
Use	Up slightly	Stable	Up slightly
Who's Using/ Change in Users	"Everybody"; though predominantly African American users.	Mostly Caucasian users; both male and female users; mostly adult users.	Wide range of users.
Method of Use	Smoking Snorting	Smoking Snorting Injection	Smoking
Drugs in Combination		Heroin	Heroin
Who's Selling	"Everyone"	Mostly Latinos and Mexican nationals; also sell methamphetamine and marijuana.	African American, Caucasian, and Latino males; African American females; also sell other drugs.
Purchase Amount/Purity	$100 per gram for crack.	$20 for 1/4 gram; $100 per gram; $800-$1000 per ounce.	$10 per small rock.
Other/ Comments

Table 5 (cont'd.)
Law Enforcement Report on Cocaine/Crack

	City
	San Antonio, TX	Seattle, WA	Yakima, WA
Use	Up	Stable	Stable
Who's Using/ Change in Users	Wide range of users; both male and female users; Latinos and Caucasians; under 40 years.	Crack: diverse group of users. Cocaine: older than crack users.	Both male and female users; 15-50 years.
Method of Use	Snorting Smoking	Smoking Snorting	Snorting
Drugs in Combination	Marijuana Alcohol		Heroin Methamphetamine
Who's Selling	Wide range of sellers; mostly males; 20's; usually don't sell other drugs.	Predominantly Mexicans; also sell methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana.	Mostly Mexican males; also sell methamphetamine, heroin, and marijuana.
Purchase Amount/Purity	$80-$90 per gram; $825 per ounce; purity has decreased slightly (60% purity).	$700-$5000 per ounce.	$40 per gram; 10%-25% purity at street level; 25%-80% purity at wholesale level.
Other/ Comments

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