Pulse Check
National Trends in Drug Abuse
Winter 1998

Table 4
Ethnographers and Epidemiologists Report on Cocaine/Crack

	City
	Bridgeport, CT	Newark, DE	Miami, FL
Use	Stable	Stable
Who's Using/ Change in Users	60% African-American, 40% Hispanic; 50% males, 50% females; 20-29 years	All ethnic groups; 18 years to mid 40's; more males than females; some increase in use by higher socioeconomic groups.	Inner-city users; mostly African-American population
Prevalent Method of Use	Snorting	Snorting Smoking Injection (usually combined with heroin)	Snorting Smoking Injection
Drugs in Combination	Some alcohol Some marijuana	Alcohol Marijuana Heroin	Alcohol Marijuana Heroin Tobacco MDMA
Who's Selling	Mostly males, 15-25 years at street level.; Older (25+ years) sell using beepers	Wide variety; street level dealers in mid-teens to mid-30's; also sell marijuana	Hispanics; also sell heroin
Price/Purity	$10 per bag; high purity	$10-35 per bag; good purity usually but varies	$10 per bag (30-100 mg.), $3-5 per rock
Other/ Comments

	City
	St. Petersburg, FL	Honolulu, HI	Chicago, IL
Use	Stable at low level	Increase in treatment admissions, stable number of arrests	Most prevalent drug of abuse; increase in use, but still much lower level than years ago
Who's Using/ Change in Users	Compared to heroin, more African American users; in Caucasian population users mostly over 25 years, but there are some younger users.	Higher income users than heroin; in 20's to late 30's; Caucasian and Hawaiian users	Crack users are a very heterogeneous group. Increase in use by Latino population, females, and youth
Prevalent Method of Use	Smoking Snorting	Smoking Snorting	Smoking Crack injection (increasing but less common than smoking.)
Drugs in Combination	Powder-tend to be polydrug users (marijuana, LSD, MDMA); Crack-tend to use only crack cocaine	Polydrug use in younger user group	Heroin (speedballing); Marijuana (primos, 3750)
Who's Selling	Powder-less organized, peer-structured; Crack-distributed primarily in African-American community by several groups	Mexican Nationals	Gang-controlled; Sell all types of drugs
Price/Purity	Crack-$10-$20 rocks. Powder-$20, $30, $40, $50 increments; $100-125 per gram, $70 per gram.	$30-50 per rock; $25-35 per 1/10 gram; $100-120 per gram; $26,000-52,000 per kg. Purity varies with quantity; 90% for 1 lb.+ purchases; 20-50% for gram purchases.	Powder: $18,000-24,000 per kg, $2000 per ounce, $50 per gram for lower quality. Crack: $5-10 per rock. Purity: 68%.
Other/ Comments

	City
	Minneapolis, MN	Kansas City, MO	New York, NY
Use	Cocaine accounts for more hospital emergency room admissions and overdose deaths than any other illicit drug	One of top three drugs of choice (with alcohol and marijuana)	Stable
Who's Using/ Change in Users	57% African-American, 35% Caucasian; 36% female, 64% male; 87% over 25 years	Used in urban core; users predominantly African-American; use by youths has declined; users in 20's and 30's	All ethnicities, all ages, both genders
Prevalent Method of Use	Most smoke	Most smoke	Smoking Snorting Injection (often combined with heroin)
Drugs in Combination	Heroin (speedballing; not predominant)	Alcohol Marijuana	Heroin (speedballing) Alcohol
Who's Selling	Gangs; also sell heroin and marijuana	Widely available; may be sold by teens and young adults	Younger group than heroin sellers; sometimes sell other drugs
Price/Purity	Crack: $20 per rock Powder: $100 per gram, $1,000-1,200 per ounce, $18,000-24,000 per kg.		$10, $15, $20 per bag in open markets; indoor sales sell in quantities desired by buyer
Other/ Comments			Crack cocaine market not expanding

	City
	Austin, TX	San Antonio, TX	Seattle, WA
Use	Primary illegal drug used	Stable	Decrease
Who's Using/ Change in Users	Caucasians, Hispanics, African-Americans; young users; increased use by Caucasians and Hispanics; powder cocaine is used by upper socioeconomic class	Young, lower-income African Americans smoke crack; snorting is more sophisticated; upper-class professional Caucasians snort; more male users than female	Evenly spread among gender and ethnicities
Prevalent Method of Use	Smoking Snorting Injection "Shebanging" (mixed with water and squirted up nose)	Smoking Snorting Injection Mixed with marijuana	Smoking Snorting Injection
Drugs in Combination	Alcohol Methamphetamine	Marijuana	Heroin
Who's Selling	Teens; in Lubbock-African Americans and young Hispanic gangs	Mexican mafia; also sell other drugs	Multi-ethnic youth gangs
Price/Purity	Powder: $500-1,200 per ounce (50-88% purity), $20-100 per gram (40% purity); Crack: $500-1,000 per ounce (60% purity), $10-50 per rock	$10 per gram, $30 per gram, $75-85 per 1/16 ounce, $150-170 per 1/8 ounce, $1,200-1,400 per ounce	$10 per 1/5 gram, $35-40 per gram, $70 per 1 : gram ("Teener")
Other/ Comments

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