Following on from our previous episode on the AIDS epidemic, this time we’re focussing on another large scale social issue that swept the world - but more specifically the United States - in the late 1980s and early 90s. This is an epidemic of a different kind - drug use, in the form of Crack Cocaine.

  The so-called “War on Drugs” will reach a fever pitch over this period, irrevocably changing the United States’ relationship with its black population, drug use, and its federal prison system

This episode's guest is Craig Reinarman, Professor of Sociology and Legal Studies Emeritus, at the University of California Santa Cruz. Professor Reinarman has written extensively on drug scares and Crack in particular.