Clarence Lusane. Pipe Dream Blues: Racism and the War on Drugs. Boston, MA: South End Press. 1991.

Blacks represent only 12% of all illegal drug users, however, they constitute 41% of those arrested on cocaine and heroin charges. (p.3)

Nearly 40 million people live under the poverty level, which is $7,704 for a family of 2, $9,435 for a family of 3, and $12,092 for a family of 4. The official poverty line, established in 1967, was based on the research of Mollie Orshansky who used the cost of a basic food basket for its calculation. (p.12-3)

Studies indicate that when black and white teenagers commit the same crime police and courts are 7x more likely to charge the black teens with a felony and convict. The rate of incarceration for black teens to white teens is 44 to 1. (p. 23)

25% of young black men are on parole, probation, or incarcerated compared to 6% of whites. (p. 23)

Companies that controlled the slave trade in the 17^th, 18^th, and 19^th century, such as the British East India Company, also became dominant in the drug trade. (p. 28)

The morphine addiction epidemic that resulted from the treatment of soldiers with morphine in the mid 1800s became known as the “soldier’s illness”. An estimated 250,000 people were addicted to opiates in the US by 1900. (p.30)

Merchants heavily marketed opium to the working class of China after the economic recession of 1870. The merchant class became involved in prostitution, gambling, and drugs causing an epidemic of opium addiction in China. (p. 31)

Squibb, Merck, and Park Davis were pharmaceutical companies heavily involved in cocaine distribution. Sigmund Freud bought his 1^st gram of coke from Merck for $1.27. Dr. H. Rusby, a botanist who was sent to Bolivia by the Park Davis Company to purchase coca leaves, is credited with 1^st proposing that cocaine be refined at its source then shipped to the international market. (p. 32)

Reform or regulation of drug policy in the U.S. was at 1^st fought by the American Pharmaceutical Association, pharmacists, and drug companies who then took a leading role in shaping them. The District of Columbia Pharmacy Act, the 1^st federal drug control law, was passed in May 1906. (p. 33)

In 1909 President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Hamilton Wright to lead a commission to the international conference on opium prohibition. Wright went on to create the strongest anti-drug legislation in existence and earned the nickname “father of America’s drug laws”. (p. 33)

The Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914 was written as a tax law but eliminated the use of morphine, opium, heroin, and other addictive drugs through the creation of strict regulations and harsh penalties. (p. 34)

S. Africa outlawed marijuana in 1911 to stop the radicalization of blacks because it was blamed for the black power movement. S. Africa led the international fight to ban hemp. The S. African politicians involved had significant ties to Southern farmers and politicians in the U.S. (p. 34)

The Hearst newspaper empire was largely responsible for the connection of race to drug use. Hearst newspapers published massive propaganda about sordid drug use among the black population. (p. 37)

In the early 1900s the USDA was predicting that hemp would be the #1 crop in America. Hearst and Dupont formed an alliance to outlaw hemp. Hemp was outlawed in 1938, however, 1yr later it was still referred to by Popular Mechanics as the billion dollar crop. (p. 37)

Harry Jacob Anslinger, director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and a devote racist, was responsible for the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. Anslinger and McCarthy were good friends and in his biography Anslinger revealed that he supplied McCarthy with morphine. (p. 38)

Heroin Trafficking in black communities on the east coast in the 1940s were controlled by NY’s top 5 mafia families and the French-Cuban syndicates in Florida. The Joseph Bonnano family, Carlo Gambino family, Vito Genovese family, Thomas Luichese family, and Potaci-Magliolic family had taken the Jewish Mafia’s interests in the heroin market in the early ‘40s. (p. 39)

Arnold Rothstein, famous for bribing the Yankees in the 1919 World Series, controlled a significant portion of liquor in NYC during the prohibition era. (p. 39)

David Shultz, a Jewish gangster, controlled illegal activity in Harlem until 1935 when it was left to scattered black and Puerto Rican gangs. (p. 39)

Frank Matthews was the 1^st black drug kingpin in NY. He worked for Louis Cirillo, one of the mafia’s largest distributors, from 1944 until 1967 when he began to distribute drugs for the French Connection. Within a year Matthews controlled a significant portion of drug distribution in nearly every city in the country. Between 1967 and 1971 Matthews grossed over $100 million. According to a Justice Department report in 1976, 9 people supplying drugs for Matthews worked for the CIA. (p. 41)

Nicky Barnes, Matthews successor in NY, and L.A.’s ‘magnificent 7’, the 1^st major drug distribution ring on the west coast, became the major distributors in the 1970s. (p. 42)

During the height of the French Connection no more then 8 tons of heroin entered the U.S. each year. At the height of the heroin pipeline that resulted from the Vietnam War 60 tons of heroin entered into the U.S. (p. 43)

In 10 yrs black incarceration doubled from 329,821 individuals in prison in 1980 to 627,402 individuals imprisoned in 1989. (p. 44)

An increased police presence in black communities has resulted in a general increase in arrests and convictions of blacks. (p. 46)

From 1986-9 foster care cases concerning drug-addicted families rose 148% and involved over 900 children. Crack involved 77% of those cases. (p. 56)

U.S. Army doctors are being sent to inner-city emergency rooms to be trained in the application of combat medicine, a training experience that historically could only be gained from combat zones. (p. 63)

In 1989 in L.A. there were more automatic gunshot wound victims then in Beirut. (p. 64)

On September 5 1989 President Bush released the $7.8 billion National Drug Control Strategy Bill, drafted by William Bennett. The plan called for a massive wave of arrests, eviction of unprosecuted dealers in public housing, and warrant less searches. The plan added four new coordinating bodies to the 30 committees and subcommittees and 32 federal agencies already coordinating federal drug policy: the Supply Reduction Working Group, the Demand Reduction Working Group, the Joint Intelligence Collection Center, and the Drug Control Research and Development Committee. (p. 67-70)

In May 1990 the Bush administration submitted a new legislative package also drafted by William Bennett, the National Drug Control Strategy Implementation Act of 1990, to congress. The Act expanded the authority of Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and enabled them to arrest aliens on non-immigration charges and accelerated the deportation process for aliens convicted of drug related crimes. The Act also included a provision that allowed the seizure of legal property as a substitute for property suspected of being bought with drug money but not found. (p. 70)

The drug policy legislation of the Bush administration advocated for alternative sentencing for casual users known as Special Alternative Incarceration, Disciplinary Rehabilitation, Challenge Incarceration, or Shock Incarceration. (p. 70)

Governor Nelson Rockefeller passed the “Rockefeller Laws” in NY that had no effect on drug trafficking or use but imprisoned those caught with an ounce of heroin or cocaine for life and those caught with an ounce of marijuana to 15 yrs in prison. (p. 72)

NORAD, a backscatter radar designed to detect nuclear missiles launched from Soviet submarines, has been incorporated into the Pentagon’s $627 million drug detection and monitoring mission. AWAC airplanes and U.S. airborne radar war stations spend 40% of their time tracking drug trafficking. (p. 72)

The international aspects of the National Drug Control Strategy Implementation Act increased anti-drug aid to Peru, Bolivia, and Columbia to $300 million and included provisions that allowed direct aid to drug enforcement agencies in the countries and U.S. intervention into their judicial processes. (p. 72)

Bush proposed funding the National Drug Control Strategy Implementation Act through cutting funding to State and Federal programs. Programs earmarked for cuts were juvenile justice assistance programs, programs for immigrants, Economic Development Administration grants, and subsidies for public housing. (p. 73)

William Bennett, Reagan’s Secretary of Education and Bush’s Drug Policy Director, was instrumental in cutting programs that gave low-income and minority students access to higher education. Reagan and Bennett proposed a reduction in Pell grants, the elimination of Supplemental Grants, a 28% decrease in work-study programs, and more stringent restrictions on loans. (p. 74-5)

Bob Martinez was nominated by Bush to replace William Bennett as Drug Policy Director. Martinez stiffened drug penalties and dramatically increased the capacity of prisons. (p. 76)

The narcotic rehabilitation facility established by Congress in Lexington, Kentucky in 1929 was used by the CIA as a part of the MK-Ultra program in the 1960s to test LSD on recovering addicts. (p. 77)

Congress created the Controlled Substances Act and the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act in 1970 to consolidate drug policy legislation. (p. 77)

In 1972 Nixon declared a total war on drugs and called for a “concentrated assault on the street-level heroin pusher.” In 1973 Nixon created the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to control the Federal war on drugs. (p. 77)

In 1982 Reagan appointed George Bush director of the South Florida Task Force charged with preventing drug trafficking in S. Florida. In 1983 Bush directed the National Narcotics Border Interdiction System. (p. 79)

Methamphetamines were invented by the Japanese in 1893 and introduced to the U.S. in the 1930s. Methamphetamines became the drug of choice in the U.S. after cocaine and marijuana were outlawed. (p. 84)

Crystal Meth was developed in Japan and S. Korea and appeared in the U.S. in Hawaii around 1987. Labs in South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines supplied the Crystal Meth market in Hawaii. Crystal Meth trafficking in the U.S. is controlled by outlaw motorcycle groups and Asian gangs. (p. 84)

The estimated markup of coca leaves to cocaine is 700% and is higher for crack cocaine. The markup from heroin is estimated to be 2,000%. Many peasants have expanded from cultivating coca leaves to manufacturing coca paste due to the increased profits. (p. 87)

Medellin cartel leadership consists of Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela and Jose Santacruz Medellin. At the height of its operation the Medellin cartel employed 70,000 operatives but was targeted by the war on drugs and driven underground. In the mid 1990s the Cali cartel controlled 50% of Colombia’s cocaine exports to the U.S. (p. 90)

Honduran billionaire Juan Ramon Matta Ballesteros is credited with the invention of the “Mexican trampoline” method of smuggling, which is transferring Colombian coke to experienced Mexican smugglers who connect it to Colombian cartels in the U.S. who then bounce the profits back to Colombia. (p. 90)

Khun Sa, leader of the Shan United Army of Burma, is believed to control ½ of the opium grown in Burma and 70% of the heroin exported from the Golden Triangle. (p.90)

7 families have traditionally controlled the heroin market and law enforcement agencies in Mexico: the Herreras, the Maciaces, the Romeros, the Favelas, the Sicilia-Falcons, the Valenzuelas, and the Aviles-Quinteros. (p. 90)

National and regional distribution of black market commodities are handled by street gangs such as L.A.’s Bloods and Crips, Chicago’s Vice Lords and El Rukns, and Miami’s Untouchables who control a significant portion of the cocaine, crack, and PCP trade. The Justice Department estimates that there are hundreds of drug trafficking organizations operating in the U.S. The Crips and Bloods have no central controlling body so it is misleading to refer to them as a gang. The name describes hundreds of black gangs across the country. Police speculate that there are 200 small “sets” of gangs that identify with the Crips and 65-70 that identify with the Bloods. (p.91-2)

Front line distribution of narcotics in the U.S. is handled by street sellers, lookouts, couriers, workers in heroin “shooting galleries”, and crack-house operators. They are the 1^st targeted by the war on drugs and the 1^st killed due to black market violence. (p. 93)

Bruce Johnson of Narcotics and Drug Research, Inc. concluded that, “less than 20% of the people engaged in drug dealing have a net-worth cash return of as much as $1,000.” A Rockefeller Foundation funded study reported that street-level dealers in D.C. made between $740-$1000 a week. In a San Francisco State University study Phillippe Bourgois reported that a crack house worker made $50 to $70 for an 8hr shift which worked out to $O.50 per vial of crack. (p.94)

Money launderers range from individuals who use the cash and carry method of packing suitcases full of cash and traveling with it to operators who use banking and electronic money wiring facilities to transfer black market profits. The most frequently used vehicles to transfer cash are banks in the U.S., the Caribbean, and Hong Kong. Colombia traffickers use banks in Aruba, the Cayman Islands, Uruguay, and Panama. Chinese traffickers use banks in Taiwan and Hong Kong. There are 29 nations that have no barriers for laundering money: Austria, Bahrain, Barbados, Bermuda, Costa Rica, Grenada, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Singapore, Switzerland, Channel Islands, Caicos Islands, Isle of Man, Nauru, and Vanuatu. (p. 95)

An indication that a bank is involved in money laundering is the growth of the cash surplus of the bank. A cash surplus occurs when banks in an area receive more money from the local Federal Reserve Board then they pay to it. In 1982 the cash surplus in Florida had grown from a cash surplus of $576 million in 1970 to $5.2 billion. A similar pattern appeared in banks in Texas, New Orleans, and S. California. (p. 95)

In 1982 the federal investigation, “Operation Greenback”, discovered that Capital Bank of Miami had accepted $242 million in black market profits over an 18mo period. The investigation ended due to the Reagan administration’s easing of banking regulations. Capital Bank has expanded its operations and has a new branch 2 blocks from the White House. (p. 96)

The Houston Post conducted an 18mo investigation into the Savings & Loan (S&L) scandal that revealed links between the 22 failed banks, the Contras, and drug traffickers.

Neil Bush, George W.’s brother, was on the board of directors of the Silverado S&L and served as an outside director from 1985-8. Silverado’s borrowers had ties to Robert Corson, a known money launderer, who worked with Lawrence Freeman, money launderer for the Trafficante family. (p. 96)

Mario Renda was a central money launderer in the S&L scandal. Renda operated out of Long Island and had ties to the Bambino and Lucchesse crime families. (p. 97)

Frank Castro, leader of a Cuban drug smuggling syndicate in Florida and active member of the Contra training and supply apparatus, was involved in the purchase of the Miami Sunshine State Bank. He was caught smuggling 425,000 tons of Marijuana into the U.S. but charges were dropped. (p. 97)

Michael Abbell, former director of the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, now works as the Washington representative for the Cali cartel. (p. 97)

Many of the chemicals used to make cocaine such as ammonium chloride, acetic anhydride, acetone, hydrochloric acid, and ether are also used to transform opium into morphine base and heroin. The U.S. makes 95% of the precursor chemicals needed to manufacture cocaine and heroin. Exports of these drugs to Latin America doubled in the 1980s. (p.98)

Multi-national pharmaceutical companies such as Eli Lilly and Dupont have produced methadone and other pharmaceutical treatments for addiction monopolizing the drug treatment market. (p. 99)

The Bush family has substantial stockholdings in a number of pharmaceutical companies including Abbott, Bristol, and Pfizer. From 1977-1980 when George Bush was director of the CIA Bush was appointed to the board of directors of Eli Lilly by James C. Quayle, Dan Quayle’s dad. (99-100)

Methadone was invented by the Germans in WWII as a substitute for morphine. Methadone was brought to the U.S. by Eli Lilly chemist Dr. Ervin C. Kleider who was a member of the State Dept.’s Technical Industrialist Intelligence Committee that investigated NAZI pharmaceutical companies. Methadone was 1^st marketed by Eli Lilly as a cough syrup named Dolophine, named after Adolph Hitler. After the war it was used in Europe and the U.S. to detox heroin addicts. (p. 100)

Eli Lilly was responsible for marketing the non-narcotic painkiller Darvon that was responsible for 11,000 deaths and 79,000 emergency room visits. In his book Corporate Crime and Violence Russell Mokhiber argues that George Bush played a biased role in the Justice Department’s investigation into charges that Eli Lilly scientists withheld information on Darvon from the FDA and was the reason Lilly was charged with misdemeanors and not felonies. (p. 100)

Eli Lilly is the manufacturer of herbicide tebuthiuron, or Spike, designed to destroy woody plants like the coca leaf. In 1986 George Bush and Congress appropriated $1 million for research that led to the development of Spike in 1988. (p.100-1)

Norwich Eaton, Merrell Dow, Searle, Dupont, Geigy, Marlon, and Sandoz are pharmaceutical companies that produce or are researching through government grants narcotics to use in treatment programs. Many of these companies produce highly addictive prescription drugs. (p. 101)

The tobacco industry is one of the most powerful lobby groups in Washington D.C. through individual companies and through the industry’s think tank, the Tobacco Institute. (p. 103)

In the mid 1980s a farm bill passed in Congress that reduced sugar imports to the U.S. and left 100,000 workers in the Caribbean unemployed. Jamaica and Belize were the hardest hit by the legislation and became large exporters of drugs to the U.S. (p. 113)

In Colombia drug profits account for 10% of export earnings. In Peru drug profits account for 25% of export earnings and in Bolivia drug profits account for 50% of export earnings. (p. 114)

In 1968 Vang Pao, the largest distributor of heroin from China, met with Santos Trafficante Jr. (p. 119)

The Iranian Government banished the Jamiat-i-Islami due to its ties to the CIA and involvement in heroin trafficking. The Herald, a Pakistan-based English newspaper, regularly publishes articles that state the supply route of CIA supported guerillas is the principal route for heroin moving to Karachi. (p. 120)

In 1990 Lebanon produced 4 million pounds of Hashish and 20,000 pounds of heroin. Drugs are grown principally in the Bekaa Valley region in East Lebanon and exported to Egypt, Israel, Europe, and N. America. Control of drug trafficking can be traced to an inner circle of the Syrian Gov. (p. 121)

Manuel Noriega provided the Medellin cartel with money laundering services 1976-9 through his Miami based accountant Ramon Milan Rodriguez. Banco Nacional de Panama and most other banks in Panama were used for money laundering. (p. 123)

Guillermo Endara, the U.S. installed president of Panama, has many ties to drug traffickers including Panama businessman Carlos Eleta. Panama’s Vice President, Guillermo Ford, and Ambassador to the U.S., Carlos Rodriguez, were co-founders of the Dadeland Bank in Miami, a well-known repository for the Medellin cartel. (p. 126)

Mike Harari, Yari Klein, and Amatzia Shu’ali, leading figures in Israel’s security apparatus, and S. Africans were responsible for training the paramilitary units of the Medellin cartel. Klein and Shu’ali are both connected to Spearhead, an Israeli arms company thought to be a front for Israeli secret services. (p. 127)