The Rise of the Crack Epidemic

In 1985, Ira Chasnoff published a study that he did on the babies of 23 women who had exposed them to cocaine while they were in the uterus. His findings was that they were less friendly, less social, didn't interact as much with parents and displayed these interpersonal problems which he attributed to drug exposure. When we talk about the crack epidemic in this time, it's also a way of talking about white America's fears of black Americans and black poverty - quote the inner cities. And so crack baby becomes a way of saying black baby.