User reviews

This documentary is a welcome telling of the history of the crack cocaine epidemic that tries to look behind the obvious violence and misery towards the bigger picture.

Other reviewers appear to have taken objection to more uncomfortable truths - police corruption, inner cities destroyed by Reaganomics, CIA complicity etc - and I can only assume this is because these facts are threatening to their world view.

Admittedly, the film at times seems confused about its thesis but, f you think Nancy Reagan's 'Just Say No' campaign was an adequate response to the horrors that crack visited on already impoverished African-American communities or that Ronald Reagan really made America 'great again', then this documentary is not for you.

If you think that government drug policy has for decades been a hypocritical disaster and that the war on drugs' has achieved nothing except to give self serving politicians a convenient slogan to parrot, then you will probably find it an interesting, if not revelatory, account of a shameful, and still unfinished, chapter in our history.

I find it shocking how many people are denying the huge involvment of the US government into the crack cocaine epidemic during the eighties and even labeling it as a cheap conspiracy theory.

There was an official committee report lead by John Kerry in 1985.

"The report found that "the Contra drug links included... Payments to drug traffickers by the U.S. State Department of funds authorized by the Congress for humanitarian assistance to the Contras, in some cases after the traffickers had been indicted by federal law enforcement agencies on drug charges, in others while traffickers were under active investigation by these same agencies."

You can google it in a couple of minutes.

The documentery is great and way above the usual Netflix cheap thrills shows.

How much money did the Reagan-Bush-Clinton administrations spend on medical treatment for crack addicts, compared to the money spent on criminalizing them and expanding the prison system? It is one of the questions that this film tries to answer, which offers an extensive, but not particularly deep, chronicle of the "war on drugs." The result is interesting, more for the questions it raises than for the answers it offers.

I was hoping to learn more about how this travesty was allowed to happen by the government. I felt this was avoided in favour of focusing on the suffering of the communities, sometimes movingly but sometimes gratuitously. It was covered but only very briefly. To have any hope of stopping things like this from happening in future, as many people as possible need to be aware of the institutions' and individuals' complicity in the supply of such huge quantities of the drug.

There was an effective critique of the approach of the media at the time to reporting the crisis but this was undermined by sometimes indulging in the same kind of 'depravity porn'. It gives a good insight into what it was like for the victims and as such I can't really give it a low score, but ultimately left me feeling deflated rather than fired up & angry (like I wanted!). I'd refer people to noam chomsky to properly understand why this whole thing actually happened.

A lot of this is genuinely great. I particularly appreciated the openness of prior users and dealers discussing the impacts the drug had on their lives. Also, much of the background and history of why it became such a widely discussed and controversial issue was broken down with outstanding clarity.

I'm just a bit iffy on the conspiracy part, as alluded to in the title. It might well have been part of the whole package, but there's not as much evidence to back that kind of thing up, and it's not as striking as the segments that look at things like racism, crime, prostitution, and the media hysteria, because there are plenty more interview testimonies and stock footage to back that stuff up.

If the scope had been narrowed to focus on the truly impactful stuff, and the runtime ever so slightly extended to allow for some more detail in those areas, this could have been a great documentary.

As it stands, it's still better than most of the documentaries Netflix produces, and due to at least 80% of it being very compelling, I would still recommend it quite highly.

A look back at the huge arrival of cocaine in The USA in the early 80's.

Some fascinating and insightful interviews, you'll hear some surprising stories, initially you may be lured into thinking the documentary is spinning you a somewhat rose tinted view of drugs, it quickly changes, giving you a realistic, harsh view.

From a historical point of view, I found this fascinating, stories I genuinely wasn't aware off, plus the routes and ways the drugs were imported into The US. Cover ups, stitch ups, plenty of eye raising moments.

So much hypocrisy, so much intentional and open racism, some of the content is genuinely jaw dropping, Prisons, rules, laws etc.

What's astonishing, is how consecutive administrations have failed to deal with the actual problem, I don't think that any Government have been able to deal with the problem at its core, each new term have just used different sticking plasters.

It was nice to see former users and addicts, that have been able to turn their lives around, and leave crack in the past.

7/10.

This will sum up the documentary that's released in 2021; First half of film explains that crack largely effected the black community, second half of film says black communities being affected by crack was a racist stereotype. Nothing tremendously new in this documentary but still worth a watch to go over the history of crack & the 80s

It's blaming politicians, they just all happen to be white.

This is a well-made documentary that starts off about the crack epidemic but grows into a critique of America's War on Drugs in general. It covers all the milestones, such as the the Iran-Contra affair, news coverage about crack, etc. The escalation of the legislation against drug addiction is an important point that was raised.

Overall the documentary was interesting, but it's a competitor in a crowded marketplace (documentaries about drugs are a dime a dozen). Good as an intro for those that don't know much about the topic.

What I love about the documentary is that it goes into detail about how the crack epidemic started , how the government , police departments, and US was corrupt and how they tried to get rid of the minorities in the bad neighborhoods. Some pictures in there are heart breaking but it was very informing overall

I was expecting more. This doc didn't disclose or show anything new about the Crack epidemic. In fact, I felt like this doc wasn't as intrusive or in-depth as it needed to be. I expected more.

You can find better information on crack and the crack epidemic on Youtube.

I grew up in NYC during the height of the crack epidemic. No one legitimate went out after dark and we slept on the floor for fear of accidentally catching a bullet meant for a rival dealer.

It wasn't Regan, or the cops or "systemic racism" that made us afraid and kept the streets dirty. It was greed and a ghetto mentality (get rich quick and screw my people) that made it happen. The crappy economy from the 70s helped - you couldn't get a job but you could sling crack on a corner.

The archival footage was eye opening for my kids. They couldn't imagine the streets looking as bad as they did. People forget the vacant lots, garbage and rampant crime that was everywhere.

The agenda pushing and blaming the white man for all our problems gets old. I made it out - with no arrest record, drug use or anything else thanks to the military and the education it got me. These former dealers act like it's a great thing and show no remorse. Not one talks about murders or the violence they had to perpetuate to destroy or neighborhoods and make money for themselves. Instead, it takes the government conspiracy angle. Another wasted Netflix "documentary" designed to push more racial strife.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

As the 1980's dawned, president Ronald Reagan ushered in a new age of free market capitalism that allowed some to live the high life, and brought about a new sense of optimism. On the other end of the scale, others were plunged in to destitution and poverty, most notably in the dispossessed African American community. While the rich revelled in the 'status' afforded from powder cocaine, the inner cities were plunged in to an epidemic of the smokable 'crack' version of the drug, which saw an explosion of gang warfare, heavy police enforcement and disproportionate sentencing in crack/powder offences. A host of talking heads, including dealers, users and commentators, share their experiences and insight on the times, and their wider impact on the present day.

Netflix are certainly doing a number lately on documentaries, highlighting subcultural events that took place during the 1980's and 1990's, and director Stanley Nelson's depiction of the crack epidemic is thankfully one of the more digestible ones that contains itself within an hour and a half, rather than sprawling out over a whole series. It shines a light on what could well have been quite a personal tale for him, covering some no doubt harrowing tales, but sadly never with the impact it could have had.

Considering the raw, edgy ground it's covering, somehow the tone comes off a little too light and fluffy, with too soft an edge to really give it the kick it needs. There can be no doubt it's also covering ground that's already been explored quite well before, about the Iran/Contra war and the CIA funnelling drug money to fund the operation, that the journalist Gary Webb exposed. Some reviewers feel aggrieved that it seems to be a 'blame the white man' piece, and the black community not accepting personal responsibility, but considering how we now know how crack cocaine was placed among them and why, there is a legitimate grievance.

As well as covering familiar ground, some familiar faces pop up as well, such as Professor Carl Hart, the neuroscientist and activist, whose face rings a bell from 2012's The House I Live In, providing similar food for thought, but in a far less original, thought provoking or impactful film. ***

Ok. Document about crack and what it is. Where it came and how States made money of it. Most of document was good but once again this was made about people's race. Only couple of times was mentioned that there where white victims too. No former addicts that werent black. Why?? But beeing black victim is IN now. Why did it have to be race in this doc too. I am so full of this that everything has to be about race EVERYTHING.

I wanted to know about crak epidemic not about States color differences. We in Europe know enough of those things. Maybe this wouldnt be so long document..

Why cant we just talk about people not always about color??

Already been done, you wont learn anything if you already have the basic info on the crack epidemic. Netflix seems to love those doc formats filled of interviews, really not a fave of those ones (except in cases when they are present to give personal experiences and thus render info more human). Still, a quite decent watch.

Finally after years of silence an even handed account about this horrific period comes out. I lived this period and saw the devastation, was touched by it. An entire generation - especially of black and brown people - was crippled for life. The side by side comparison of the crack epidemic and the opioid epidemic tell you all you need to know about this nation's attitude toward crime.

Good archive footage, interviews and soundtrack, but also a grim reminder of the unwinnable and iniquitous War on Drugs.

This is mediocre. The filmmakers are clearly searching for a narrative, searching for a villain to indict, a conspiracy to expose, a myth to bust, a solution to propose, ..., and never find it. Instead, they throw a series of half-baked, mutually contradictory, commentaries at the wall, hoping something sticks. But ... it doesn't.

In particular, the highlighted conspiracy theory, that the crack problem in the US was caused by US involvement in the conflict in the small nation of Nicaragua, is too far fetched, and the dots too far from connected, for credibility.

I love documentary "showing both sides," usually by interweaving interviews with opposing parties. There's a right way to do that. This film just confuses the viewer by contradicting its own first hand accounts. Were the crack addicted mothers interviewed, who told of the devastation cocaine visited on their lives and families, a myth, as was later suggested? Was crack an overblown problem, xploited to promote negative stereotypes? Or were the evils all too real, but the result of a racist attack on the black community? Or ... or ... or ... They 180'ed so many times, it made my head spin. What point were they ultimately making, if any? I have no clue.

Given how much time and money it must have taken, you'd think they'd have their heads clear about the point they are making.

The worst part of the documentary is the central role of the people they call the "stars," Mitch Credle, Noveen Crumbie, ... This is just terrible documentary film making. A good film narrative shows rather than tells. In a documentary, this goes double. You focus on people who have a story to tell, who had a personal involvement in the events, to engage the viewer and puts them in the position to judge for themselves. The worst thing you can do, which they did, is have some commentators tell you what to think, especially when what they say is incoherent and has the tone of a rebellious adolescent.

This is all a big no no. If I were teaching a class on documentary film making, I'd use this as an example of what not to do.

It helped me see the "Epidemic of RACISM" in a new, eye-opening, and gut wrenching way.

An unflinching study of the '80s inner-city crack epidemic; how a government could manufacture a drug crisis, ignore those suffering and then lock up the addicts when crime skyrocketed. Basically the same response to the AIDS epidemic with the added secret sauce of authoritarianism.

As infuriating as this story is, I loved hearing from these people, and it reframed the problem from a sociological perspective. These communities didn't ask for substance abuse, and they sure as hell didn't deserve punitive measures. Corruption blazed through police departments while medical personnel sold out their patients to law enforcement. Black women were uniquely targeted here, vilified in popular culture and subjected to harsher punishment. Households were destroyed and neighborhoods decimated. Reagan's indifference gave way to Biden's crime bill, and prisons were summarily filled so that white people could sleep easier. It was systemic failure all the way down.

Just like "LA92", I knew this was going to be good and that I'd probably be pissed, it's just the extent that surprised me. It's a sucker-punch but for all of the right reasons, and I'd recommend this in a heartbeat; it's comprehensive, insightful and brutally honest.

This was excellent. Don't listen to the poor ratings from snowflakes that can't handle the truth about America. Those are the same people that prefer revisionist history so they can ignore the real reasons behind The Black Lives Matter movement. The only way to make America better for all is to continue to uncover the truth surrounding the politics of policies such as this doc. America the Corrupt!

The footage and certain opinions I found interesting to hear but especially towards the end it became glaringly obvious they were trying to convince me that certain things were connected and responsible for an epidemic that had much more to do with other social issues and changes within the community at the time which are either not mentioned at all or just in passing by this film. I don't like biased films I prefer balanced informative ones so I can't give this more than 4/10.