Suppression of the cocaine trade has been one of the American government's objectives since 1914, when Congress outlawed its general use. In the 1970s, however, other American social institutions joined forces with law enforcement agencies to stem the use of cocaine. Today, in addition to the federal government, organizations as diverse as churches and synagogues, schools and universities, youth and national health organizations, and organized sports have programs in place to discourage the use of cocaine and crack. Still, it remains the job of various law enforcement agencies to capture and jail those who sell the drug and to intercept and seize shipments of cocaine.

Much success has resulted from the work of these government and community groups. The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) estimates that in 1985, at the height of the cocaine epidemic, 5.7 million people used cocaine, 3.1 million of whom were frequent...