U.S. Forms Special Units to Fight Crack : Teams to Help Police in L.A., Other Major Cities, Meese Says

Two dozen special task forces are needed to combat a cocaine crack crisis of “epidemic proportions” in Los Angeles and other major American cities, Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III told Congress today.

A government report called the deadly cocaine derivative, better known as rock cocaine on the West Coast, a “user’s nightmare” that can lead to addiction in just six to 10 weeks.

The attorney general, in a report on crack by his National Drug Enforcement Policy Board, said 24 new Crack Task Forces will be set up in major metropolitan areas to improve enforcement at the state and local levels.

Top priority cities, targeted by a recent study by the Drug Enforcement Administration and cited by Meese, include Los Angeles, San Diego, Houston, Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Kansas City, Miami, New York, Newark, San Francisco, Seattle and St. Louis.

‘Special Efforts’

“Special drug trafficking problems require special efforts,” Meese said, “and we believe that new steps are appropriate to help in a number of areas that have serious crack problems . . . especially when this industry is expanding in such rapid fashion.”

In July, Congress asked the policy board, which Meese heads, to develop a plan to assist local governments in their efforts to combat crack.

Trafficking of crack--primarily manufactured at the local level and sold almost exclusively by low-level, retail dealers with no widespread wholesale or import networks--”naturally lends itself more to local and state law enforcement solutions,” the report said.

The rapid increase in the drug’s popularity is mainly due to its low price, relative purity and the fact that it is smoked rather than snorted through the nose, the report said.

Available at one-tenth to one-half gram for between $10 and $50, crack fumes are inhaled into the lungs--the most efficient way of absorbing cocaine into the body--at purity levels ranging from 75% to 90%.

The crack task forces will be made up of local and state police and DEA agents. The study said the DEA plans to hire 50 new agents to help staff them.