Remind me about the opinion toward cocaine in 1972

[mouse7]

What was the feeling of the general public toward cocaine in 1972. Did people know much about it? Was it considered a hard street drug, or was it considered more recreational? Just how much of a scandal would a coke bust have been in '72?

[madrchsod]

1. in the late 60`s

most the people i knew didn`t care about it. if was free, ok but no one really paid for it. it was a recreational drug but there was so much shit being sent back from nam that was sooooo much better than coke. coke bust back then would have been the same as any other drug.

[OHdem10]

2. Since Drugs are never supposed

to be acceptable, the attitude was schizophrenic. Cocaine
had not been throughly examined or its dangerous side effects in some people. It was you could say socially acceptable but you would never say that in public. It was party of parties at all levels in
society. As Imus himself has stated worked stoned.

[burrowowl]

3. It was mostly an upper class

thing. So naturally, no busts.

[NoPasaran]

4. As I recall

It was a pretty exotic drug for rich folks back then. Five years later it had entered into the public consciousness to the extent that Woody Allen could do a gag about it Annie Hall.

In 1972 getting busted with a joint in your pocket was still very bad news.

[Nevernose]

5. Coke had hit the streets by then, and was "hard."

I knew a woman who had been an intravenous cocaine user since 1967 or so (every vein in her body had collapsed); in the 80's she switched to crack; in the 90's it was back to "slamming" meth. A good friend, and a lost soul. *sigh*

If you've got the inclination, Hunter Thompson discusses cocaine and other drugs, and society's opinion of them in the year 1972, quite thoroughly in in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

[R3dD0g]

6. I ran across it twice, back then.

Both times I was included in a party that my social station normally wouldn't be allowed.

It was a rich dudes drug.

[dbt]

13. Hi, pmn!

Nice flag--and welcome to DU!

Speaking of rich dude(ette)s, Jessica Savitch :loveya: was reportedly nostril-deep in cocaine use, no?

:freak:
dbt
(On edit, my social station was torn down to make room for that new intergalactic freeway.)

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

7. 72 was before coke hit mainstream America

it was too expensive then, being brought in in small shipments. It did not get big until the CIA had to stop importing heroin from SE Asia, and switched to cocaine in Central and South America.
The rest is history.

Of course, I just heard on NPR they have de-classified some of the Condor documents, which detail a 3-continent terrorist network that we aided and abetted in the 70's-80's, which kept the CIA in the cocaine biz.
http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1672788

An arrest in 72 would have been bad, really bad.

[Old and In the Way]

8. I never really understood the big hype.

Sure, I did my obligatory lines in the 70s, but I really thought it was way oversold. Mainly just got my nose numb. I think it was selling for $60-70 gram, IIRC. I know it was way too expensive for my tastes.

Windowpane, on the otherhand, gave a supreme experience for a few bucks.

[frogbison]

9. what a lot of fun

talking about the old times. I never saw the allure of cocaine, either, though I did try it a time or two.

[izzie]

10. I was in Alaska around that time and it was pretty big.

Lots of money and things wide open. Southern churches moved in with the pipe line and they were still trying to shut down all the open sin things when I left Alaska in mid=80's. Republican state even then but working class people with a lot of money. Tex.took over the state and Southern Churches. Lots of open sin things. Girls, betting, still going strong when I left but Churches were saying openly that they would run the state.

[onethatcares]

11. the wooly days of Anchorage/

late 74 possession of cannibis was decrimmed, just no sale, minor coke possession was a 50.00 fine. then it changed big time from what my northern friends say.

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. In the early 70' s cocaine was not very 'popular' yet

First it was very expensive and relatively scarce. Most folks then were just getting into smoking pot. Pills, uppers and downers were cheap and popular. Where I grew up heroin was the big thing for the hardcore types. For $5 - $20 bucks you could shot up smack for a night, where coke cost more like $50 - $100 for a small quantity.

It wasn't until the 80's when I was living in Miami and most of us hippies had grown up enough to understand the benefit of working at a full time job, that coke became popular. There was a joke in Coconut Grove that a guy couldn't get a date anymore with a girl unless he had some coke to offer to her.

Either way, in the 70's or the 80's cocaine is still a class 1 narcotic and getting caught with even just a gram was and still is a serious matter.