CRACK'S FALL FROM FAVOUR CUTS VIOLENT CRIME IN US

Americans can thank the ebbing of the crack cocaine epidemic and tighter
controls on hand-guns for the drop in violent crime that has pushed the
murder rate to its lowest point in 30 years.

The crack epidemic was concentrated in black neighbourhoods of big cities
such as New York and Los Angeles, and affected those born in the 1950s and
1960s. But people born in the 1970s have rejected crack after seeing the
devastation it caused among family and friends, a process chronicled in
movies such as John Singleton's Boyz 'N the Hood.

"Crack generated huge demand with users wanting a hit 10-20 times a day,"
said Bruce Johnson, a researcher at the National Development and Research
Institutes in New York. "The extreme number of transactions involved a lot
of people although crack use was heavily penalised, and so much money was
involved that violence became a court of last resort to settle differences.
Easy access to guns contributed to the violence."

Violent crimes have declined as crack has fallen out of fashion. Overall,
the levels of both violent and property crimes have fallen to their lowest
since 1973, when such surveys started. Violent crime surged unexpectedly
when crack took hold around 1985, and then began to fall in 1991. Most
crime experts see a direct link between crack cocaine and violent crime.

Since 1991, murders have plunged by 31 per cent, to 6.8 per 100,000 in 1997
from 9.8 per 100,000, while robberies have fallen 32 per cent to 185 per
100,000 in 1997 from 272 per 100,000 according to the FBI.

The Clinton administration has been quick to claim credit for the plunge in
crime.

"This is a remarkable progress and it shows that our strategy of more
police, tougher gun laws and better crime prevention is making a
difference," President Clinton said earlier this month.

With crack out of favour, the drug of choice is now 'blunts', cheap cigars
dosed with marijuana. Blunts have become the preferred drug for the
generation born in the 1970s who want to avoid using crack or heroin.

Other factors cited in the drop in violence are aggressive tactics to stop
gun violence, including frequent searches as used in New York, and improved
efforts to trace guns used in crimes and arrest gun traffickers, as used in
Boston.