Victims and previous addicts, a doctor who treats them, Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald, radio host Larry Elder and more give their opinions straight from L.A., October 21st 1996.
“It isn’t that I don’t believe it…I want more information. Here, we have one reporter…no independet corroboration…yet we are already concluding…that the CIA is guilty…”
This show is filmed in studio with a panel reporting remote from South Central Los Angeles, California. Felicia starts us off with what crack has done to her, her family, her marriage. Her husband describes in 1983 and 1984 his neighborhood in Compton becoming totally infested with crack.
Representative Juanita McDonald says South Central has never had a bigger issue, and she calls for an investigation into whether or not the government was involved. The idea of it is totally repulsive, and that South Central was struggling already before the drug even came on the scene. Doctor James Mays says this is the biggest health problem in his 30 years of practice and describes what the drug does to people.
Karen lost her husband and baby to use of the drug and describes the absolutely tragic circumstances of that experience. Charissa is in Los Angeles describes the heartlessness of the drug, they fall down and overdose just move them out of the way and keep getting loaded. She says it’s not an addiction it’s a disease and it has destroyed the neighborhood.
Larry Elder speaks up and says there is no evidence for these accusations, and that’s all we can go on. He says the community members and those in the inner city have a responsibility not to be victims, it doesn’t matter who is bringing what where.
Representative McDonald continues with a demand for restitution and says the problem must be fixed. A clip from Representative Maxine Waters is played as she is also trying to work on this issue.
Michael Levine, a former DEA agent describes going into other countries and infiltrating drug organizations very successfully, getting to the highest levels. He describes watching his brother die from addiction while the CIA and the state department protected the very criminals he was infiltrating. He says he would be willing to testify before congress and has written non-fiction books.
David Dudley represents a man who pled guilty to buying crack from a CIA operative, and he says the operative has indeed testified to supplying crack. Larry Elder says drugs are a huge business, it should be a public health issue, not a criminal justice problem, that’s why so many black men are in prison.
Dr. Benjamin Chavis is back in studio and says he is working with the National African American Leadership Summit and many other organizations to file a class action lawsuit against the CIA and other parts of the government, says this is genocide.
Earl B. King president of ‘No Dope Express’ is also in studio to talk about the devestation to the African American community throughout the country. He talks about the prevalence of cocaine leading to the prevalence of crack.
The show closes with a call for independent investigation of these charges.
This day, Geraldo’s Television History.