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Crack Cocaine and White Celebrity UsersHave you ever wondered why you rarely hear crack cocaine and white people in the same sentence from the media? Crack users come from all nationalities; however, when crack is discussed in the media, the majority of the time, the story will focus on black people. The headlines are different when the crack user is white than when it is a black crack user. Let's look at some celebrities who were arrested for possession of crack cocaine. White celebrity headlines where crack cocaine was found by the police: (1999), "Actor Christian Slater, Went on Alcohol Binge and Beats Girlfriend" New York Times. 12/10/97 "Actor Robert Downing Jr., Arrested possession cocaine, heroin and 357 magnum" (1996), "Actor Charlie Sheen, Drug Overdose Smashes Girlfriend Face", Professional White Athlete Headlines: "Former NFL Great Arrested -Mark Gastineau" AP Worldstream 8/14/2001 "Guilty of Assault 1984" "Arrested on Drug Charges 1993" "1998 Convicted of assaulting his wife" "2001 spent 11 months in Rikers Island prison for probation violation" Professional baseball player, Ken Cammiti played in the 1993 World Series with Houston Astros-- National League MVP 1996. "Caminiti Arrested on drug charges" Los Angeles Times 11/15/2001 "Caminiti Caught in Hotel Room with Control Substance", "Former Astros pleads guilty to cocaine possession" Canadian Press 3/21/2002. NHL hockey player, Kevin Stevens, "Arrested on Drug Related Case" New York Times. 01/24/2000. Nascar racer, Samuel Potashnick, "Racer Charged with Drug Possession" Associated Press Online 2/15/2002. Former NFL great, Joe Theisman's son- Joseph Theisman "Theisman son Faces drug charges" Associated press online 2/12/2002. Crack Cocaine was never mentioned in the headlines. The Black Athletes Lawrence Taylor- "Arrested for buying crack cocaine". New York Times 10/28/98 Darryl Strawberry- "Straw unable to resist crack cocaine" - Toronto Star, 04/04/2001 Dwight Gooden- "Arrested using crack cocaine" New York Times 11/14/1994. ESPN aired a special in March 2002 that focused on drug problems of Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry. Why have they not done specials on Mark Gasitieau, Ken Caminiti and all of their drug issues? February 18, 2002 Noelle Bush- daughter of Florida Governor Jeb Bush, niece to the President, was arrested at the pharmacy trying to purchase Xanax with fraudulent prescription. In Tallahassee, Florida, sources said many crack dealers knew her, and it is known that she had many run-ins with law in the last 3 years. September 2000, Ms. Bush, at 8 a.m. in the morning she sideswiped a car and the witness said that she jumped out of the car and was hysterical. She was arguing with the witness when finally Deputy Dan Riggs calmed her down. She then stated that she had been up all night driving around on a prescription medication Xanex. (Xanex is used to treat anxiety). Deputy Riggs gave her a ticket-it was her fourth ticket in 2000. Some of the side effects of a crack high are, restlessness, paranoia, inability to sleep and staying up all night. Xanax is a drug very popular with crack users because it helps them deal with some of the side effects mentioned earlier. Darryl Strawberry and Samuel Potashnick have both been arrested with crack cocaine and Xanax in their possession. Crack cocaine does not have any color barriers--it will destroy anybody. However, when it is shown in the media, it almost always seems to come out in the black population.
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