[Ads-l] Antedating of "Crack" (Cocaine)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Fred Shapiro wrote:
> crack, n. (OED, III. 20, 1985 6 Dec.)
>
> 1985 Herald Statesman (Yonkers, N.Y.) 22 Sept. 5/2 (Newspapers.com)
> Crack is a form of cocaine heated to produce potent fumes that are inhaled.

By October 1984 the processed smokable form of cocaine was referred to
as "cracks" or "rocks".

Date: October 18, 1984
Newspaper: The Miami News
Newspaper Location: Miami, Florida
Article: Drug house where man killed in SWAT raid was popular hangout
Author: Jeff Benkoe (Miami News Reporter)
Quote Page 4A, Column 5
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
At the so-called "base" house, neighborhood residents said, users
bought tiny mounds of cocaine, called "cracks" or "rocks," for as
little as $5 a hit and smoked the drug in pipes or through straws in
the unfurnished, tightly-secured, one-bedroom apartment at a rundown
tenement house at 1232 N.W. First Place.
[End excerpt]

Garson

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