Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy

Stanley Nelson examines the crack epidemic of the 1980s: how the drug spread through American cities, the role of the CIA-linked cocaine trade, and the political response that treated users as criminals rather than patients. Former dealers, users and journalists tell the story.

It's an angry, carefully argued film about how an epidemic was framed by race, and how that framing shaped laws and prisons for decades. It's also a reminder of how differently later drug crises have been treated.