Pubdate: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI) Copyright: 2004 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Contact: http://www.jsonline.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/265Thu Author: Eugene Kane THE CULPRIT BEHIND THE CRACK PLAGUE Gary Webb is dead. But the crack cocaine plague that devastated much of urban America - including Milwaukee - is still alive and well. We may never know exactly where it came from but at least Webb tried. Webb, 49, was a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter who wrote a controversial series of stories in 1996 linking the CIA to crack cocaine trafficking in Los Angeles. He was found dead last Friday at his home near Sacramento from an apparent suicide. According to a coroner's report, Webb died from two gunshot wounds to the head. There's been much chatter by conspiracy buffs on the Internet and elsewhere about the "suspicious" nature of Webb's death. Which seems reasonable; when was the last time you heard about someone shooting himself in the head twice? But Webb's wife says he was depressed over the turn his career had taken. When Webb's series was first published in the San Jose Mercury News, it was an earth-shaking revelation about a secret government plot that may have opened the door to untold suffering by countless Americans affected by the demons of crack addiction. Several African-American politicians, in particular, were outraged by Webb's report, which suggested an official government agency might have had knowledge of a plot to allow drugs to flow into poor communities as a way of raising money for Nicaraguan Contras. The feeling was, if any of this was true, it would be the biggest scandal ever. But Webb's credibility was questioned by several news organizations, including his own paper. Eventually, he was demoted and left the Mercury News to find other work. Like other journalists, I wrote about Webb's series, expressing my concern that he may have uncovered a sinister if unfathomable plot. Since crack cocaine started showing up on the streets of urban America in the 1980s and 1990s, I've felt its impact in a very personal way. My late brother was a crack addict for five years before kicking the habit after several attempts at rehabilitation. Including my brother, several cousins and other relatives have had crack addictions. In Milwaukee, several friends and acquaintances have succumbed during the past 15 years, some of them black professionals with college degrees. But lately, things seemed more hopeful; I just don't hear as much about people getting hooked on crack. But Sgt. Ken Henning of the Milwaukee Police Department assured me it's a fire still raging. Henning said, for police officers, crack cocaine is still "the biggest drug out there. It's the one we confiscate the most." Henning pointed out crack also is the drug that carries the most residual effects behind the headlines, sparking violence, child abuse, even prostitution. "Just about every prostitute arrest we make, they're carrying a crack pipe." The insidious appeal of the drug on addicts remains powerful. "What most people tell us, the thing with crack, one hit and you're hooked," he said. That's one reason so many suspected a conspiracy; crack came with such a resounding force and impact in some of the poorest communities, you almost had to suspect something - or somebody - was behind it. Webb seemed to be on to something. But with his death, it may be time to accept the real culprit behind the plague of crack cocaine was human weakness. Just like crack, that, too, will get you every time.