---
category: "City"
tags:
  - geography
  - south-america
  - contra-war
summary: Lima, the capital of Peru, was where the first documented epidemic of cocaine paste smoking occurred in the 1970s, foreshadowing the crack epidemic that would hit the United States.
---
Lima, the capital of [[Peru]], was where the first documented epidemic of cocaine paste smoking occurred in the 1970s, foreshadowing the [[Crack Cocaine|crack]] epidemic that would later hit the [[United States]]. A Peruvian police psychiatrist documented a cocaine "epidemic" that swept through Lima's fashionable neighborhoods in 1974, demonstrating the addictive potential of smokable cocaine forms.[^1]

### The Andean Connection

The [[cocaine]] that flowed through Contra-connected trafficking networks originated in the Andean production zone that included Peru, [[Bolivia]], and [[Colombia]]. The early epidemic in Lima served as a warning that went unheeded when cheap cocaine began flooding into American inner cities through networks like the one run by [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]] and [[Norwin Meneses|Meneses]]. The Peruvian experience with coca paste smoking in Lima demonstrated the destructive potential of smokable cocaine years before crack devastated [[South Central Los Angeles|South Central L.A.]].[^2]

### Footnotes

[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 3.
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 3.