Addiction to "crack" cocaine has rapidly emerged as a crucial social and political problem,
particularly in major urban areas. Working as they do in child and family services, health and
mental health, and other major social institutional settings, as well as in clinical and policy
positions dealing directly with crack users, social workers deal increasingly with the resulting
casualties. The current knowledge base is limited, but sufficient information about this substance, and addictive behavior in general, currently exists to provide tentative directions for
clinical practice, pilot projects in prevention and treatment, and community-level intervention.
This article considers the existing information, examining the data from an operant perspective
that focuses particularly on potentially manipulable environmental factors, congruent with the
ecosystemic perspective that uniquely characterizes social work practice. Probable crucial
contingencies are identified, and directions for future work are suggested.
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