{"id":13739,"date":"2020-03-11T17:22:37","date_gmt":"2020-03-11T17:22:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lelandhale.com\/wordpress\/?p=13739"},"modified":"2020-03-12T14:20:42","modified_gmt":"2020-03-12T14:20:42","slug":"coke-alaska-crazy-80s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lelandhale.com\/wordpress\/coke-alaska-crazy-80s\/","title":{"rendered":"Coke in Alaska: The Crazy 80&#8217;s"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">The allegations that a commercial fisherman might be dealing cocaine, with a tragic outcome, were based in reality. Take the example of Ron Cole. Cole was a commercial fisherman living in the posh Hillside neighborhood of Anchorage. In the early 80&#8217;s, federal and state authorities identified him as a major coke dealer. They claimed he had purchased coke valued at about $300,000 in a single 30-day period. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lelandhale.com\/butcherbaker\/images\/hillside-anchorage-fortune-magazine.png\" alt=\"coke\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>On&nbsp;Sept. 28, 1981, <a href=\"https:\/\/lelandhale.com\/butcherbaker\/wordpress\/2019\/01\/29\/drugs-alaska-murder-ron-darcelle-cole\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Ron and his wife Darcelle (opens in a new tab)\">Ron and his wife Darcelle<\/a> were found dead of gunshot wounds in the living room of their Hillside home. Drug paraphernalia was scattered through the house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lelandhale.com\/butcherbaker\/images\/smith-ron-darcelle-cole.jpg\" alt=\"coke\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Ron Cole wasn&#8217;t the only one delving into the cocaine trade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1982 estimates had Alaskans spending more than $50 million to \u201cboost their spirits with coke,\u201d claimed an article about drugs in the fishing industry. [1] As part of an effort to grasp the drug&nbsp;problem in coastal fishing communities, Alaska officials convened a three-day meeting in Unalaska in 1982, during which 37 people testified about the town\u2019s drug problem. From that testimony, officials estimated that cocaine use in the town was ten times the state\u2019s average [2]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1984, Alaska State Troopers made what was, at the time, the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"biggest drug bust (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Archives\/1984\/10\/27\/Biggest-drug-bust-in-Alaska-history\/3073467697600\/\" target=\"_blank\">biggest drug bust<\/a> in Alaska history. It was a $36-million-a-year heroin ring. The investigation also turned up three separate drug organizations with ties to Seattle, Detroit and other cities that were importing heroin, dilaudid, cocaine and other drugs for distribution in Anchorage and Fairbanks, troopers said. Two years later there was another bust, this time a multi-million-dollar cocaine operation between northern California and Alaska. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By the late 80&#8217;s, industry journal <em>National Fisherman<\/em> was reporting that \u201cthe Coast Guard has discovered what more than a few fishermen already knew: there\u2019s a lot more money in drug smuggling than fishing.\u201d From the mid-80&#8217;s on, the Coast Guard dove into crackdown mode, with significant budget increases for drug operations. In 1991, they started conducting random drug tests aboard commercial fishing vessels. The &#8220;good&#8221; times were coming to an end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>[1] M.L. Edwards, \u201cKicking the drug habit,\u201d&nbsp;<em>National Fisherman<\/em>, May 1988<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[2] ibid<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n<p><em>Background commentary on &#8220;What Happened in Craig.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Copyright Leland E. Hale <\/em><em>(2020). All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/lelandhale.com\/images\/lelandhale-portrait.png\" alt=\"Craig\"><\/p>\n<p>Order &#8220;<strong>What Happened In Craig<\/strong>,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1941890229?pf_rd_p=d1f45e03-8b73-4c9a-9beb-4819111bef9a&amp;pf_rd_r=7G8DPC5WNEGBWK8G6981\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>HERE<\/strong><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/what-happened-in-craig-leland-e-hale\/1129010868;jsessionid=BB32A736B72D9908645D42CAB43111BE.prodny_store01-atgap08?ean=9781941890226\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>HERE<\/strong><\/a>. True crime from Epicenter Press.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The allegations that a commercial fisherman might be dealing cocaine, with a tragic outcome, were based in reality. Take the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8,16,17,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alaskas-worst-unsolved-mass-murder","category-craig-alaska","category-the-investor","category-true-crime","category-what-happened-in-craig"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Coke in Alaska: The Crazy 80&#039;s - Leland E. Hale<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Cocaine, known colloquially as coke, had an Alaska heyday in the 80s. 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