Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) mass consumption of heroin in the urban black community.

1967

in S. Harris Hellhole 135: By 1961, Harlem had been hit by what is coming to be known as ‘the plague’ – heroin.

2. AIDS.

1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 212: I’ll catch the plague sooner or later anyway.
2001		G. Pelecanos Right As Rain 185: He was beginning to go blind, the final laughing insult of the plague.