Opinions - the drug war is racist heres some proof.

[drug-bot]

anyone with half a brain know that the drug war is racist based on statistics. blacks only make up 12% of the population, 57% more whites use drugs than blacks, yet among those who are convicted on drug offences (45.1%) were black while at the same time only (26.4%) were white. swim fully believes this to be an organized policy based on racism and racial profiling. hispanics are also over represented based on there population and amount of drug use, but swim decided to focus on african americans cause they represent the largest gap between populatation, drug use , and drug conviction rates.

whats swiys opinon? he's also interested is this the same thing happening in the U.K (or rest of europe or s.africa, where the majority of the df members are from)?


just so you know even though all these stats are taken from a pro drug web site, they are based on DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE and DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE STATISTICS, and the U.S CENSUS -

According to the US Census Bureau, the US population in 2000 was 281,421,906. Of that, 194,552,774 (69.1%) were white; 33,947,837 (12.1%) were black; and 35,305,818 (12.5%) were of Hispanic origin. Additionally, 2,068,883 (0.7%) were Native American, and 10,123,169 (3.8%) were Asian.
Source: US Census Bureau, Department of Commerce, Census 2000 Redistricting Data (P.L. 94-171) Summary File for states, Population by Race and Hispanic or Latino Origin for the United States: 2000 (PHC-T-a) Table 1, from the web at http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t1/tab01.txt , last accessed September 8, 2001.

According to the federal Household Survey, "most current illicit drug users are white. There were an estimated 9.9 million whites (72 percent of all users), 2.0 million blacks (15 percent), and 1.4 million Hispanics (10 percent) who were current illicit drug users in 1998." And yet, blacks constitute 36.8% of those arrested for drug violations, over 42% of those in federal prisons for drug violations. African-Americans comprise almost 58% of those in state prisons for drug felonies; Hispanics account for 20.7%.

Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Summary Report 1998 (Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 1999), p. 13; Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 1998 (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, August 1999), p. 343, Table 4.10, p. 435, Table 5.48, and p. 505, Table 6.52; Beck, Allen J., Ph.D. and Mumola, Christopher J., Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 1998 (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, August 1999), p. 10, Table 16; Beck, Allen J., PhD, and Paige M. Harrison, US Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice, August 2001), p. 11, Table 16.

Of the 249,400 state prison inmates serving time for drug offenses at yearend 2004, 112,500 (45.1%) were black, 51,800 (20.8%) were Hispanic, and 65,900 (26.4%) were white.Source: Sabol, William J., PhD, Couture, Heather, and Harrison, Paige M., Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2006 (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, December 2007), NCJ219416, p. 24, Appendix Table 9.

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/racepris.htm

Reputation Comments on this post:

Good info.

[fiveleggedrat]

Swim believes that generally, there is greater bias against non-white drug users.

Swim also wonders whats up with those figures, he believes them but thinks "How can law enforcement and such come down so hard on non-whites for drugs and get away with it?"

Is there greater usage of drugs among non-white America?

[drug-bot]

Originally Posted by fiveleggedrat

Is there greater usage of drugs among non-white America?

no. as swim quted earlier -

According to the federal Household Survey, "most current illicit drug users are white. There were an estimated 9.9 million whites (72 percent of all users), 2.0 million blacks (15 percent), and 1.4 million Hispanics (10 percent)

this is based on department of justice figures.

Originally Posted by fiveleggedrat

Swim also wonders whats up with those figures, he believes them but thinks "How can law enforcement and such come down so hard on non-whites for drugs and get away with it?"

general racism, they only represent 12% of the population. how many black senators are there (one, and thats just from a couple years ago with barack obama, before him there were absolutly none), theres only a hand full of black represntives (all from predominalty black districs), how many black multi millionares (not more than you can count on your fingers, who arent rappers or athletes), so its no surprise they have very little or influence power in america.



heres the complete artical, more than just the snippets swim used to make his point.-

Race, Prison and the Drug Laws

1. Of the 249,400 state prison inmates serving time for drug offenses at yearend 2004, 112,500 (45.1%) were black, 51,800 (20.8%) were Hispanic, and 65,900 (26.4%) were white.
   Source: Sabol, William J., PhD, Couture, Heather, and Harrison, Paige M., Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2006 (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, December 2007), NCJ219416, p. 24, Appendix Table 9.
   
2. "The racially disproportionate nature of the war on drugs is not just devastating to black Americans. It contradicts faith in the principles of justice and equal protection of the laws that should be the bedrock of any constitutional democracy; it exposes and deepens the racial fault lines that continue to weaken the country and belies its promise as a land of equal opportunity; and it undermines faith among all races in the fairness and efficacy of the criminal justice system. Urgent action is needed, at both the state and federal level, to address this crisis for the American nation."
   Source: Key Recommendations from Punishment and Prejudice: Racial Disparities in the War on Drugs (Washington, DC: Human Rights Watch, June 2000), from the web at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/drugs/war/key-reco.htm
   
3. "Our criminal laws, while facially neutral, are enforced in a manner that is massively and pervasively biased. The injustices of the criminal justice system threaten to render irrelevant fifty years of hard-fought civil rights progress."
   Source: Welch, Ronald H. and Angulo, Carlos T., Justice On Trial: Racial Disparities in the American Criminal Justice System (Washington, DC: Leadership Conference on Civil Rights / Leadership Conference Education Fund, May 2000), p. v.
   
4. "When incarceration rates by State (excluding Federal inmates) are estimated separately by gender, race, and Hispanic origin, male rates are found to be 10 times higher than female rates; black rates 5-1/2 times higher than white rates; and Hispanic rates nearly 2 times higher than white rates (table 14)."
   Source: Harrison, Paige M., & Beck, Allen J., PhD, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2005 (Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice, May 2006) (NCJ213133), p. 10.
   
5. The incarceration rate in state or federal prison or jail for men was 1,384 per 100,000 residents, for women 134 per 100,000 residents. The rate for white men was 736 per 100,000, for black men 4,789 per 100,000, for Hispanic men 1,862 per 100,000. The rate for white women was 94 per 100,000, for black women 358 per 100,000, and for Hispanic women 152 per 100,000.
   Source: Sabol, William J., PhD, Minton, Todd D., and Harrison, Paige M., Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2006 (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, June 2007), NCJ217675, p. 9, Table 14.
   
6. "At midyear 2006 more black men (836,800) were in custody in State or Federal prison or local jail than white men (718,100) or Hispanic men (426,900) (table 13). Black men comprised 41% of the more than 2 million men in custody, and black men age 20 to 29 comprised 15.5% of all men in custody on June 30, 2006.
   "Relative to their numbers in the general population, about 4.8% of all black men were in custody at midyear 2006, compared to about 0.7% of white men and 1.9% of Hispanic men. Overall, black men were incarcerated at 6.5 times the rate of white men. The incarceration rate for black men was highest among black men age 25 to 29. About 11.7% of black males in this age group were incarcerated on June 30, 2006. Across age groups black men were between 5.7 and 8.5 times more likely than white men to be incarcerated."
   Source: Sabol, William J., PhD, Minton, Todd D., and Harrison, Paige M., Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2006 (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, June 2007), NCJ217675, p. 9.
   
7. "Among female offenders, more white women (95,300) than black women (68,800) or Hispanic women (32,400) were in custody. White women comprised 47% of the female population in custody at midyear 2006.
   "In general females had a lower incarceration rate than males. White females had a lower incarceration rate (94 per 100,000 white women) than black females (358 per 100,000 black women) and Hispanic females (152 per 100,000 Hispanic women). The overall incarceration rate for black women was 3.8 times the rate for white women (table 14). Hispanic women were 1.6 times more likely than white women to be incarcerated. Across age groups black women were incarcerated between 2.8 and 4.3 times the rate of white women."
   Source: Sabol, William J., PhD, Minton, Todd D., and Harrison, Paige M., Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2006 (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, June 2007), NCJ217675, p. 9.
   
8. According to the US Census Bureau, the US population in 2000 was 281,421,906. Of that, 194,552,774 (69.1%) were white; 33,947,837 (12.1%) were black; and 35,305,818 (12.5%) were of Hispanic origin. Additionally, 2,068,883 (0.7%) were Native American, and 10,123,169 (3.8%) were Asian.
   Source: US Census Bureau, Department of Commerce, Census 2000 Redistricting Data (P.L. 94-171) Summary File for states, Population by Race and Hispanic or Latino Origin for the United States: 2000 (PHC-T-a) Table 1, from the web at http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t1/tab01.txt , last accessed September 8, 2001.
   
9. "Offense distributions differed between sentenced male and female State prisoners. More than half of males (53%) were sentenced for violent offenses, compared to 34% of females. Among State prisoners, sentenced females were more likely than sentenced males to be sentenced for property (31% vs. 20%) and drug offenses (29% vs. 19%).
   "There were also differences in offense distributions at yearend 2004 by race and Hispanic origin. A majority of black (53%) and Hispanic (54%) prisoners were sentenced for violent offenses, compared to about half (50%) of white prisoners. Blacks and Hispanics were more likely than whites to be sentenced for drug offenses (23% of blacks, 21% of Hispanics, and 15% of whites). Whites were more likely (26%) than blacks (18%) or Hispanics (18%) to be sentenced for property offenses."
   Source: Sabol, William J., PhD, Couture, Heather, and Harrison, Paige M., Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2006 (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, December 2007), NCJ219416, p. 8.
   
10. Regarding State prison population growth from 1990 through 2000, the US Dept. of Justice reports, "Overall, the increasing number of drug offenses accounted for 27% of the total growth among black inmates, 7% of the total growth among Hispanic inmates, and 15% of the growth among white inmates (table 19)."
    Source: Harrison, Paige M. & Allen J. Beck, PhD, US Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2001 (Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice, July 2002), p. 13.
    
11. According to the federal Household Survey, "most current illicit drug users are white. There were an estimated 9.9 million whites (72 percent of all users), 2.0 million blacks (15 percent), and 1.4 million Hispanics (10 percent) who were current illicit drug users in 1998." And yet, blacks constitute 36.8% of those arrested for drug violations, over 42% of those in federal prisons for drug violations. African-Americans comprise almost 58% of those in state prisons for drug felonies; Hispanics account for 20.7%.
    Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Summary Report 1998 (Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 1999), p. 13; Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 1998 (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, August 1999), p. 343, Table 4.10, p. 435, Table 5.48, and p. 505, Table 6.52; Beck, Allen J., Ph.D. and Mumola, Christopher J., Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 1998 (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, August 1999), p. 10, Table 16; Beck, Allen J., PhD, and Paige M. Harrison, US Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice, August 2001), p. 11, Table 16.
    
12. Among persons convicted of drug felonies in state courts, whites were less likely than African-Americans to be sent to prison. Thirty-three percent (33%) of convicted white defendants received a prison sentence, while 51% of African-American defendants received prison sentences. It should also be noted that Hispanic felons are included in both demographic groups rather than being tracked separately so no separate statistic is available.
    Source: Durose, Matthew R., and Langan, Patrick A., Bureau of Justice Statistics, State Court Sentencing of Convicted Felons, 1998 Statistical Tables (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, December 2001), Table 25, available on the web at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/scsc98st.htm, last accessed December 21, 2001.
    
13. At the start of the 1990s, the U.S. had more Black men (between the ages of 20 and 29) under the control of the nation's criminal justice system than the total number in college. This and other factors have led some scholars to conclude that, "crime control policies are a major contributor to the disruption of the family, the prevalence of single parent families, and children raised without a father in the ghetto, and the 'inability of people to get the jobs still available.'"
    Source: Craig Haney, Ph.D., and Philip Zimbardo, Ph.D., "The Past and Future of U.S. Prison Policy: Twenty-five Years After the Stanford Prison Experiment," American Psychologist, Vol. 53, No. 7 (July 1998), p. 716.
    
14. "Since 1997, 16 states have implemented reforms to their felony disenfranchisement policies
    "These reforms have resulted in the restoration of voting rights to an estimated 621,400 persons
    "By 2004, the total number of people disenfranchised due to a felony conviction had risen to 5.3 million
    "Among those disenfranchised, 74% are currently living in the community
    "In 2004, 1 in 12 African Americans was disenfranchised because of a felony conviction, a rate nearly five times that of non-African Americans
    "Voting is linked with reduced recidivism; one study shows that 27 percent of non-voters were rearrested, compared with 12 percent of voters"
    Source: King, Ryan S., "A Decade of Reform: Felony Disenfranchisement Policy in the United States" (Washington, DC: Sentencing Project, 2006), p. 2.
    
15. "Thirteen percent of all adult black men -- 1.4 million -- are disenfranchised, representing one-third of the total disenfranchised population and reflecting a rate of disenfranchisement that is seven times the national average. Election voting statistics offer an approximation of the political importance of black disenfranchisement: 1.4 million black men are disenfranchised compared to 4.6 million black men who voted in 1996."
    Source: Fellner, Jamie and Mauer, Marc, "Losing the Vote: The Impact of Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United States" (Washington, DC: Human Rights Watch & The Sentencing Project, 1998), p. 8. Election statistics cited are from the US Census Bureau, "Voting and Registration in the Election of November 1996" (p20-504), July 1998.
    
16. One in three black men between the ages of 20 and 29 years old is under correctional supervision or control.
    Source: Mauer, M. & Huling, T., Young Black Americans and the Criminal Justice System: Five Years Later (Washington DC: The Sentencing Project, 1995).
    
17. "In 2001, the chances of going to prison were highest among black males (32.2%) and Hispanic males (17.2%) and lowest among white males (5.9%). The lifetime chances of going to prison among black females (5.6%) were nearly as high as for white males. Hispanic females (2.2%) and white females (0.9%) had much lower chances of going to prison."
    Source: Bonczar, Thomas P., US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Prevalence of Imprisonment in the US Population, 1974-2001," NCJ197976 (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, August 2003), p. 8.
    
18. In 1986, before mandatory minimums for crack offenses became effective, the average federal drug offense sentence for blacks was 11% higher than for whites. Four years later following the implementation of harsher drug sentencing laws, the average federal drug offense sentence was 49% higher for blacks.
    Source: Meierhoefer, B. S., The General Effect of Mandatory Minimum Prison Terms: A Longitudinal Study of Federal Sentences Imposed (Washington DC: Federal Judicial Center, 1992), p. 20.
    
19. Regardless of similar or equal levels of illicit drug use during pregnancy, black women are 10 times more likely than white women to be reported to child welfare agencies for prenatal drug use.
    Source: Neuspiel, D.R., "Racism and Perinatal Addiction," Ethnicity and Disease, 6: 47-55 (1996); Chasnoff, I.J., Landress, H.J., & Barrett, M.E., "The Prevalence of Illicit-Drug or Alcohol Use during Pregnancy and Discrepancies in Mandatory Reporting in Pinellas County, Florida," New England Journal of Medicine, 322: 1202-1206 (1990).
    
20. Due to harsh new sentencing guidelines, such as 'three-strikes, you're out,' "a disproportionate number of young Black and Hispanic men are likely to be imprisoned for life under scenarios in which they are guilty of little more than a history of untreated addiction and several prior drug-related offenses... States will absorb the staggering cost of not only constructing additional prisons to accommodate increasing numbers of prisoners who will never be released but also warehousing them into old age."
    Source: Craig Haney, Ph.D., and Philip Zimbardo, Ph.D., "The Past and Future of U.S. Prison Policy: Twenty-five Years After the Stanford Prison Experiment," American Psychologist, Vol. 53, No. 7 (July 1998), p. 718http://www.drugwarfacts.org/racepris.htm

Reputation Comments on this post:

Thanks for promoting awareness and knowledge!

[fiveleggedrat]

Sorry, completely overlooked that.

Sleep deprivation does that to ya.

[FuBai]

The racial balance in the lower classes is very different to the general racial balance, and I would argue that this is not a deliberate racist policy, but rather a product of social profiling. If you are a cop do you go after the well off who know more about thier rights and are more likley to hire a good lawyer and sue you, or do you go after those who can't afford and don't know?

[drug-bot]

Originally Posted by FuBai

The racial balance in the lower classes is very different to the general racial balance, and I would argue that this is not a deliberate racist policy, but rather a product of social profiling. If you are a cop do you go after the well off who know more about thier rights and are more likley to hire a good lawyer and sue you, or do you go after those who can't afford and don't know?

i agree to a point that the poor are often targeted, but under most circumstances just on sight you cant tell if a white guys poor or not, on the other hand blacks and hispanics cant hide the fact there black or hispanic. and one cant forget the very long history of racism in the U.S, hell the civil rights act was only about 40 years ago.

[FuBai]

Originally Posted by drug-bot

i agree to a point that the poor are often targeted, but under most circumstances just on sight you cant tell if a white guys poor or not, on the other hand blacks and hispanics cant hide the fact there black or hispanic. and one cant forget the very long history of racism in the U.S, hell the civil rights act was only about 40 years ago.

You've got to take into account the following facts:

a) Cops tend to target trouble hotspots, and these are usually in poor areas

b) There are lots of give aways as to the class of a person - dress and possesions being only one. People from different classes tend not only to speak in different ways, but to react to the police in different ways.

c) Black people form "deprived" backgrounds, due in part to precieved persecution, often react very negatively to the police. This then causes the police to react more negatively to them.

I would argue that these are some of the reasons as to why blacks have a higher arrest rate, not just for drug crimes but for many types of crime. Now, if you're a police officer looking at those statistics you might well come to the conclusion that blacks commit more crimes - a different sort of racism, not simply based on prejudice, but based on statistics. It's a self-perpetuating problem.

[drug-bot]

Originally Posted by FuBai

You've got to take into account the following facts:

a) Cops tend to target trouble hotspots, and these are usually in poor areas

b) There are lots of give aways as to the class of a person - dress and possesions being only one. People from different classes tend not only to speak in different ways, but to react to the police in different ways.

c) Black people form "deprived" backgrounds, due in part to precieved persecution, often react very negatively to the police. This then causes the police to react more negatively to them.

I would argue that these are some of the reasons as to why blacks have a higher arrest rate, not just for drug crimes but for many types of crime. Now, if you're a police officer looking at those statistics you might well come to the conclusion that blacks commit more crimes - a different sort of racism, not simply based on prejudice, but based on statistics. It's a self-perpetuating problem.

blacks make up just 12% of the population, 15% of blacks use drugs but 45% of them are in jail for drug crimes. how do these numbers make sense if the police werent racially profiling? whites use close to 5x's the amount of drugs, make up close to 6x's the population compared to blacks, yet are approximatly only half those in jail for drug crimes compared to blacks. these numbers (provided by the goverment) dont make sense if there wasnt either invert or overt racism along with classism and racial profiling.

strickly speaking about drug crimes only, whites use 72% of all drugs. so why arent cops scouring the suburbs and tossing every white kid with a rock t-shirt or long hair against their cruiser searching them for illicit substances?

[fiveleggedrat]

Because drug crimes don't happen often in suburbia?

Swim grew up in suburbia, but has spent time in the underbelly of america. He only really saw much happening in the poor spots. Drugs were plentiful there, as were guns. No bias here, just swim stating what he saw. And Swim is DEF not racist.

Different economic areas have different social problems.

[Evil GIR]

The drugs war is not racist but the laws made where made on racist views.
Black man takes drugs, people think drugs will make the black man kill and rape white woman. The drug gets baned and lost of black folk get locked up. Even LSD was pretty much baned to try and control the hippys.

There is a documentory called illigal drugs and how they got that way which explains the racist reasons why drugs were made illigal.

[drug-bot]

Originally Posted by Evil GIR

The drugs war is not racist but the laws made where made on racist views.
Black man takes drugs, people think drugs will make the black man kill and rape white woman. The drug gets baned and lost of black folk get locked up. Even LSD was pretty much baned to try and control the hippys.

There is a documentory called illigal drugs and how they got that way which explains the racist reasons why drugs were made illigal.

agree mostly. the u.s made cocaine illegal because souther states said blacks took it and became untameable savages raping white women (untrue and based on racism) .

opium was banned for the same reason, but this time it was evil chinamen in the westcoast sudducing white women into prostitution (also untrue and based on racism).

same with marijuana, southwestern states said mexican immigriants and migrants took it and became wild, violent, axe-muredering beasts, those states did local bans and pushed for a federal ban; which based on harry ansligners and his propaganda team at the 'federal bearu of narcoticts ' happened. (more racism).

as for psycedllics swim believed they were banned because its efffects on the perception of users, who were mostly for civil rights against the vietnam war, and for peace and love; very dangerous concepts to the goverment.

so with the history of the drug war swim doesn't see it implossible theres some racism involved with it today. plus the huge misrepresentation of blacks in jail for drug crimes compared to white (even though white make up a much larger part of the population and use many more drugs) doesnt happen just because their more unlucky. its bigotry and classism as i detail some proof below-

also dont forget the iran-contra affair, where in addition to the illegal weapon trades. theres a plausable theory that the nicaraguan rebels sent crack cocaine to the u.s through their already establisted buddies at the cia. and the cia sent it directly into black neighborhoods, which devasted them after all the gains they made for themselves through the civil rights movement.

On April 17, 1986, the Reagan Administration released a three page report acknowledging that there were some Contra-cocaine connections in 1984 and 1985, arguing that these connections occurred at a time when the rebels were "particularly hard pressed for financial support"

Former DEA agent Celerino Castillo alleged that during the 1980s Ilopango Airport in El Salvador was used by Contras for drug smuggling flights with the knowledge and complicity of the CIA. These allegations were part of an investigation by the United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General.[9] Castillo also testified before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Between 1996 and 1998 the Central Intelligence Agency investigated and then published a report about its alleged involvement in cocaine sales in the US. This was prompted by the journalist Gary Webb's report in the Mercury News which alleged that the CIA was behind the 1980s crack epidemic.[10]

The contents of the actual report was largely ignored by the national media. In the 623rd paragraph, the report described a cable from the CIA's Directorate of Operations dated October 22, 1982, describing a prospective meeting between Contra leaders in Costa Rica for "an exchange in [the United States] of narcotics for arms, which then are shipped to Nicaragua."[12]

Former CIA agent David MacMichael explained the inherent relationship between CIA activity in Latin America and drug trafficking: "Once you set up a covert operation to supply arms and money, it's very difficult to separate it from the kind of people who are involved in other forms of trade, and especially drugs. There is a limited number of planes, pilots and landing strips. By developing a system for supply of the Contras, the US built a road for drug supply into the US."[5]

On April 17, 1986, the Reagan Administration released a three page report acknowledging that there were some Contra-cocaine connections in 1984 and 1985, arguing that these connections occurred at a time when the rebels were "particularly hard pressed for financial support" because U.S. aid had been cut off. The report admitted that "We have evidence of a limited number of incidents in which known drug traffickers have tried to establish connections with Nicaraguan resistance groups." The report tried to downplay the drug activity, claiming that it took place "without the authorization of resistance leaders."[7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_and...king_in_the_US

so the cia flooded black neighborhoods with crack, which is highly addictive, and made many addicts which helped put them away behind bars. this was the true start of the rise in the prison industrial industry, and blacks being the fuel for it. so iran-contra-cocaine link helped put blacks in prison, as well as other historic racist motives.

Beginning with the Iran-Contra Affair, some politicians and journalists began suggesting that the CIA contributed to the rise of the epidemic. Allegations ranged from the presence of drug ties to the Contra rebels, to possible direct involvement in drug trafficking by the Contras and even members of the CIA. The exact degree of awareness and involvement on the part of the CIA itself continues to be disputed. However, on April 17, 1986, the Reagan Administration released a three page report acknowledging that there were some Contra-cocaine connections in 1984 and 1985, arguing that these connections occurred at a time when the rebels were "particularly hard pressed for financial support" because U.S. aid had been cut off. [5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crack_epidemic

The National Security Archive obtained the hand-written notebooks of Oliver North, the National Security Council aide who helped run the contra war and other Reagan administration covert operations, through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed in 1989. The notebooks, as well as declassified memos sent to North, record that North was repeatedly informed of contra ties to drug trafficking.

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/nsaebb2.htm

swim knows the drug war isnt completly racist (in that it will bust anyone. and swim was told by one his buddies whose white who got busted for crack possesion, he said why he had a n****r drug, swim knows its just antecdotal but he's throwing it out there) ,but does believe they target blacks for their own racist reason.

just for the record (not that it should matter) swim is not african american.

[guldenat]

Originally Posted by FuBai

You've got to take into account the following facts:

a) Cops tend to target trouble hotspots, and these are usually in poor areas

b) There are lots of give aways as to the class of a person - dress and possesions being only one. People from different classes tend not only to speak in different ways, but to react to the police in different ways.

c) Black people form "deprived" backgrounds, due in part to precieved persecution, often react very negatively to the police. This then causes the police to react more negatively to them.

I would argue that these are some of the reasons as to why blacks have a higher arrest rate, not just for drug crimes but for many types of crime. Now, if you're a police officer looking at those statistics you might well come to the conclusion that blacks commit more crimes - a different sort of racism, not simply based on prejudice, but based on statistics. It's a self-perpetuating problem.

While swim agrees with the point that it is natural for the police to target poorer areas due to their inability to acquire suitable legal representation, it should not be overlooked that since the white population in the US is far larger than the black, by extension their are actually far more poor whites in the US than black. Having said that, swim thinks the OP's point is still valid - why are their so many more black people being arrested and thrown in prison when A.) more whites use drugs, and B.) more whites are below the poverty line.

From a sociological perspective, the black family has still not recovered from the times of slavery - where their families were more often than not broken up. Also, having been freed from slavery after the Union's success in the civil war, it is not easy to simply walk off the plantation and then go become a success, especially since many employers, even those in the north, had no interest in hiring poor, uneducated blacks. While it is popular for the media to create stories (some based on truth) about poor white immigrants becoming multi-millionaires and "living the american dream", that same success has been much more difficult to achieve among the black community, who were not simply immigrants but had a much different experience coming to the United States (obviously). This, along with many other factors, has contributed to the deplorable state of America's inner cities (in the north east as well as the west coast poor black families tend to live in the cities, while poor whites live more in small towns).

In short, swim believes that the problems with the American justice system, while having many roots in racism, is a far more complex problem of which racism may still be playing a part.

Reputation Comments on this post:

good post

[Wierd Logic]

You have to remember that on average blacks are poorer, and with poverty comes the kind of drugs that you'll get arrested more for. Less white suburban kids are getting arrested for taking acid because its not seen as much of a threat to society.

[drug-bot]

Originally Posted by Wierd Logic

You have to remember that on average blacks are poorer, and with poverty comes the kind of drugs that you'll get arrested more for. Less white suburban kids are getting arrested for taking acid because its not seen as much of a threat to society.

no. your wrong. first more whites are under the poverty line than blacks, not by percent but by actual number (as theres alot more white people living in the u.s). second whites use more drugs including hard drugs (what you must be mean by saying 'drugs accociated with poverty').


methamphetamine (a hard drug) is more commonly abused by whites than blacks (7x's greater than blacks).

The highest
rates of past year methamphetamine
use were found among Native Hawaiians
or other Pacific Islanders (2.2 percent),
American Indians or Alaska Natives
(1.7 percent) and persons reporting two
or more races (1.9 percent) (Figure 3).6
Past year methamphetamine use among
whites (0.7 percent) and Hispanics (0.5
percent) was higher than among blacks

(0.1 percent) or Asians (0.2 percent).

http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/2K5/meth/meth.pdf


as is heroin (the hardest of hard drugs in the publics imagination) whites use almost twice as much as blacks, heres proof-

According to Treatment Episode Data Set, heroin accounted for 15.2% of all treatment admissions in 2000 (243,523 admissions). Males accounted for 66.9% of heroin treatment admissions. Treatment admissions by race/ethnicity ranged from 47.3% white, to 24.7% Hispanic, to 24.2% black.

http://www.policyalmanac.org/crime/archive/heroin.shtml

blacks only use cocaine (another 'hard' drug) only .1% (statistically insignificant)more than whites. althought they do use crack at about 3x's the rate of whites, but taking everything into consideration whites use more hard drugs than blacks, so your wrong. also it only talks about the percent using crack not the raw number, and since whites out number blacks about 6 to 1 the actual number of crack smokers will most likely be not as wide a gap.
proof regarding cocaine/crack use by race

Figure 2. Percentages of Past Year Cocaine* and Crack Use among Persons Aged 12 or Older, by Race/Ethnicity: 2002 and 2003

http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/2k5/cocaine/cocaine.htm

so after taking into account 4 hard drugs blacks only use 1 more than whites (crack)although it only talks about the percent using crack not the number of actual smokers, and since whites out number blacks about 6 to 1 the actual number of crack smokers will most likely be not as wide a gap. , cocaine is statistically equal between both races (.1 difference is within the margin of error), whites use alot more meth and heroin, as well as drugs in general if you read the intial statistic from the department of justice in the first link -

According to the federal Household Survey, "most current illicit drug users are white. There were an estimated 9.9 million whites (72 percent of all users), 2.0 million blacks (15 percent), and 1.4 million Hispanics (10 percent) who were current illicit drug users in 1998." And yet, blacks constitute 36.8% of those arrested for drug violations, over 42% of those in federal prisons for drug violations. African-Americans comprise almost 58% of those in state prisons for drug felonies; Hispanics account for 20.7%.

Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Summary Report 1998 (Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 1999), p. 13; Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 1998 (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, August 1999), p. 343, Table 4.10, p. 435, Table 5.48, and p. 505, Table 6.52; Beck, Allen J., Ph.D. and Mumola, Christopher J., Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 1998 (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, August 1999), p. 10, Table 16; Beck, Allen J., PhD, and Paige M. Harrison, US Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice, August 2001), p. 11, Table 16.

[FuBai]

Am I not right in saying that poorer whites tend to live in more rural areas where drugs are less prevelant, whilst the urban poor are predominately comprised of racial minorities.

[drug-bot]

Originally Posted by FuBai

Am I not right in saying that poorer whites tend to live in more rural areas where drugs are less prevelant, whilst the urban poor are predominately comprised of racial minorities.

meth is very prevelant in rural areas.

even if more minoritys live in urban areas, wouldnt it be as much racial profiling fueled by racism by the police to target them rather than white people who statistlcally use much more drugs.

also not all urban areas are predominatly black, look at the projects in somerville and south boston both in massachussets (all predominatly white)

also read my post above yours (the one im quoting), it goes into detail showing white people using more 'hard' drugs than blacks.

[enquirewithin]

As other posters have mentioned, the racist implementation and origins of US drug laws is part of US culture. According to Human Rights Watch:

Nationwide, black men are incarcerated at 9.6 times the rate of white men. In eleven states, black men are incarcerated at rates that are twelve to twenty-six times greater than those of white men. Thus, in Minnesota, the state with the greatest racial disparity in incarceration, a black man is 26.8 times more likely to be in prison than a white man. In Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, a black man is more than fifteen times more likely to be in prison than a white man. In the District of Columbia, black men are incarcerated at 49 times the rate of white men...

Because of their extraordinary rate of incarceration, one in every 20 black men over the age of 18 is in a state or federal prison, compared to one in every 180 whites. In certain states, the incarceration of black men reaches devastating levels: in Oklahoma and Iowa one in every thirteen black men is in state prison; in Rhode Island, Texas and Wisconsin, the figure is one in every fourteen.

Reputation Comments on this post:

good find