| > whites and blacks use drugs at similar rates Not really though. From the primary source for marijuana: MORE THAN 100 DAYS OF USE IN PAST 12 MONTHS white: 4.5% black: 6.1% Now for coke: MORE THAN 100 DAYS OF USE IN PAST 12 MONTHS white: 0.1 black: 0.3 Now for crack: MORE THAN 100 DAYS OF USE IN PAST 12 MONTHS white: 0.0 black: 0.3 Ok, ok, how about heroin? We know those white boys just can't get enough smack right? MORE THAN 100 DAYS OF USE IN PAST 12 MONTHS white: 0.1 black: 0.2 Nope. Not sure how people can interpret these numbers to be "equal rates" when habitual daily use numbers are multiples higher for blacks. https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/quicktables/quickconfig.do?34481... That Vox article is being misleading when they frame it based on "reported using the drug in the last year" because doing coke once on New Years is a lot different that doing coke daily. Looking at the daily use stats their statement that "In 2007, black people were 3.6 times more likely to be arrested for drugs than white people." doesn't seem so extremely disproportionate considering the daily usage is in some cases 3x as much. Very dishonest article. Sorry for double post, it wouldn't let me edit the other one for more clarity. Edit: Downvoters care to counter? |
The most common drug people get arrested for is marijuana, and the difference in use (even by your chosen metric) is nowhere near 3.6x.
The only drug where you can make an argument even approaching 3.6x is crack, which is a relatively small percentage of arrests.
I also note you omitted the "stimulant" category (which in the 2011 dataset covered methamphetamine).