Percentage of Persons Reporting Use of Marijuana or Cocaine in the Last Month
| 1985 | 1990 | 1992 | 1994 | 1996 | 1998 | |
| Marijuana | ||||||
| Age 12-17 | ||||||
| White | 12 | 5.0 | 4.0 | 6.0 | 7.0 | 10.0 |
| Black | 6 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 6.0 | 7.0 | 9.0 |
| Age 18-25 | ||||||
| White | NA | NA | NA | 13.0 | 14.0 | 15.0 |
| Black | NA | NA | NA | 12.0 | 14.0 | 15.0 |
| Cocaine | ||||||
| Age 12-17 | ||||||
| White | 1.5 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.9 |
| Black | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.1 | NA |
| Age 18-25 | ||||||
| White | NA | NA | NA | 1.2 | 2.3 | 2.2 |
| Black | NA | NA | NA | 0.7 | 1.1 | 0.6 |
Researchers for Monitoring the Future (discussed earlier) point out: "Contrary to popular assumption … African American youngsters have substantially lower rates of use of most licit and illicit drugs than do whites. These include any illicit drug use, most of the specific illicit drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes." However, in 1998, recent illicit drug use was more common among black adults (8%) than among white adults (5.7%).
The perception of heavy drug use by blacks comes from the reality of higher arrest rates in inner cities for using and selling drugs. Selling drugs tends to be an inner-city business, although customers are more often white. The sale and use of crack cocaine, the cheap, smokable form of powder cocaine, exploded in inner cities in the 1980s before declining in the mid-1990s. Crack is highly addictive and often leads to violent behavior. Selling and/or using such a drug is the type of behavior that tends to attract the attention of police. According to federal law, it takes 100 times more powder cocaine than crack to trigger the same mandatory minimum prison sentences.24
According to Orange County Superior Court Judge James P. Gray25: "The typical drug case is a small amount of drugs that is being sold by somebody to support his or her habit … mostly it's just the low-level users and the low-level drug sellers. And we fill our prisons with them."
The Justice Policy Institute (JPI; a research/public policy organization) notes that at the end of the 1990s America had more people behind bars than ever before in its history, though the economy was good and crime rates were down. The black community is disproportionately affected. "In 1997, even though African Americans made up only 13% of the population, half of the 1.2 million state and federal prisoners were African American (548,900)…. Even though surveys continue to show similar drug usage rates for young blacks and whites, drug commitment rates for black males ages 15-29 increased six-fold [from 1980 to 1997] while the comparable rates for young whites doubled" (JPI). Racism? The problem, says JPI's Vincent Schiraldi, is "that we've focused on imprisonment as the near-exclusive solution to substance abuse, while giving short shrift to treatment and prevention."
Commenting on a similar 1996 report, conservative author Michael Fumento stated: "There's no doubt there's something pathologically wrong in a society in which a third of the members of the second-largest race are involved in the criminal justice system. Throwing young men in prison or putting them on probation or parole doesn't solve this problem."
Sources: Health, United States 2001, Table 63; SAMHSA, NHS: http://www.cdc.gov/. Justice Policy Institute, "The Punishing Decade: Prison and Jail Estimates at the Millennium," and "Poor Prescription: The Costs of Imprisoning Drug Offenders in the United States." http://www.cjcj.org. "Closing the Health Gap." HHS Fact Sheet. http://www.healthgap.omhrc.gov. "New report blasts media coverage of Contra-crack story." FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting) news release, 18 December 1996: http://www.hartfordhwp.com. Michael W. Lynch. "Battlefield Conversions." Reason. (January 2002). Michael Fumento, "Crime Study Doesn't Show Racism." http://www.fumento.com/.
User Comments Add a comment…