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White kids are more likely to be using (and selling) drugs, yet blacks are more likely to go to prison. This advertisement appeared in the National Review, the The New Republic, the Weekly Standard, The Nation, Reason Magazine and The Progressive in the spring of 2001. This advertisement is also available in printer-ready Portable Document Format (PDF).
White Kids Are Much More Likely To
Be Using (And Selling) Drugs!

Something wrong
According to the federal Centers for Disease Control, he's 4 times more likely than his African- American classmate to be a regular cocaine user. According to the Justice Department, if he's arrested on drug charges, he's 1-½ times more likely than his white classmate to be sent to prison.
  • White high-school students who are current users of cocaine: 4.1%1
  • Chance of a white person ever trying an illicit drug in their lifetime: 42%2
  • Percent of felony drug defendants in state courts who are white: 37%3
  • Percent of white drug felons given probation or nonincarceration sentence by state courts: 32%4
  • Percent of white drug felons sentenced to prison by state courts each year: 27%5
  • African-American high school students who are current users of cocaine: 1.1%1
  • Chance of an African-American person ever trying an illicit drug in their lifetime: 37.7%2
  • Percent of felony drug defendants in state courts who are black: 37.7%3>
  • Percent of black drug felons given probation or nonincarceration sentence by state courts: 25%4
  • Percent of black drug felons sentenced to prison by state courts each year: 43%5

Black Kids Are
More Likely To Go
To Prison!
Note:
According to the US Justice Department and the Office of National Drug Control Policy, drug users typically buy their drugs from sellers of their own racial or ethnic background. For research on Ethnicity & Race of Drug Sellers and Users, see: US Dept. of Justice National Institute of Justice & the US Office of National Drug Control Policy, "Crack, Powder Cocaine, and Heroin: Drug Purchase and Use Patterns in Six U.S. Cities," December 1997, pp. 1, 16, and p. 15, Table 16.

  1. Data on drug use by high-school students: Youth Risk Behavior Survey 1999, Centers for Disease Control, reported in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Vol. 49, No. 22-5, p. 66, Table 24.
  2. Data on lifetime prevalence of drug use: US Dept. of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, "Summary of Findings from the 1999 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse," August 2000, p. G-13, Table G-13.
  3. Demographic data on felony drug defendants in state courts: US Dept. of Justice Burueau of Justice Statistics, "Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1996," October 1999, p. 4, Table 3.
  4. Demographic data on felony drug defendants in state courts: US Dept. of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, "State Court Sentencing of Convicted Felons, 1996," February 2000, p. 13, Table 2.5.

Common Sense for Drug Policy
Kevin B. Zeese, President
3220 N Street NW #141, Washington, DC 20007
703-354-9050 -- 703-354-5695 (fax)
www.csdp.org -- www.DrugWarFacts.org
info@csdp.org
Download PDF
https://www.csdp.org/publicservice/kids.pdf