Chicagoist: Drug Laws Are Bad, Mmmkay?

fed up

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:41:27 -0600

Spook I am not a member of any political party. Left and Right both need to chill. People dont need to be conservitive or liberal on every issue you can think for yourself and have opinions besides what the great thinkers Limbaugh and air america preach.

Tower18

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:59:47 -0600

Olly McPherson, that's interesting. I wonder how that data is influenced by Billy Bob and Tammy Rae cooking meth out in the hinterlands. Nonetheless, interesting...would be interesting to see such stats for Chicago and Cook County though.

Olly McPherson

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:50:33 -0600

Actually Tower18, the Chicago Tribune article is clear in saying that drug-dealing rates are equal among white and blacks. "Ziedenberg stresses that not only does research show that blacks and whites use illegal drugs at similar rates, but blacks and whites also sell drugs at similar rates. "We've got a media culture that puts out an image of what a drug dealer looks like," Ziedenberg said. "Most people buy drugs from somebody of the same color. And since the vast majority of drug users in the United States are white, the majority of drug dealers are also white."" Also, despite all the comments about "grains of salt" and "the lefties having made up their mind," I haven't seen any evidence given as to why the study's conclusions are wrong.

Olly McPherson

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:48:00 -0600

Olly McPherson

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:45:57 -0600

Spook

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:45:36 -0600

"The lack of jobs and education the high rate of single mothers," Watch out Fed, you might get kicked out the G.O.P for those comments. Now that you'd want to be a demorat.

Ward Up

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 01:09:03 -0600

The reasons why this study and its conclusions are absurd are....oh forget it. The lefties have made up their minds.

fed up

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 22:12:02 -0600

Matty Is it the polices fault for arresting the guy with the dime bag or the politicans fault for making the dime bag illegal?You blame the police for doing there job but I bet your also the first to complain if the police dont do there job. African americans also make up a very high percentage of drug related murders both Off. and victim.I bet thats the polices fault to. There is a problem with crime in some african american communities and its not racism for the most part. The lack of jobs and education the high rate of single mothers, not the racist police are the problem.

matty

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 18:03:57 -0600

it's a tax on the system. if cops didn't use any excuse to arrest people (such as a dime bag) we wouldn't have the over crowding problems that we do today.

whymustiregister

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:22:36 -0600

Kudos to Chicagoist for once realizing that studies are produced to further agendas. Grain of salt people. More hysterical the language = less reliable the data. And get out the salt lick as soon as somebody whips out the race card.

Tower18

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:01:42 -0600

It may not be very PC to say...but I suspect if it were possible to see stats on the races of drug dealers, you would find the racial bias is there, not in the incarceration stats. "Drug users" would be more balanced, but I'd reckon "drug dealers" tends to skew black. I doubt that's just anecdotal.