Drug War facts

There is just as much a drug use stereotype as there is racial stereotype in the United States.  Common stereotypes include the speculation that drug use leads to violent crimes including murder, illegal drugs are deadlier than other substances both legal and not and that the majority of drug users are people of color. The statistics on www.drugwarfacts.org prove otherwise, in fact it states that 40% of convicted murderers and more than half of assault convictions were under the influence of alcohol (a legal substance), the death toll as a result of illegal drug use was 17,000 in 2000 compared to death 32,000 death as a result of prescription drugs used in hospitals, and that 72% of male illegal drug users are in fact white while 32.2% are black and 10% are Hispanic. Despite the numbers disproving the drug use stereotype the site also states that, “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%)” (Imprisonment in the US). This likely the result of the Southern Strategy a political scheme which manipulates the paradigm of society to support anti-colored policies and creates negative social projects in regards to people of color. The effects of the Southern Strategy are so in ebbed in the minds of Americans, especially white Americans, that it continues to strengthen racial stereotypes such as those stated above on the issue of illegal drugs that it allows for politicians to further prosecute people of color on false notions of their culture or ethics. The website offers a lot of though provoking statistics but it would have been interesting to see the numbers for people who believe in the racial stereotypes of drug users.