White Kids Abuse Drugs and Alcohol at Twice Rate of Blacks
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A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
Racial myths are slow to die, because they serve the purposes of those who rule through mechanisms of racial oppression. Black mass incarceration, which has been public policy of the United States for four decades, is underpinned by assumptions of Black criminality – especially drug abuse. “A new study, however, shows that Black and Asian kids are, in fact, much less likely than their white counterparts to abuse or become dependent on drugs and alcohol.”
White Kids Abuse Drugs and Alcohol at Twice Rate of Blacks
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
“Nine percent of white kids develop drug dependencies and disorders – twice the rate of Blacks, and three times that of Asians.”
For some time, social scientists have known that the stereotypes were a lie: that Blacks were no more prone to drug and alcohol abuse than whites, and probably somewhat less so. Study after study has indicated that a rough racial equality exists in terms of young people’s desire to get high. A new study, however, shows that Black and Asian kids are, in fact, much less likely than their white counterparts to abuse or become dependent on drugs and alcohol – a finding that, in a more just nation, would have vast ramifications for public policy.
A team from Duke University conducted the study of young people aged 12 to 17. It was based on confidential federal surveys of more than 72,000 adolescents in all 50 states, from 2005 to 2008. This is a much larger and geographically representative group than previous studies, and presumably more definitive. It shows that 9 percent of white kids develop drug dependencies and disorders – twice the rate of Blacks, and three times that of Asians. Native Americans suffer by far the highest rates of disorders from drug and alcohol abuse, at 15 percent.
Not surprisingly, marijuana is the drug of choice for teenagers, and of the kids that smoke marijuana, 26 percent fall into the abuse or dependence category.
Overall, 8 percent of U.S. kids have a substance disorder, while 37 percent reported using drugs or alcohol at some time in the past year. But the news was in the racial breakdown.
Native American youth were found to use the most drugs or alcohol, with 48 percent having done so in the past year. Whites were second, at 39 percent; Hispanics, 37 percent; mixed race kids, 36 percent, followed by Blacks at 32 percent. Asians were far less likely to indulge drugs or alcohol, at only 24 percent.
“Native Americans suffer by far the highest rates of disorders from drug and alcohol abuse.”
The racial pattern was somewhat different for drug use, alone. In the past year, 31 percent of Native American teenagers got high off drugs; 23 percent of mixed race kids; 20 percent of whites; 19 percent, Blacks; 18 percent for Hispanics, and just 12, Asians.
That’s about the same rate of drug use for whites and Blacks: 20 and 19 percent, respectively. But white youth are substantially more likely to have imbibed alcohol in the past year: 35 percent for whites, 25 percent for Blacks.
So, what does this new knowledge mean in terms of public policy? The author of the study, Prof. Dan Blazer, of Duke University Medical Center, says the data should help programs “focus on the subgroups of adolescents who are at greater risk.” At risk of what? The numbers show whites are more at risk than Blacks for actual drug and alcohol disorder and abuse. But Black kids are far more at risk for incarceration for drugs. Public policy, through police surveillance and stop-and-frisk, is justified by assumptions about human behavior, such as that Blacks are more involved in drug use and abuse than whites. But once again, this has been proven to be factually false. The Duke University data show that the United States criminal justice system – not Black behavior – is responsible for the vast racial disparities in incarceration for drug offenses. The system is rigged, and science proves it. The fundamental problem is that America is drunk on racism and constantly indulging in Black-people-abuse.
For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford. On the web, go to BlackAgendaReport.com.
BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.
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The deeper problem
is that we are ALL living in a police state, with Prohibition being the foundation for all other abuses. Racism is a key component in this, but it's not the underlying problem. The determination of 1% to dominate, exploit, and rule over 99% is the underlying problem, and divide-and-conquer is the primary tactic. Racism is central to that. But without prohibition, the police state would melt away. Seeking intoxication, at least on an occasional basis, is a normal human behavior. To criminalize it is to say that ALL human behavior is suspect. That, in turn, is the foundation of the police state.
Until we see that the black kid stopped on the streets of NYC and the white suburbanite stopped at the airport are both suffering fundamentally the same oppression, we can't take a unified stand against it.
I Refer Back to 'America is a Fascist State Because IT IS Racist
Which was an article by Mike Pirch posted here @ BAR on Oct 19. IMO- Its theme is key to understanding the true historical nature of the US' Police-State.
TSA Naked Body Scanners are simply the hi-tech equivalent of strip-searches so many Black & Brown Men [& also Women] have been subjected to by Officers of the State [IE: Police of the State = Police-State] for Decades {centuries}. Who recalls that so many Black & Brown Women were routinely PHYSICALLY strip-searched [including body-cavity searched] at US international airports - under the guise that African & Carribean Women were all so-called 'Drug Mules' in the decade(s) prior to 9-11??!! TSA Naked-body scanners are simply a 'Sterile Hi-Tech' means of strip-searching EVERYONE at US Airports [who are mostly white]. But some whites who are NOW crying Foul about TSA Naked Body Scanners, should ask themselves [if it should apply] why they didn't cry foul THEN when so many Black & Brown women were Routinely Physically Man-handled & Strip-Searched - if they can even remember this ['Injustice Anywhere {& to Anyone} is a threat to Justice Everywhere {& to Everyone}' - Rev Dr ML King]! Furthermore- The Gov't' [under Obama but spearheaded by ex-Bushite Homeland Security Chief & now top naked-body scanner lobbyist- Mike Chertoff ] began rolling-out these TSA naked-body scanners - after the 'alleged' [& suspect] X-Mas Day Underwear {non}Bomber Episode in 2009- the accussed being a Nigerian who should have NEVER been allowed on that plane because he had NO passport & visa & whose father Alerted US officials in Nigeria about him- weeks in advance! But then the image & targets of the Gov't's phony 'War on Terror' - so-called terrorist has been mainly Blacks &/or Afro-Asian Muslims- most of whom have been ENTRAPPED by PAID Gov't Agents, Who Actually Cooked-up These PHONY PLOTS in the First Place! BUT- Again there seemed to be little outrage then- because few saw that all of this phony 'War on Terror' hype would lead to a full-scale roll-out of these TSA Naked-body Scanners ['Injustice Anywhere {& to Anyone} is a threat to Justice Everywhere {& to Everyone} MLK]!
SO- Why is it that in most EU countries drug addiction / abuse is mainly seen as a public health issue, while in the US it is criminalized? One obvious reason- most of the EU's drug addicts are white natives of those countries, while in the US many [but by no means most] addicts are Black & Brown - so the US' so-called 'War on Drugs' is effectively an extension of the US' on-going 'War on Black & Brown People' - who are the Main Targets of this phony 'War on Drugs' [though some mainly poor whites also occasionally get caught-up in it]! This is obvious, because it's been well established that drug abuse rates for whites are roughly equivalent to that of Black & Brown Folk- YET Black & Brown folk are the ones whose image the MSNM Media has demonized & the US' Criminalized {in}Justice System / Prison Industrial Complex has Crimalized IN MASS Incarcerations [NOTE: Up until the 1970s - early 1980s most of the US' prison population were white men - the phony 'War on Drugs' {circa mid 1970s - 1980s} changed that]!
Facism is also called a Police-State. You can't have a Police-State without Police as enforcers of the Facist State. If you look at the history of the Police in the US vis-a-vis Blacks you'll see that: The police are mainly charged with protecting the property of the Power Elites & Affluent. In the Slave-South that meant protecting Slave-owners property from slave rebellions &keeping their slave-property from escaping. Many police in the South [up to the 1960s or even 1970s] were often in cahoots w or actual members of the KKK, white citizens councils, etc! In the North the police were often strike-breakers [IE: breaking the strikers heads]. They also Broke many Blacks' Heads- who took action against their oppressive segregated living conditions & unjust work conditions or just plain being locked out of fair job opportunities... In other words too often the Police's un-official job description [in both the North & South] was - 'Keep the Niggers in Check & In Their Place'! All of this was the relevant pre-conditions for the current looming Police State apparatus- and this must fully be understood & acknowledged!
I Refer back to 'America is a Fascist State Because IT IS Racist
Ditto Above
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SUBURBAN APPROVAL
I think that neither the "stop and frisk" laws which largely target Black, and Latino youths, and other young men of color, nor the more intrusive airport security screenings which impact everyone who visits an airport, but are also skewed to focus a lot more on non whites, and on those who are Muslim, or on those who are moving between nations which are on suspect lists (non of which are, of course, "White" Western nations) would exist without the approval of the majority of White suburbanites who have voted in these measures and the politicians who design them and enact them into law. These laws and others like them will continue to exist, to expand, and to become even more onerous as long as many White suburbanites believe that the state is protecting them from dangerous, hate-crazed outsiders. In a racist society such as this one, I don't have the luxury of pretending that racism is an insignificant component of social control. If the day ever comes when 3/4 of all White males in the United States are caught up in the penal system, and White political and economic power mirrors that of American Blacks, perhaps we can have a conversation about the equality of oppression. I simply do not see that ever happening in this country. As if has with the drug war, and with the vagrancy laws which preceded it, America will always find a way to criminalize Blackness in ways that it simply does not do with others, especially Whites. Within all police states, not everyone is equally policed, and many who live within them not only support the police, but actually are the police. They just dispense with the uniforms.
I just hope that these facts
I just hope that these facts will be taken into consideration by the right authorities. White kids, black kids, it doesn't matter, all we need to do is spot the warning signs and give a hand to support these kids, drugs are a far bigger issue than most of us perceive it.
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