Slog - Comments on This Week on Drugs http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64 New York City: Racial bias in skyrocketing pot arrests. A study released Tuesday reported that between 1998 and 2007, the police arrested 374,900 people whose most serious crime was the lowest-level misdemeanor marijuana offense. That is more than eight times the number of arrests on those same charges between 1988 and 1997, when 45,300 people were picked up for having a small amount of pot. Nearly everyone involved in this wave of marijuana arrests is male: 90 percent were men, although national studies show that men and women use pot in roughly equal rates. And 83 percent of those... Copyright 2008 Fri, 02 May 2008 15:51:46 -0800 Mon, 05 May 2008 14:09:02 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by w7ngman Maybe whites are more likely to smoke at home, and blacks are more likely to smoke in, say, a Metro bus shelter at 8:30am.

Ok, that's probably bullshit, but if there is racial bias, isn't there an even more noticeable gender bias? I actually do think guys are more like to smoke in stupid, risky situations.

]]> w7ngman http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012717 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012717 Drugs Fri, 02 May 2008 16:18:02 -0800 Comment by infrequent that hard lemonade story is horrifying.

]]> infrequent http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012731 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012731 Drugs Fri, 02 May 2008 16:24:22 -0800 Comment by Emily G Hey Dominic,

How's your Spanish? According to this article, the European Parliment is proposing legalizing some forms of use of the coca leaf (such as in tea, or in energy bars for mountain climbers). I'm sure this is reported in English somewhere...

http://www.clarin.com/diario/2008/04/27/elmundo/i-02501.htm

]]> Emily G http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012756 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012756 Drugs Fri, 02 May 2008 16:43:47 -0800 Comment by w7ngman Yeah, what kind of "academic" doesn't know about hard lemonade?

]]> w7ngman http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012758 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012758 Drugs Fri, 02 May 2008 16:44:01 -0800 Comment by Thomas It's very hard to tell from the graph showing pot arrests how the percentage has changed, since the earlier one doesn't have numbers. Visually, it looks like the approximate percentage of Blacks arrested has *decreased*, although the number of total arrests overall has obviously increased.

]]> Thomas http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012797 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012797 Drugs Fri, 02 May 2008 16:56:52 -0800 Comment by infrequent i know. if he's so "smart" and "academic" you'd think he could have outwitted that rent-a-cop. maybe by putting the bottle in a paper bag. that seems to fool even the most seasoned veterans on the force.

]]> infrequent http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012875 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012875 Drugs Fri, 02 May 2008 17:47:46 -0800 Comment by Grant Cogswell When I was in recovery (I'm recovered! Now I can drink) I almost bought a Hard Lemonade at a pizza joint in the U District before my friend stopped me. This guy got arrested for lack of brand awareness, essentially, which probably means he is a better parent and a deeper human being than most.

]]> Grant Cogswell http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012898 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012898 Drugs Fri, 02 May 2008 18:01:18 -0800 Comment by Fifty-Two-Eighty Well, if you really want to get on your high horse, you could write about the guy in Denver who got busted with .44 grams of pot (NOT a typo), despite the fact that we decrimanalized possession of less than an ounce in 1995. No link, but try rockymountainnews.com, which is where I read it this morning.

]]> Fifty-Two-Eighty http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012933 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012933 Drugs Fri, 02 May 2008 18:45:17 -0800 Comment by Fifty-Two-Eighty OK, decriminalized, so sue me.

]]> Fifty-Two-Eighty http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012935 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012935 Drugs Fri, 02 May 2008 18:47:21 -0800 Comment by Fifty-Two-Eighty @7, apparently you missed the (true) story of the dad at a Detroit Tigers game this week who bought his 7-year-old son some lemonade. Yup, you guessed it, Mike's Hard Lemonade. True story.

]]> Fifty-Two-Eighty http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012939 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012939 Drugs Fri, 02 May 2008 18:53:40 -0800 Comment by leek Errr... *looks askance at Fifty-Two-Eighty*

]]> leek http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012946 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012946 Drugs Fri, 02 May 2008 19:04:45 -0800 Comment by holz i'm sorry, this graph DOES NOT show racial bias.

it shows approximately the same PERCENTAGE of arrests by race. however, the number of arrests has exponentially increased.

]]> holz http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012957 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012957 Drugs Fri, 02 May 2008 19:19:08 -0800 Comment by Bob I had to read the whole article on the hard lemonade professor but YES he is a heterosexual with a WIFE. I knew it! That type cannot be trusted to have kids. Every kid deserves a mother and father who doesn't accidentally buy him booze.

]]> Bob http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012970 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012970 Drugs Fri, 02 May 2008 19:28:42 -0800 Comment by Big Adventure Steve I have to echo the sentiments of @1. This does seem to be a gender bias issue. Where's the outrage?

On the other hand, the overall jump in arrest rates is outrageous enough without having to find an *ism to go along with it.

]]> Big Adventure Steve http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012979 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012979 Drugs Fri, 02 May 2008 19:36:37 -0800 Comment by Fifty-Two-Eighty Sorry. Or maybe not. Am mostly drunk, but am home and no more armed to the teeth than usual. Which is to say a lot. But no worries, time to crash now.

]]> Fifty-Two-Eighty http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012987 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1012987 Drugs Fri, 02 May 2008 19:46:10 -0800 Comment by criminator what an irrelevant and useless waste of space (your yapping about this, that is).
i don't do drugs.
anybody who does drugs should be punished.
severely.
regardless of ethnicity, religious belief, political association, height, weight, hair color, brand of underwear, middle initial, etc.

]]> criminator http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1013094 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1013094 Drugs Fri, 02 May 2008 22:44:24 -0800 Comment by COMTE @16:

How was that cup of coffee you had this morning?

Have any beers this afternoon?

What about the Aspirin/Ibuprofen/Acetominofen you took for that "sore neck" last week?

Do you take any: sleep aids, high blood-pressure meds, Insulin, Viagra, anti-diuretics, cough medicines, etc.?

Drugs are everywhere - it's just that the people who make a lot of money from the drugs they manufacture would prefer that you continue to pay for their products - and presumably ignore the myriad of side-effects they cause - rather than to consume plant-based medicinals that anyone with even a modest ability could grow FOR FREE in their own back-yard.

Probably not as potent, but then, you usually don't have to worry about "anal leakage" or liver damage either.

]]> COMTE http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1013444 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1013444 Drugs Sat, 03 May 2008 23:07:05 -0800 Comment by Breklor @17:

Don't feed trolls. It just encourages them.

]]> Breklor http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1014435 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/this_week_on_drugs_64#c1014435 Drugs Mon, 05 May 2008 14:09:02 -0800