New York Times Letter to the Editor: Drug Prosecutions

January 20, 2009
The New York Times Editorials / Letters

Drug Prosecutions

To the Editor:

In “Cocaine and White Teens” (column, Jan. 10), Charles M. Blow writes that white teenagers use more cocaine than black teenagers, and cites a ratio of 10 to 1 of white versus black teenagers entering drug treatment for crack and cocaine use.

A significant but missing statistic is white versus black teenagers entering the criminal justice system. F.B.I. statistics for many years have shown more whites than blacks arrested for drugs, while more blacks than whites are incarcerated. We should not lose sight that our war on drugs has been a war on people of a certain color.

Howard Josepher

The writer is president of Exponents, which helps people affected by drug addiction.