Drug War Facts

In society especially in the United States, drugs seem to be circulating and becoming a big factor in many people’s lives. The amount of usage of drugs is being noticed especially with the recollection of data. Drugs can be connected to many problematic issues such as deaths and incarcerations. One data that seemed very interesting is who are the one using these illicit drugs. When examined by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, they found that “ an estimated 9.9 million whites (72% of all users), 2.0 million blacks (15%), and 1.4 million Hispanics (10%) who were illicit drug users in 1998.”. In other words, most of these illicit drug users were white. The data by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration was very interesting especially when comparing to data by Prevalence of Imprisonment in the US Population. In the data of Prevalence of Imprisonment in the US Population “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%).”  Both these data’s are great but a bit more details for Prevalence of Imprisonment in the US Population by being more particular on what crimes in particular are each ethnicity imprisoned for. Another great source of data is by Alcohol and Crime: An Analysis of National Data stating “ For more than 4 in 10 convicted murderers being held either in jail or in state prison, alcohol use is reported to have been a factor in the crime. Nearly half of those convicted of assault and sentenced to probation had been drinking when the offense occurred.” In other words alcohol can be connected to many of these incarceration and also obscure making right judgments.  Another topic connected to drugs is the impact it has on deaths. The Journal of the American Medical Association states that “Overall, we estimate that illicit drug use resulted in approximately 17,000 deaths in 2000.” This quotation shows how so many deaths are intertwined with death causes.  JAMA states “Approximately 32,000 hospitalized patients (and possibly as many as 106,000) in the USA die each year because of adverse reactions to their prescribed medications.” This shows how even prescribed drugs have been resulting in many deaths of people.