Top 10 Marijuana Myths and Facts: Myth: Prisons are full of people in for marijuana possession. Quick Tables. Study: Imposition Of Per Se Limits For Drugs Don't Reduce Traffic Deaths. Denver, CO: The imposition of so-called per se drugged driving laws, which create new traffic safety violations for drivers who operate a vehicle with the presence of trace amounts of certain controlled substances and/or their inert metabolites (byproducts) in their blood or urine, do not reduce incidences of traffic deaths, according to a discussion paper made available this week by the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Germany.
Since 1990, 11 states have passed so-called zero-tolerant per se drugged driving laws. These laws make it illegal for one to drive with detectable levels of a controlled substance in his or her system. Five additional states have passed similar laws specifying non-zero limits for controlled substances or their metabolites. Marijuana. The black/white marijuana arrest gap, in nine charts. As you're probably aware, black Americans are arrested for marijuana possession far more frequently than whites.
You may also know that there's not much evidence that black people consume marijuana with greater regularity than whites do. But the extent of the disparity between the rate of arrest and the rate of use for white and black Americans may surprise you. The ACLU has an absurdly comprehensive new report tracking marijuana possession arrests for blacks and whites at the national, state and county level. Sure enough, they find that black and white people use marijuana at roughly the same rates:
Who Are You? US Government Statistics on Adult Marijuana Users. By Russ Belville, NORML Outreach Coordinator April 10, 2009 [UPDATE: The portion of my post relating to race and ethnicity data was missing one of the pie charts.
The text has been changed to reflect the correct data from the missing chart. My apologies for any confusion. -- Russ Belville]The US Government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive (SAMHDA) is a treasure trove of information from the National Surveys on Drug Use & Health 2001-2007.