Clogging jails and wasting taxpayer dollars to prosecute "possession" of a narcotic is absurd, regardless of racial demographics.

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

no...clearly.
But I don't know man, I just don't hear testimonials very often about someone who robbed a liquor store to feed their cocaine habit. Can you give me an inch atleast? Play devils advocate here for me. I'm not trying to come across as a racist, I know that most crack users are black. Anyone who says otherwise is misinformed. Thats why this issue is so controversial. But all I'm saying is that people who use crack (black or white) do nastier things to acquire it, than people who use coke. (black or white)

Assuming your point stands... so what?

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Nothing to see here.

I don't get it.
Can you elaborate on which point you are referencing? You mean my whole argument?

Hmmm...

United States - Punishment and Prejudice: Racial Disparities in the War on Drugs

That page sources it from "U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Populations Estimates 1998, Washington, D.C., 1999. Table 5B and D."

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“For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.” - Carl Sagan

Yeah. I'm having trouple discerning what your argument is, and how it relates to your link.

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Nothing to see here.

Oh, okay...I think I get what you mean. Assuming my point stands, it makes crack a more dangerous drug than coke. Hence it should entail harsher punishment!

Only if you have any basis for proving that crack causes the crime.

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Nothing to see here.

...so if rich people who didn't need to steal started using crack, it shouldn't entail harsher punishment?

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“For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.” - Carl Sagan

Crack isn't really any more "dangerous" than cocaine. What happens a lot of times is that people who become heavily addicted to cocaine spend all of their money on it and are still addicted. In order to get more "bang for their buck", they start making crack out of desparation - shorter, cheaper high, but it does the trick for much less money. By the time someone has reached this stage of desperation, race and previous socio-economic background are pretty much irrelevant. Addicts do whatever is available to them.

And, "harsher punishment" is the right thing to do if you want to exacerbate the existing problem. If, on the other hand, you actually want to fix it, legalize cocaine and crack. Both will become so cheap that no one will rob anyone or anything for it - they'll just sit on the corner and beg like winos. When was the last time you saw someone stick up a liquor store for liquor (which, by the way, is a more harmful and addictive drug than either cocaine or crack).

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

by that logic then...why is this even an issue? If there were more white crack heaDs than blacks, we woulDn't be on this threaD.

I imagine it becomes a question of who gets punished...

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Nothing to see here.

Wait, I'm confused. You're not saying the existence of this thread is counter proof, are you? That would be bizarre.

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“For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.” - Carl Sagan

dude, (laughing) I am getting schooled over here man.

This issue sucks because your typical cocaine abuser isn't in a minority Demographic, (more arrests are maDe there) but your typical crack user certainly is. Crack is a ghetto Drug.
Coke, not so much.
Ghetto's anD crack
coke and nice neighborhoods.

crime statistics, majority of people incarcerated for crack are black.
We have an issue.

Yeah, the main problem is the illegality of both drugs in the first place.

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Nothing to see here.