The Wire - HBOThis shocking infographic shows the disparity between how white and black drug users are punished.
It highlights the racism involved in America’s ‘War on Drugs’, with African Americans being hit harder than any other racial or ethnic group, Vox reports.
The biggest difference is between black and white drug users. Some studies have found that both groups use and sell illegal drugs at fairly similar rates, but black people are 2.6 times as likely to be arrested for drug offences.
Joe Posner/VoxAccording to Vox there are several reasons for this disparity. Firstly there’s racism and subconscious racial bias among law enforcement.
But there are also socioeconomic factors at play, with a Sentencing Project report highlighting the fact that:
Socioeconomic inequality does lead people of color to disproportionately use and sell drugs outdoors, where they are more readily apprehended by police.
This is what leads to the extremely divided results seen above.
