
Visualizing the Ongoing Drug War - dumbfoundded
https://tryplainjane.com/visualizing-the-ongoing-drug-war/
======
emsy
This is a neat visualization, I wonder if this is more persuasive than written
numbers of users and money. I just think it should use some sort of chunking
to avoid breaking the page flow.

On another note, I’m from Germany and here there is absolutely no motion from
the government towards legalization. Instead they double down on their failed
and regressive prohibition, while still being mostly ignorant towards the
dangers of alcohol. This is odd, since not only do more and more countries in
the EU decriminalize or legalize weed/drugs but they do so successfully with
regards to users, protection of youth and taxes (where it applies). At least
the US is moving in the right direction with regards to weed, albeit slowly.

~~~
atlasunshrugged
Maybe they're not ignorant but the alcohol companies have a much stronger
lobbying arm and more connections/acceptance with the audience of lawmakers
who are the key decision makers on this than cannabis smokers/companies do?

~~~
edoceo
And taxes. Booze is a good revenue stream for the Gov. And in regulated US
states. It's why both booze and weed got "essential" business status in those
places.

Where the weed industry is getting more lobbying, well, the effects on laws
are clear (that is the lobbying is working to change laws to help (some) of
the pot business.

~~~
DanBC
One of the reasons alcohol sellers got essential business status is because
suddenly stopping drinking alcohol can kill people who are dependent drinkers.

~~~
joeblow9999
no that is not why

~~~
DanBC
[https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/yes-
liquor...](https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/yes-liquor-
stores-are-essential-businesses/)

> In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, access to alcohol will likely become
> limited due to social-distancing measures mandated by government officials.
> Some of these necessary public health strategies—shelter-in-place and
> closing of non-essential businesses—may in turn cause people with alcohol
> use disorder (AUD) to find themselves in unsafe scenarios. Forward thinking
> about how to reduce harms to people with AUD is critical. Untreated AUD is
> often managed with daily alcohol use, necessary to stave off cravings and
> withdrawal.

------
rebuilder
I wish they hadn't chosen colour schemes that seem intended to bias the
reading. In the first infographic, white characters are very low-contrast
while brown characters stand out. In the other, both seem to be about equal in
terms of contrast.

That said, I'm not sure how to get this kind of presentation right, since the
"white" population is not the same size as the "black" or "brown" population.
They say a black person is almost four times as likely to be arrested for drug
offenses as a white person. While I think their graphic seems a bit
manipulative, at the same time it doesn't seem to capture the real awfulness
of the situation. Non-Hispanic whites are something like 60% of the US
population, while black people account for 13%, so just showing drug arrests
by skin colour paints a very rosy picture of the actual situation.

My suggestion, normalize contrasts and weight the number of characters by
demographics. It'd be pretty shocking and would avoid this odd whiff of
dishonesty.

~~~
dumbfoundded
The first graphic is racially biased according to the arrest rates. The second
graphic simply is based on overall population demographics.

My intention was to be able to visually see the difference between consumers
and arrests.

------
c54
I tried to click the links towards the bottom for eg Norml but the animation
populating more ppl in jail kept moving the links around so I closed the tab.
This was on iOS Safari

~~~
justwalt
Same for me, I tried to click on the animation to pause it but to no avail.

~~~
dumbfoundded
Good feedback, I'll add something for that.

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mam2
How many people here, ACTUALLY think cannabis is "completely not harmful" ?

I'm all about making your own choices and i've tried most drugs on the planet,
probably more than you dear reader, and totally assume the potential risks.
but still most people I know who do cannabis regularly either:

\- Have scary memory problems.

\- Have autodestructive or at least exagerated "passive" tendencies toward
improving in any way you want to define it.

\- Have similar friends who definetely drag them down and not up.

I literally know NO ONE i would admire that do it. And please don't say Elon
Musk who's the most famously unbalanced CEO on the planet.

I don't understand the push of legal cannabis because i don't want my children
to think it's risk-free to do it. The danger of drugs is always the
frequencies you do them. Hopefully it stays contained to the US.

~~~
dumbfoundded
Cannabis certainly has negative side effects but these pale in comparison to
the effects of prohibition.

From a physical standpoint, the negative effects of cannabis are far less
severe than smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol.

We should put the money used for policing into community building and health
services so people feel less inclined to use drugs of any kind.

~~~
mam2
> From a physical standpoint, the negative effects of cannabis are far less
> severe than smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol.

Thats an argument against cigaret, not pro cannabis.

Yes for the money but still do we reeeealy want it legal ?

~~~
dumbfoundded
Absolutely. The only benefit of illegality is imprisonment. It does not reduce
consumption. The only way to reduce consumption is by treating it as a health
and community problem. Not a crime.

~~~
mam2
The benefit of illegality isbthat a majority of people dont think its ok and
thus dont do it. With your argument you legalizr everything.

~~~
dumbfoundded
With your argument, we should live in a criminalized nanny state. Ice cream is
pretty bad for you. Heart disease kills way more people than any drug. Maybe
we should make it illegal to be fat.

Or in a sane world, we treat health problems like health problems.

~~~
mam2
You still need to put a line otherwise yeah sure lets legalize heroin. Also
your argument doesnt hold because theres not one unique cause of heart
disease. And yeah tbh i would say everyone know being bat is b1d.

------
zests
I support the decriminalization of all drugs from both a libertarian and
humanitarian perspective. That being said, the numbers geek inside of me
always hates how out of context statistics usually are.

For instance, how do these rates compare to other drugs or other crimes? How
do you determine whether or not there is similar drug usage across
populations? (The answer is to claim that an equal number of people who have
used at least once in the past year implies equal usage over the past year.
Another frustrating use of numbers.)

But none of this really matters. Its a no-brainer. The war on drugs doesn't
work. The real problem in my opinion is that people who don't use drugs
usually have no reason to do anything about it. Decriminalize everything.

~~~
dumbfoundded
I tried to keep these numbers within the context of cannabis. The 663K arrests
in 2018 refer to cannabis only related arrests. The ACLU mentions how cannabis
use is approximately equivalent between white and black people:
[https://norml.org/marijuana/fact-sheets/item/racial-
disparit...](https://norml.org/marijuana/fact-sheets/item/racial-disparity-in-
marijuana-arrests)

Frequency is a hard one and can be muddled a bit. There isn't great data on
the frequency or quality of usage of racial differences.

