130 Million Drug Criminals
according to the official SAMSHA 2019 survey, over 50% of Americans over 18 have a history as criminalized users of forbidden drugs
…52.7%, to be exact. According to the SAMHSA sampling.
No one can speak to the exactly accuracy of the sample, but it’s terribly unlikely that percentage is an unrealistic overestimate, given that the survey is soliciting responses about illegal conduct. After all, how likely is it that someone who has never used illegal forbidden substances would falsely answer in the affirmative?
I’ve realized at some level that the number of “drug offender” criminals in America was an unacceptably high number for some decades. After all, even a 10% lifetime use statistic would still have indicated that over 26 million Americans have, in the course of their lives, committed a misdemeanor or felony related to “drugs.” As it happens, the number is more than five times 26 million. 130 million.
Compare those numbers with the number of Americans over age 18 who have commited at least one armed robbery of a bank or retail store, or even admit to one incident of shoplifting goods worth more than $100…well, actually, there are no surveys for that, so we can only speculate. It’s damn sure a lot fewer than 130 million, though.
This is what the Drug War hath wrought.
It’s also reasonable to speculate that a number much greater than 10 million Americans have at least once technically committed not merely a misdemeanor, but felony, through the felony commission of at least one overt act in a conspiracy to commit “drug dealing”; i.e., driving someone over to a location in order to purchase prohibited substances, or pooling money in order to purchase the criminalized contraband. It’s important to note that the while the act itself might be classified as a misdemeanor, the collaboration with another party to commit the crime is nonetheless felony conspiracy. And that really is a number to be pondered. Consider the implications: that technically, the number of felonies committed annually in the US runs in the tens of millions. And also that- strictly speaking- while the number of bank and retail store robberies committed in the lifetime of a single individual might occasionally run into the low two digits (although rarely over 100), for many “drug criminals”, it’s routine to participate in that number of these conspiratorial transactions every year that they’re in the life.
I knew things were crazy. But it really is sobering to review the numbers on exactly how crazy things have gotten. The United States has become a nation of criminals. The majority of the population has admitted transgressing the criminal statutes on drugs at least once.
It’s imperative to note that in many important respects, it’s irrelevant whether a given “drug criminal” is apprehended by law enforcement. (Granted: in other respects, that fact can be life-changing. One arrest means that you’re In The System. One conviction can derail someone’s entire life.) The “achieved status” of illicit drugs use connotes an adversarial stance taken by The Government- or The State, if you prefer- against the forbidden behavior. As a consequence, users incorporate concealment and subterfuge into their lives, as a matter of course, as a requirement for baseline survival. That’s one of the chief features of interactions with the government for those who have chosen to transgress the criminalization laws, and it’s typically initiated at a very early age.
Consider Pell Grants and Federally aproved student loans; applicants are required to sign a legally binding statement that they don’t use any illegal substances with the government. Pardon me, but that’s alienating. A considerable number of the applicants lie about their personal conduct on those forms. It isn’t as if there’s any background check (at least not so far; we know that the technology exists to background check all sorts of social media, due to some quite recent advances.) On rare occasions, some applicants are found to have made false statements in conjunction with a drug conviction- but the apprehended miscreants are practically always one one of the Unfortunate population groups; and even then, they’re typically not criminally charged for their transgression, but only rendered ineligible for the grants and loans provided to many of their more fortunate companions as a matter of routine, who have thankfully thus far been spared the imposition of the turnkey surveillance regime that would be required to weaponize the Department of Education Drug Purity Oath to the extent implied by Federal law. Because the law on paper is no joke.
That’s what I find interesting; 130 million American adults are now, or have been, drug criminals. Most of them have never been caught. Most of those who have been caught have been spared jail confinement, and many have even had the records of their offense expunged (more or less.) But even the dopers who have never seen the inside of a cop car have still learned and practiced some criminal attitudes and survival skills. Even most of the drug criminals granted an extra degree of official indulgence- those raised in the households at the top 5% of incomes, the 955th percentile or above- know what it is to do some criminal shit: to keep a lookout for the cops. To know how to hide a stash of contraband. To know to keep ones mouth shut about about the crimes of ones friends and neighbors. To do transactions with career criminals, in a risky milieu where criminal rules have more relevance than the rules set down by the statutes. Sometimes, to wheel and deal.
The funny part is that practically no one makes explicit note of this reality.
one can speak to the exactly accuracy of the sample, but it’s terribly unlikely that percentage is an unrealistic overestimate, given that the survey is soliciting responses about illegal conduct. After all, how likely is it that someone who has never used illegal forbidden substances would falsely answer in the affirmative?
I’ve been aware that the number of criminal in America was unacceptably large for some decades; after all, even a 10% lifetime use statistic would indicate that over 26 million Americans have, in the course of their lives, committed a misdemeanor or felony related to “drugs.” Compare those numbers with the number of Americans over age 18 who have commited at least one armed robbery of a bank or retail store, or even admit to one incident of shoplifting goods worth more than $100…well, actually, there are no surveys for that, so we can only speculate. It’s damn sure a lot fewer than 130 million, though.
This is what the Drug War hath wrought.
It’s also reasonable to conjecture that a number much greater than 10 million Americans have at least once technically committed not merely a misdemeanor, but felony, through the felony commission of at least one overt act in a conspiracy to commit “drug dealing”; i.e., driving someone over to a location in order to purchase prohibited substances, or pooling money in order to purchase the criminalized contraband. It’s important to note that the while the act itself might be classified as a misdemeanor, the collaboration with another party to commit the crime is nonetheless felony conspiracy. And that really is a number to be pondered. Consider the implications: that technically, the number of felonies committed annually in the US runs in the tens of millions. And also that- strictly speaking- while the number of bank and retail store robberies committed in the lifetime of a single individual might occasionally run into the low two digits (although rarely over 100), for many “drug criminals”, it’s routine to participate in that number of these conspiratorial transactions every year that they’re in the life.
I knew things were crazy. But it really is sobering to review the numbers on exactly how crazy things have gotten. The United States has become a nation of criminals. The majority of the population has admitted transgressing the criminal statutes on drugs at least once.
It’s imperative to note that in many important respects, it’s irrelevant whether a given “drug criminal” is apprehended by law enforcement. (Granted: in other respects, that fact can be life-changing. One arrest means that you’re In The System. One conviction can derail someone’s entire life.) The “achieved status” of illicit drugs use connotes an adversarial stance taken by The Government- or The State, if you prefer- against the forbidden behavior. As a consequence, users incorporate concealment and subterfuge into their lives, as amatter of course, as a requirement for baseline survival. That’s one of the chief features of interactions with the government for those who have chosen to transgress the criminalization laws, and it’s typically initiated at a very early age.
Consider the phenomenon of Pell Grants and student loans; applicants are required to sign a legally binding statement that they don’t use any illegal substances. It’s a mathematical certainty that a large number of the applicants are lying. It isn’t as if there’s any background check (at least not so far; we know that the technology exists to background check all sorts of social media, due to some quite recent advances.) On rare occasions, some applicants are found to have made false statements in conjunction with a drug conviction- but the apprehended miscreants are practically always one one of the Unfortunate population groups; and even then, they’re typically not criminally charged for their transgression, but only rendered ineligible for the grants and loans provided to many of their more fortunate companions as a matter of routine, who have thankfully thus far been spared the imposition of the turnkey surveillance regime that would be required to weaponize the Department of Education Drug Purity Oath to the extent implied by Federal law. Because the law on paper is no joke.
That’s what I find interesting; 130 million American adults are now, or have been, drug criminals. Most of them have never been caught. But they’ve still learned how to be criminals. Even most of the drug criminals granted an extra degree of official indulgence- those advantaged as America’s most historically sheltered and privileged groups- know what it is to do some criminal shit: to keep a lookout for the cops. To know how to hide a stash of contraband. To know to keep ones mouth shut about about the crimes of ones friends and neighbors. To do transactions with career criminals, in a risky milieu where criminal rules have more relevance than the rules set down by the statutes.
The funny part is that practically no one makes explicit note of this reality. And it’s been this way for 50 years.