RATES REFLECT PROFILING

Re: "Moving targets - The myth of racial profiling lives on, despite
evidence to the
contrary, says Steve Chapman," Tuesday Viewpoints.

No serious analysis ever even attempted to dispute the fact that drug
use is primarily a white phenomenon, with whites, African-Americans
and Hispanics using at near-identical rates. Only slightly less
certain is that sellers and buyers are the same race, in order to
minimize attention.

Now we come to traffic stops and searches. What are we looking for?
Usually, drugs.

More than half of federal prisoners are in for drug
offenses.

Mr. Chapman then recedes into crime rates that generally reflect the
profiling he denies, in order to justify the profiling.

In the end, African-Americans represent only 14 percent of drug users
and serve some 74 percent of jail time for drug offenses. Let Mr.
Chapman explain that.

Jerry Epstein,

co-founder, Drug Policy Forum of Texas,

Houston