these are not the drugs you're looking for, move along

I need you to use your imagination for a second here. You're a drug addict and you need another hit. You know this guy who can score some for you. Picture him (or her). What does he look like? What is he wearing? Where does he deal out of? What color is his skin?

I'm going to venture a guess that most people's imaginary dealer looks much like a typical thug, deals out of a bad part of town and is likely a minority. Ok, here's a little quiz. Answer these questions about America's highest volume drug dealer (not supplier or transporter, just seller):

He is:
a) Black
b) Latino
c) White

His level of education:
a) Grade school
b) High school
c) PhD

He deals out of:
a) A gas station parking lot
b) An apartment in the slums
c) A million dollar home

The drugs come from:
a) Mexico
b) Columbia
c) US pharmaceutical companies

Again, just a guess, but I think most people would not have chosen c) for all four questions. Philip Mach, PhD of Franklin Park, NJ has been charged with issuing 72,000 illegitimate prescriptions for controlled substances in under a year. If he put in eight hour days, seven days a week that would be nearly one sale every two minutes. He teamed up with a high volume spammer to advertise the illegal service over the internet. And the addicts came in droves.

A study from Columbia University found that 15 million Americans abuse prescription drugs. That's more than the abuse of "cocaine, heroin and meth combined." And yet, the "War on Drugs" is still focused on street level dealers peddling to poor people, generally in black and latino neighborhoods. Only pot usage exceeds the prescription drug abuse and pot is a lesser offense than most of the controlled prescription drugs. Think about that next time you hear a news article about inner city drug problems. I'm not saying that crack dealers in Watts aren't a problem. But, I do wonder why the focus of the War on Drugs is often quite narrow.

In closing, I have a question for all those who advocate "profiling" in the fight against drug crime. How would you feel if new drug dealer profiling guides added the following criteria:

• White
• Educated in biology
• Licensed to practice medicine
• Member of the AMA

Yeah, that's what I thought.