Alice Huffman's explanation of the California NAACP's endorsement of Proposition 19, the state initiative calling for the regulated legalization and taxation of marijuana, was well reasoned and smartly put. But she was promptly pounced upon, smeared by a collection of out-of-touch, fear-mongering detractors, including "more than 20 African American religious and community leaders" headed by one Bishop Ron Allen.
Mr. Allen's statement was illogical, and insulting and condescending to the multitudes of African American civic leaders, including law enforcement officers and members of the clergy, who are working to end a drug war that has had devastating effects on communities of color.
Young black men have been hit particularly hard. As a new study by the Drug Policy Alliance points out, young blacks consume marijuana at rates lower than young whites. Yet in the 25 largest counties of California where blacks constitute 7 percent of the population, African American men are being arrested at double, triple, or even quadruple the rates for whites. This is not accidental.
Born of bigotry and sourced in fear, U.S. drug policy began with conveniently legalized discrimination against the Chinese, then Latinos, and finally African Americans.
That many of today's law enforcement officers deny overt racism in enforcing drug laws, that they claim they're simply responding to citizen complaints of street corner dealing and open-air drug markets, makes the practice no less ruinous to the lives of young black men.
As Huffman points out, ending the drug war -- or, more modestly, bringing a halt to the indisputable madness of marijuana prohibition -- is imperative if we are to help halt the institutionalized denial of civil rights and civil liberties in African American communities.
Yet, speaking as "President and CEO" of the "International Faith-Based Coalition," a pro-drug war organization that seems to have sprung up out of nowhere to combat Proposition 19, Bishop Allen addressed a news conference on the steps of the state capital. "Why would the NAACP advocate for blacks to stay high?" he said. "It's going to cause crime to go up," he said. "There will be more drug babies," he said. Huffman "must resign," he said.
Stop and think, Mr. Allen: Huffman was hardly urging blacks to "stay high," or even to pick up a single joint; marijuana legalization will cause crime to go down, not up; and there will be fewer drug babies.
How do we know this? History, science, and common sense. Between 1920 and 1933, alcohol prohibition produced an explosion of violent crime, drive-by shootings, overdose deaths (think bad bathtub gin), and obscene profits for bootleggers -- yesteryear's drug cartels and street dealers. It took only 13 years for Americans to come to their senses and repeal the Volstead Act. In so doing, we put the skids to an illicit industry whose monopolized commerce had guaranteed street violence. Alcohol was "re-legalized," its wholesaling and retailing "re-regulated." Taxes, once again, were collected. Crime went down.
And that feckless comment about "more drug babies"? Ponder this, Mr. Allen. If a parent chooses not to consume marijuana solely because it is illegal, is that really the kind of law-abiding, conscientious parent who, under a newly legalized system, would put his or her baby at risk?
The great majority of today's 25 million or so regular marijuana consumers don't drive stoned, beat their partners, rob convenience stores, or feed THC-laced brownies to their toddlers. They've simply chosen to consume an illegal drug that they know to be demonstrably safer and healthier than alcohol, with far fewer harmful effects than tobacco.
Of course, some consume too much marijuana. In Mr. Allen's words, they "stay high." But under a system of regulated legalization, these individuals would be treated as medical patients, not law-breakers. With no criminal stigma attached they'd be more likely to seek help for their affliction. And, under a public health vs. criminal justice orientation, they would be more likely to get that help.
Why continue to criminalize behavior we know, scientifically, to be safer than today's legal, commercially marketed alcohol and tobacco products? Why force millions of Americans to rely on a distribution system that cannot guarantee quality, a product free of dangerous additives? Why feed the self-perpetuating violence and greed machine that is the current "cartel" and street-gang system? Why suffer year after year the loss of tax revenues (pot's the country's top cash crop) that the government could be using to fund public safety, abuse prevention, education, and drug treatment?
Fortunately, Huffman, a tough woman with no quit in her when it comes to justice, has made it clear she's not backing off. She's received strong support from other notable black leaders, including a former chairman of the national NAACP. Julian Bond told her that, "...you and the California NAACP are as right as you can be. The war on drugs is an absolute failure. It targets black people."
The black community has from the beginning suffered far more drug war casualties than any other segment of our society. Who, ultimately, will capture the larger African American community's imagination when it comes to future drug policy? An angry, ill-informed man of the cloth whose "lock 'em and throw away the key" strategy promises to make matters worse?
Or Alice Huffman, whose spirit of logic, compassion and courage promises to rally support for the passage of Proposition 19?
Legalized marijuana, taxed, regulated, and controlled, would go a long way toward ending a uniquely destructive form of American racism and discrimination.
Follow Norm Stamper on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CopsSayLegalize
Maybe you should stop sippin the DEA water and go look at some real studies that don't try to scare you about every little thing you know you'd like to do.
Also, as far as birth control, marijuana did not work for my friend who now has 3 kids and smokes EVERY DAY!! Go figure.
Marijuana was decriminalized in California some years ago. People aren't being arrested for small amounts (1oz or less) of pot...their stash is taken from them and they are given a ticket. If someone is arrested for marijuana in California it's for either 1) illegal cultivation 2) possession of more than 1 ounce or 3) intent to distribute (which is ascertained by separately bagged stashes).
On the other hand you didn't directly state that "African American men are being arrested at double, triple, or even quadruple the rates for whites" due to marijuana. It is heavily implied though, coming directly after your statement that whites use marijuana at a higher rate than blacks. That is misleading to your readers, and a disservice to them.
I feel if you wanted to link racism with illegalization of pot you could have concentrated on the yellow journalism of William Randolph Hearst and his ilk. There can be no denial after looking at the efforts of the yellow journalists that the marijuana laws were a reaction to all those scary brown people (mexicans, blacks) who were using marijuana.
Ignoring it or denying with no basis in fact is reckless. You shouldn't do that. Look up the statistics for yourself. Don't just imagine they're fake and he's lying because you find it a hard pill to swallow.
I'm not denying that blacks are arrested at a higher proportion, but it isn't for MARIJUANA in California.
It's just that simple.
First, smoking pot can help get a person off hard drugs, speed, downers, even heroin, cigarettes (which, I'm sure, is a big sticking point for tobacco manufacturers and cigarette makers -tough). Methadone, the doctor prescribed medication to get off heroin, is sometimes a lifetime drug. Dang!
Next, Alcohol, a thing that sometimes claims as many as 2000 lives a year from overdoses and also contributes to a third of the deaths on our nation's highways (the other two thirds claiming the car went out of control) is a mind numbing product. It's specific effect is killing blood cells and destroying the liver.
Cigarettes claim near 400000 people if you believe the organization, White Lies, but then, a closer study is that more like 250000 - 300000 people die of tobacco related deaths. 100000 from too much fat foods.
Heck, aspirin claims sometimes as many as 400 deaths from overdoses a year.
pot smoking...zero.
Tens of thousands of jobs.
And I'm not talking about head shops, although I'm sure that will happen, too.
I'm talking about farming, material creation, canvas, paper, rope, threads, soil rejuvenation, clothing design, retail shops, wholesale outlets, road and housing construction, oils, and last but not least
People in jail for doing nothing more than smoking pot.
I have to take some exception to your point. While I favor decriminalizing, and better yet, legalizing pot, what you present is just as often the OPPOSITE of what you're claiming, in that pot DOES INDEED act as a 'gateway drug' to harder and more harmful substances like the ones you mention. Trying to 'sell' pot as a pie-in-the-sky panacea is just as dishonest as making it the root of all evil. Just like alcohol, it has different effects on different people. I truly believe some people can develop an addiction to it, as they do to other substances. I believe anything that leaves a residue like pot does cannot have a beneficial effect on the lungs that inhale it. But I don't see that as a reason to keep it illegal. The war on drugs has failed. I believe in law and order. But I also believe I should be able to smoke pot and not have my life ruined (legally, professionally) for doing so.
The point is, almost anything is addictive if you are prone to addiction. We can't go around placing regulation laws on anything and everything that can be labeled as addictive. Many pot users, like many alcohol drinkers, are responsible in their intake and never let it consume their lives.
Many rehab programs have encouraged patients to use pot to get off hard drugs - it calms and relaxes. Pot is NOT addictive - addiction is chemical and there is no component of pot that can create a physical addiction. It can be psychologically addictive - so can being in love.
Portugal made possession of ALL drugs legal and it didn't turn in to a lawless crazed Euro vacation spot, crime didn't go up, drug use didn't go up - none of the fear-mongering predictions of opponents came to be. The Cato Institute praised the results!
Prohibition creates problems, it does not solve them!!!!
Really,, we always see people that use drug (cannabis, Heroin, Hemp...; they go crazy and they can kill even their parent for taking money to buy these drug.
But, given proper medical findings, I'de read them. Referenced information can peel away a lot of disinformation, clear the air of half truths and give folks a better view of themselves and the world.
And anyway, every time i ever smoked it, I had wonderful laughing events.
And I love to laugh. It seems to make me comfortable for some reason.
Sure wish it was legal.
Actually, behind the this, because CIA doesn't want people to grow by themseves and they will not buy from MAFIA, so the police will not get any money from them.
A lot of seeds thrown in the ground would create jobs.
If we allow people to grow it by their own with controlling by government and sell to the medicine sector only so it is easy to control and make medicine.
That comment has some merit in that, it's not just the cops who are racist, but, the citizens who far more quickly call the cops when blacks are hanging around getting high than when whites are doing the same.
That aside, the pharmaceutical industry advertises prescription drugs directly to consumers over the airwaves that are far more dangerous than marijuana and many illegal drugs.
And it's not just the pharmaceutical barons who profit from the drug wars...the municipalities profit handsomely from the seizures of property involved in drug raids, all of which add up to many millions of dollars in revenue(some of which never gets reported and goes home with the police officers.)
Then there's the drug kingpins who bribe politicians to keep drugs illegal so they can keep making a killing---literally and figuratively.
And there's the good ol' CIA that aids and abets the drug trade, so the U.S. can blame the drug cartels as an excuse to blackmail the nations involved.
Hence, the war on Drugs is a cruel sham that causes way more devastation than the drugs themselves, were they legal, and punishes minorities disproportionately and unjustly confiscates the property of offenders(something they don't even do to murderers) and lines the pockets of law enforcement and government officials.
It needs to end.
They said over "TWO TRILLION" Dollars have been invested (wasted) trying to control personal consumption of drugs. They admitted that there is More Cannabis available and being used by more people than ever.
The Costliest War,The Most Harmful War; Against American's, By Amerincans In America.
How sick are We to Allow for 40 Years of this?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marihuana_Tax_Act_of_1937
Now how sick are we really when it comes to cannabis??? 73 years of waste, fraud, lies, and abuse by those elected by the people to serve us. Now thats SICK!
The only argument against use is that it is illegal. So they showed some bible thumping SWAT team take down a poor black kid for possessing 1/4 ounce. And they needed 20 jackbooted thugs to raid this kid's 2 bedroom apartment! Hey jesus freak with the badge: what's christian or moral about your behavior?
first thanks for all that you do!
and secondly.. poor blacks but high profile whites tend to get nailed like paul mccartney.. paris hilton.. who can remember them all.. oh right: michael phelps..
who knows why?
Unfortunately, Minorities as well as the poor end up with disproportionally higher sentences than the affluent and many whites and that applies to other offenses than drugs.
at a time like this:
...'ere
Scary how fast those church groups pop up in response to ballot props huh??? Prop 8 comes to mind.
The uthopia of taxing pot is not believable, because people will grow it at home and won’t pay anything to anyone. The real savings are in health care, addictions, and all the financing for the fake system in place…AKA the criminal activity, smuggling, violence, law enforcement cost, jail population, the turning Joe Shmo, the pot smoker, into a criminal using my tax money for his jail-inn stay and trail expenses plus his nullification as a productive tax payer, because he will never get a real job and never make money because of his records.
It is so obvious, that a pot smoking population is more likely going to vote green and left, instead oily and right. It is so obvious that a liberal party will never get there because America stopped considering the long term as an option at all levels, business, society, politics, economy etc…
Once it is legal, the thrill of doing something 'verboten' is gone. There is no better example.Just look to Holland. They decriminalized pot to the point where you can buy it and smoke iyt at the local coffee house. They took the thrill out of pot and made it boring. Once the novelty wears off, use went down and with the open mind and education, hard drug users are often treated and hard drug use has almost disaappeared.
Oh yea, one other thing. Their government and the media quit lying about pot long time ago. I guess the truth did set them free...
So the idea of an entrepreneurial grower/seller can pay taxes.
Me?
I grow my tomatoes as often as I can.
I like canning them for chili later in the Winter.
If pot is legal, yeah. Seven or eight plants would be fine.
I don't smoke tobacco anymore (1957-2002)
I don't drink hard liquor (1967-1991)
I don't do hard drugs (1970-1976)
I don't do soft drugs if I can help it...aspirin, heartburn pills, sleep aids, cold medication.
and I don't do sex...
wrong.
(But my girl friend is in Florida and I'm in Indiana, so, it's few and far between)