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Consumer Affairs

Marijuana Legalization Gets Another Boost

Black government employees say it's time to end the War on Drugs

08/31/2011 | By | ConsumerAffairs.com | Health
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There's increasing pressure to legalize marijuana.
 
The "War On Drugs" has been around a lot longer than most other wars the country has fought and a group of African-American government employees says it's time to declare victory and withdraw.
 
Blacks in Government (BIG), which represents government employees at the federal, state, county and municipal levels, overwhelmingly passed a resolution at its national delegates meeting last week calling for an end to what it called "the failed and racially biased 'war on drugs.'”
 
The resolution, which will be delivered to President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, calls for “alternatives to incarceration that may, in part, include a model to regulate and control the distribution of some drugs.”
 
The resolution pointed to the words of Maryland State Police Major Neill Franklin and U.S. Marshal Matthew Fogg, both members of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a group of police, judges, prosecutors and prison wardens who support legalizing and regulating drugs.
 
BIG and LEAP have noted that African Americans constitute 53.5 percent of all persons who entered prison because of a drug conviction despite the fact that blacks are no more likely than whites to use drugs.
 
“I personally witnessed racially biased enforcement procedures when I ran a joint DEA task force,” said Fogg, a former U.S. marshal and a past BIG national first vice president. “When I requested equal enforcement of upscale suburban areas, I met internal resistance.”
 
The BIG resolution calls for “a federal investigation for solutions to eliminate the pretense and continued arrest and incarceration of African Americans at extraordinarily disparate rates for drug related charges.” 
 
In passing the anti-drug-war resolution, BIG joins other African-American groups that have taken similar positions, such as the NAACP, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators and the National Black Police Association.
 
“The war on drugs has put blacks behind bars for drug offenses at more than ten times the rate of whites, even though the evidence consistently shows that blacks are no more likely to use or sell currently illicit drugs than whites are,” Fogg added. “It is time to end this virtual race war.”

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Malcolm Kyle (Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:00:02 +0000): Prohibition does nothing but bankroll dangerous criminals, corrupt whole law enforcement agencies and generously arm international terrorists. Alcohol prohibition (1919-1933) was a casebook example of such dangerous folly. Today, alcohol is taxed and regulated and the shoot-outs over turf and the killing of innocent bystanders are no longer a daily part of the alcohol trade. So how come so many of us lack the simple ability to learn from such an important historical lesson, and are instead intent on perpetuating the madness and misery that prohibition has always invariably engendered? It is clearly our always-doomed-to-fail policy of prohibition that is causing this intense misery. We need to fix ourselves (start thinking clearly) and in doing so, we will not only help rid ourselves of this terrible self-inflicted curse but also help to heal the whole planet. Are we really such an adolescent nation that we can expect neither maturity nor cognitive thought from either our leaders or our populace? This is not a war on drugs; it's an outright war on sanity! Colombia, Peru, Mexico or Afghanistan, with their coca leaves, marijuana buds or their poppy sap, are not igniting temptation in the minds of poor weak American citizens. These countries are merely responding to the enormous demand that comes from within our own borders. Invading or destroying those countries, creating more hate, violence, instability, injustice and corruption, will not fix this problem. We need to admit that It is ourselves who are sick. Prohibition is neither a sane nor a safe approach. Left unabated, it's devouring inferno will surely engulf every last one of us!
Jay Tea (Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:42:40 +0000): you think Obama gives a shit? He could care less. time to vote in a leader that will restore our Civil Liberties , Vote Ron Paul 2012.
Nick Pappas (Sun, 04 Sep 2011 01:07:26 +0000): I agree its bull shit to have a "war on drugs" based on racial discrimination and religious moral values take religion outta gov and end the stink from washington.
Michael Novak (Tue, 06 Sep 2011 00:22:49 +0000): couldn't put it any better myself. end the lies behind the drug war, behind marijuana, and legalize cannabis already everyone knows its less harmful than ciggs and alcohol and has like 100 time more benefits and no one has died from it if that doesn't warrant the research that the federal government tries so hard to deminish I don't know what does. its like here's a plant that's extremely dangerous and not deadly. I'd rather have the barely harmful non deadly weed than those vary harmful and deadly perscription drugs or booze. and hemp can make like a million things at better quality and has even nothing to do with getting you high. LEGALIZATION OR REVOLUTION YOU PICK.
Ken Wolski (Tue, 06 Sep 2011 16:09:01 +0000): My experience working for 22 years for the New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) led me to become a strong opponent of the War on Drugs. Between 1984 and 2006, I saw the prison population in NJ more than triple, from about 8,000 inmates to over 27,000 inmates. This increase was primarily the result of increased penalties against drugs and increased enforcement of the laws against drugs. The disproportionate minority confinement in the NJDOC (at the time, over 80% of the inmates were Black and Hispanic) was clear evidence to me that our entire criminal justice system was riddled with institutionalized racism and classism. (Most of the prisoners were poor —very few inmates were wealthy prior to being incarcerated.) I often wondered why minorities were not screaming about the injustice inherent in the War on Drugs. It is a national disgrace. Instead, Black ministers and other minority leaders continued to blame the victims of this unjust system. I am glad to see Blacks in Government calling for an end to "the failed and racially biased 'war on drugs.'”.
Ebony Lové (Thu, 08 Sep 2011 01:14:18 +0000): Wow!
Paul Lauritz Kirchheiner (Tue, 06 Sep 2011 17:23:16 +0000): Marijuana should be taxed and regulated just like alcohol.
Doug C James (Fri, 09 Sep 2011 17:28:33 +0000): its been said that pot would bring in approx 500 mil a year...alcohol is a much more dangerous drug per se then anything out there....statiwhstics prove alochol is responsible for more deaths on the highway and domestic than pot will ever be...when will the govt realize that the war on drugs failed miserably...it never worked and it wont work now....but how much was spent in the last 40 years fighting this war? mr. obama if u ever did anything right during your term and its not all your fault, legalize the PLANT marijuana....it would help the economy and your gang related control would go down if not cease......legalize marijuana....its no different than every other pharmaceutical that americans take everyday at a staggering rate....the fda is a joke....legalizing pot would jeoprodize there power and put some pill makers out of business...its all about the mighty green back....greed greed and more greed....its time to take a stand and bombard your congressmen your local reps with petitions etc to legalize marijuana.....thank you.
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