Another long list of people trying to make the world a better place by ending drug war policies worldwide. they use the same language that we typically use here at bostoncannabis.info
“Disastrous”
Local politicians should take note.
The unprecedented list of signatories includes a range of people from Senators Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Bernie Sanders to businessmen Warren Buffett, George Soros, Richard Branson, Barry Diller, actors Michael Douglas and Woody Harrelson, Super Bowl champion Tom Brady, singers John Legend and Mary J. Blige, activists Reverend Jesse Jackson, Gloria Steinem and Michelle Alexander, as well as distinguished legislators, cabinet ministers, and former UN officials.
“The drug control regime that emerged during the last century,” the letter says, “has proven disastrous for global health, security and human rights. Focused overwhelmingly on criminalization and punishment, it created a vast illicit market that has enriched criminal organizations, corrupted governments, triggered explosive violence, distorted economic markets and undermined basic moral values.
“Governments devoted disproportionate resources to repression at the expense of efforts to better the human condition. Tens of millions of people, mostly poor and racial and ethnic minorities, were incarcerated, mostly for low-level and non-violent drug law violations, with little if any benefit to public security. Problematic drug use and HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and other infectious diseases spread rapidly as prohibitionist laws, agencies and attitudes impeded harm reduction and other effective health policies.
“Humankind cannot afford a 21st century drug policy as ineffective and counter-productive as the last century’s.”
“The influence and diversity of the leaders who signed this letter is unprecedented,” said Ethan Nadelmann, Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which orchestrated the initiative in collaboration with dozens of allied organizations and individuals around the world. “Never before have so many respected voices joined together in calling for fundamental reform of drug control policies – in particular limiting ‘the role of criminalization and criminal justice… to the extent truly required to protect health and safety’.”
The UN Special Session, which will take place April 19-21, is the first of its kind since 1998, when the UN’s illusory but official slogan was “A drug-free world – we can do it!” The upcoming UNGASS was proposed in late 2012 by the Mexican government, with strong support from other Latin American governments. Last year UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a strong call-to-action, urging governments “to conduct a wide-ranging and open debate that considers all options.” Today’s public letter to him was prompted in part by the obstacles to such debate within the confines of the United Nations.
“This letter was drafted and all the signatures secured in just the past few weeks,” noted Nadelmann. “The signatories represent a tiny fraction of the distinguished leaders in politics and public policy, academia, law and law enforcement, health and medicine, culture and entertainment, business, and religion who would agree with the sentiments expressed in this letter.”
Reports about the disproportionate impact of the legal marijuana industry on minority and low-income neighborhoods and families deserve a closer look, according to Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins, who so far has focused his opposition to the legalization ballot question on its health impacts.
Tompkins, who was appointed sheriff in 2013, said he supported the 2008 ballot initiative to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, but believes the dangers of full legalization outweigh any criminal justice benefits from incarcerating fewer people on minor drug crimes.
OH NO! here we go. Lets be fair to the Sheriff here and walk through his comments carefully..
The article begins by referencing this politico article http://www.votestevetompkins.com/news1/2016/6/7/sheriff-concerned-by-reports-on-marijuanas-impacts-in-colorado
including this
A separate report published by the Colorado Department of Public Health earlier this year found that juvenile arrests for marijuana-related crimes such as possession rose 5 percent since legalization took effect in that state, driven wholly by a spike in arrests of black and Latino teens. While white juvenile arrests declined 8 percent between 2012 and 2014, black juvenile arrests increased 58 percent and Latino juvenile arrests climbed 29 percent.
The politico article is about the complaints of residents in and near an industrial zone newly approved and zoned for cannabis growing. It goes on to explain how this new industry experiences some pushback from locals.
Now to Mr. Tompkins credit he did not lean heavily on the Colorado Department of Public Health report much but its obvious that there is not much to lean on there anyway. It claims a small 5 percent increase in cannabis possession arrests after legalization. That should raise suspicion alone because the very law itself is designed to decriminalize possession but forget about that because black and brown arrests went up dramatically as white arrests went down. This does not speak to cannabis as a public health issue these numbers point to continued racial disparities in policing!
Tompkins, a leading voice for criminal justice reform in Massachusetts, said he is reticent to discuss how law enforcement in other states operate without knowing all the facts, but has read the reports and is concerned.
“If that is in fact the case, then that speaks to the larger picture of not only the use of marijuana being able to harm one physically, but also if this does break down with black and Latino and low income individuals being singled out that has to be looked at,” Tompkins told the News Service.
“a leading voice for criminal justice reform in Massachusetts”
Thats right. This so called leader on criminal justice in the Commonwealth is a cannabis prohibitionist. It really explains a lot about the vacuum of local leadership and the lack of progress in criminal justice reforms to date.
No communities have suffered more under cannabis prohibition and the drug war than black and latino communities. Legalization aims at relieving this suffering. Continued prohibition of cannabis and other drugs supports crime, violence, mass incarceration and unhealthy communities that have gotten us here. A legalized system is proactive and meets peoples needs in a more therapeutic way. Ending the drug war would require a new culture around cannabis and drugs in general though. People like Sheriff Tompkins have been and continue to be agents of the drug war, carrying the flag for a corrupt and immoral drug war culture.
The article rebuts his statements with activist response..
Jim Borghesani, the spokesman for the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol, said Massachusetts and Colorado criminal laws concerning juvenile possession are markedly different, making the comparison a difficult one.
“I’m sure that Sheriff Tomkins is aware that juvenile possession in Massachusetts is a civil offense, unlike Colorado’s criminal offense, so his statement is perplexing. Equally perplexing is his lack of comment on the historic racial arrest disparity under the current prohibition system, which we seek to change,” Borghesani said.
He also touted the local control, through zoning, allowed for by the ballot question.
“Our initiative provides significant local control over the location, hours and manner of marijuana businesses, and provides an opt-out measure for communities. Results show that legalization is working in Colorado and it will work in Massachusetts,” Borghesani said.
Sheriff Tompkins wants people to elect him Sheriff but he doesn’t know much about cannabis, the most common illegal drug in America and believes that its better to continue to criminalize cannabis use than to legalize and regulate it. He seems to have the anti-cannabis talking points down pretty good though.
In March, the Massachusetts Sheriffs Association came out in opposition to the ballot question to legalize marijuana for anyone aged 21 and older. At the time, the sheriffs focused on the health implications of making marijuana more accessible to people.
The whole “cannabis is bad for your health idea” is becoming almost laughable in most circles but we don’t all come to truth at the same time.
Tompkins, who was appointed sheriff in 2013, said he supported the 2008 ballot initiative to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, but believes the dangers of full legalization outweigh any criminal justice benefits from incarcerating fewer people on minor drug crimes.
He and others want to keep cannabis illegal so as to still be able to wield it as a tool in their law enforcement careers and industry. He recognized the need for some changes in our cannabis policy and voted to decriminalize an ounce or less in 2008 but thats all he feels comfortable with voters having legal access to now. How much wine or beer should i have tonight Sheriff? How many Aspirin?
He is saying that he would rather lock people up for weed than legalize and cites health concerns and racial disparities?!? He fears the health and social effects of not criminalizing cannabis? He also like so many others may not yet be able to admit that he was completely wrong on cannabis. His entire thought process around cannabis has been corrupted by his career. He can not see it as the medicine it is. So he has no problem denying voters that medicine and even taking their rights away for doing so. He doesn’t know much about the fastest growing American industry and wants to deny voters access to that entire economy and market while they are shut out by more progressive and economically aggressive communities.
“I do not want to see all of these folks in jail if there’s another way for them to provide for themselves, but I really have to go back to the health issues,” Tompkins said.
This sounds crazy of course so he tried to help himself out by
Elaborating, Tompkins said, “I’m concerned with the ability to seriously manipulate the THC levels, and when you do that just about anything can go off the rails. If you can now put these things in gummy bears and brownies and the levels are jacked up to an outrageous percentage, god knows what can happen.”
Ahhh the children. Yes the children like candies… He is concerned with the the levels of a specific active ingredient in cannabis but doesn’t seem to know much else about cannabis. Anything can go off the rails? What is a dangerous THC level Sheriff? Good luck researching that answer. It can’t kill you so maybe we should be looking for things that can kill us and criminalize those? Beer? Coffee? Salt? Sugar? Tobacco? High buildings? Fast cars? Alarmist much Sheriff?
He acts and speaks as if incorporating cannabis into food is something new and untested or unknown! And of course invokes God for dramatic and moral effect.
We understand that a substantial amount of his professional and career income come from the apparatus responsible for The New Jim Crow. Sheriff Tompkins is not just for the continued criminalization of our communities through old, racist, immoral, ignorant, corrupt drug policies but is also for the continued denial and disenfranchisement of african-americans and all others here in the commonwealth to a legal local cannabis industry as well. Encouraging monopolies to develop by other more enlightened, knowledgeable, progressive and economically aggressive communities.
Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins and the state’s 13 other county sheriffs said Monday that the referendum would destigmatize drug use and make it easier for young people to get their hands on the drug.
He doesn’t want to destigmatize drug use he wants to continue to stigmatize drug use, despite the fact that such an approach has been proven to fail repeatedly. The drug war is what first stigmatized drug use. They were long vicious campaigns of lies aimed at making people scared of drugs. Reefer Madness refers to just one aspect of this campaign. It has lead to the mass incarceration problem we have now…
This is the attitude of a leading voice on criminal justice reform in MA? Someone please help us..
Cannabis is Medicine
On the question of cannabis legalization Sheriff Steve Tompkins wants to “error on the side of caution” and continue to criminalize people for possession of cannabis. That is a safe answer in todays politically conservative environment but it is not brave. It is not insightful, or even genuine. It is not an answer that serves our communities but actually serves the communities that need the least help.
Alcohol, Tobacco, Law Enforcement, Big Pharma and Prisons industries. These are the organizations and industries that benefit from our continued drug war. Sheriff Tompkins seems to be representing them when it comes to cannabis. He is corrupted by propaganda and has no problem continuing with criminalizing people for cannabis use because he does not recognize it as medicine. So he has no problem denying voters their medicine and even taking their rights away for possessing it. Cannabis use is religious. He does not recognize it as a sacramental or support true religious freedom because he still subscribes to the lies of the drug war.
He can ignore cannabis as a possible treatment for cancer and so many other maladies.. and he can deny all the thousands of otherwise law abiding voters that have taken it upon themselves to change the corrupt drug laws regarding cannabis. Yes voters are changing the policies towards cannabis NOT politicians. Politicians have not met the need of the public regarding cannabis. They have continued to support long disproven drug war dogma steeped in racism. It is the same political ignorance and cowardice that has marked the nations similar failings on race and justice that continues to call for cannabis prohibition.
No Justice, No Peace
Lets just kick the can of justice down the road?
Is this position supported by social justice groups? NO. Sheriff Tompkins doesn’t seem to understand or realize that his insistence on continued cannabis prohibition is morally corrupt. If he wants to represent and lead voters of the Commonwealth then I suggest he research cannabis properly before campaigning against the rights of voters to use cannabis in their personal lives and professional industries. It is time for a change and a break from the corrupt ways of the past. Cannabis prohibition is an immoral position for a modern politician. And BostonCannabis.Info is watching!
More evidence for the immorality of the Drug War. If you are wondering why so many politicians and others still want a drug war, perhaps this helps explain it more.
More and more ordinary people, elected officials, newspaper columnists, economists, doctors, judges and even the Surgeon General of the United States are concluding that the effects of our drug control policy are at least as harmful as the effects of drugs themselves. After decades of criminal prohibition and intensive law enforcement efforts to rid the country of illegal drugs, violent traffickers still endanger life in our cities, a steady stream of drug offenders still pours into our jails and prisons, and tons of cocaine, heroin and marijuana still cross our borders unimpeded. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) opposes criminal prohibition of drugs. Not only is prohibition a proven failure as a drug control strategy, but it subjects otherwise law-abiding citizens to arrest, prosecution and imprisonment for what they do in private. In trying to enforce the drug laws, the government violates the fundamental rights of privacy and personal autonomy that are guaranteed by our Constitution. The ACLU believes that unless they do harm to others, people should not be punished — even if they do harm to themselves. There are better ways to control drug use, ways that will ultimately lead to a healthier, freer and less crime-ridden society. Currently Illegal Drugs Have Not Always Been Illegal During the Civil War, morphine (an opium derivative and cousin of heroin) was found to have pain-killing properties and soon became the main ingredient in several patent medicines. In the late 19th century, marijuana and cocaine were put to various medicinal uses — marijuana to treat migraines, rheumatism and insomnia, and cocaine to treat sinusitis, hay fever and chronic fatigue. All of these drugs were also used recreationally, and cocaine, in particular, was a common incredient in wines and soda pop — including the popular Coca Cola. At the turn of the century, many drugs were made illegal when a mood of temperance swept the nation. In 1914, Congress passed the Harrison Act, banning opiates and cocaine. Alcohol prohibition quickly followed, and by 1918 the U.S. was officially a “dry” nation. That did not mean, however, an end to drug use. It meant that, suddenly, people were arrested and jailed for doing what they had previously done without government interference. Prohibition also meant the emergence of a black market, operated by criminals and marked by violence. In 1933, because of concern over widespread organized crime, police corruption and violence, the public demanded repeal of alcohol prohibition and the return of regulatory power to the states. Most states immediately replaced criminal bans with laws regulating the quality, potency and commercial sale of alcohol; as a result, the harms associated with alcohol prohibition disappeared. Meanwhile, federal prohibition of heroin and cocaine remained, and with passage of the Marijuana Stamp Act in 1937 marijuana was prohibited as well. Federal drug policy has remained strictly prohibitionist to this day. Decades of Drug Prohibition: A History of Failure Criminal prohibition, the centerpiece of U.S. drug policy, has failed miserably. Since 1981, tax dollars to the tune of $150 billion have been spent trying to prevent Columbian cocaine, Burmese heroin and Jamaican marijuana from penetrating our borders. Yet the evidence is that for every ton seized, hundreds more get through. Hundreds of thousands of otherwise law abiding people have been arrested and jailed for drug possession. Between 1968 and 1992, the annual number of drug-related arrests increased from 200,000 to over 1.2 million. One-third of those were marijuana arrests, most for mere possession. The best evidence of prohibition’s failure is the government’s current war on drugs. This war, instead of employing a strategy of prevention, research, education and social programs designed to address problems such as permanent poverty, long term unemployment and deteriorating living conditions in our inner cities, has employed a strategy of law enforcement. While this military approach continues to devour billions of tax dollars and sends tens of thousands of people to prison, illegal drug trafficking thrives, violence escalates and drug abuse continues to debilitate lives. Compounding these problems is the largely unchecked spread of the AIDS virus among drug-users, their sexual partners and their offspring. Those who benefit the most from prohibition are organized crime barons, who derive an estimated $10 to $50 billion a year from the illegal drug trade. Indeed, the criminal drug laws protect drug traffickers from taxation, regulation and quality control. Those laws also support artificially high prices and assure that commercial disputes among drug dealers and their customers will be settled not in courts of law, but with automatic weapons in the streets. Drug Prohibition is a Public Health Menace Drug prohibition promises a healthier society by denying people the opportunit
A Veterans Plea for Common Sense on the Drug War, Racism, and Cannabis policy.
“One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws” -Martin Luther King Jr.
People of Boston and the Nation. A tragic and inequitable situation has risen…
Racism, ignorance, and immorality are destroying our communities…
We must educate ourselves and fight to change this reality or in the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “perish together as fools”
The following ideas are absolutely not original to this post and can all be found researched through links on BostonCannabis.Info …
Mass incarceration is an immoral tragedy created through racism and ignorance.
Cannabis is the scientific name for what propagandists have referred to disparagingly as Marijuana.
Cannabis possession is the most popular drug crime and is responsible for the most drug arrests and charges.
Cannabis is a super-food and provides complete protein (hemp-seed), can be used safely to treat many diseases and ailments, and can be made into over 30,000 legal products.
Please stay with me as I elaborate…
Kentucky Industrial Hemp
Cannabis was the number one agricultural crop in the world and was listed in the American Pharmacopoeia of drugs and their approved uses until 1940 when American Politicians and officials campaigned for it to be illegal on purely racist and ignorant grounds.
Only made illegal after extremely racist public officials lied repeatedly to the American population. They said false, ridiculous, mean, hateful, racist, and ignorant things to support a wave of new drug laws that were not aimed at decreasing drug use, but were ONLY aimed at controlling ethnic populations, Blacks, Mexicans, Chinese…
Cannabis was made illegal only twice in American history. The first time was for racist purposes, 1937 Marijuana Tax Act. They said cannabis (marihuana) made Mexicans and African-Americans violent, and then later they said it makes them communist and pacifist, all lies of course.
Billie Holiday was a Singer and entertainer that was hounded by Anslinger and his goons till her death day. Anslingers goons handcuffed her to a bed as she lay dying in need of medicine which they refused her.Anslinger hated Billie Holiday personally because she was a succesful black, woman, activist. She popularized the song “Strange Fruit” an anti-lynching song. Anslinger used his new drug agency to persecute, humiliate, terrorize, and eventually kill Billie Holiday as she lay handcuffed in front of friends and family. Anslinger was a terrorist with the backing of the US Govt for over 30 years.
White society has been known to see foreign or different ethnic cultural elements as scary or satanic. Just as certain Christian societies have viewed things non-Christian or not conforming to their culture as satanic. The only party invoking Satan into the discussion was the fearful white society.
Why doesn’t freedom of religion here in America protect cannabis use, as it is indeed used for religious worship the world over and through all time? Research will lead you once again to ignorance and racism folks!
Discrimination against Chinese-Americans
Drug laws were first used to oppress the Chinese-Americans that were now coming to America at the turn of 20th century (1900s), and had become the focus of hostilities due to economic and social struggles. A popular Chinese cultural practice was the use of opium.
“Prohibition… goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man’s appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes… A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.” – Abraham Lincoln
They were not under the false notion that they could stop opium use throughout the nation. They just wanted to be able to criminalize and control the Chinese populations which they blamed for certain problems of society.
Racist Harry J Anslinger 1st Drug Czar
Anslinger and others used this precedent to improve upon their system of oppression and inflate their new government agency using our society’s most vulnerable populations to be the nation’s punching bag. After alcohol prohibition failed so miserably, new civil rights laws were being enacted in congress leading to racist filibusters on the Congress floor; The Dust Bowl, Great Depression, and the Dirty Thirties laid waste to economies families and farmers and destroyed their way of life. Jobs were scarce. Charlatans whipped up vulnerable crowds into the politics of hatred and blaming others for all problems of society, Not unlike Donald Trump does today.
American TerrorismAmerican TerrorismAmerican Terrorism
American TerrorismAmerican Terrorism
American Terrorism
Lynching of African-Americans was commonplace at this point in US history, as is the modern gunning down of black-men by police, vigilantes, blacks and other Americans who have internalized the racial hatred and dysfunction of American society today.
The new law forced people to get a stamp for their cannabis but few stamps were handed out. The issue was tax revenue NOT public safety! They didn’t make any money in taxes if you grew your own medicine and supplies or decided to grow and sell the same. Department of Treasury NOT a public safety agency was who the New Federal Bureau of Narcotics would be under. Public safety concerns were racist fears of Blacks, Mexicans, and Chinese not the effects of medicine or drugs on individuals. Americans of the time transferred their fear of the black and Mexican population to a common, useful, household herb. Marijuana Tax Act was challenged and overturned by Timothy Leary and The Supreme Court in 1969. It was found to be unconstitutional.
This became a very valuable political dynamic for racist republicans and effectively silenced the political voices of millions. The drug war has been a war on Americans, a war on families, and a war on truth and liberty itself.
Reagan is Ignorant or LyingRonnies infinite wisdom! More lies.
Other Republicans like Reagan doubled down on Nixon’s policies. Democrats too. Leading us to the situation we have today. Reagan’s fake push to cure cancer in the 1980s was a lie to raise money while they hid cannabis related cancer research with the help of the DEA.
Feel safe lately? No? Thank your leaders for lying to us all and creating a dangerous, uninformed system of oppression and misery, that is destroying the country.
Ignorant Ronald ReaganGeorge Orwell
Drug prohibition made our streets and cities dangerous in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s just like Alcohol Prohibition did (1920-1933). Al Capone and the new American organized crime wave of the 1920s has become Pablo Escobar and El Chapo Guzman of the 80s, 90s and 2000s. We ended alcohol prohibition and now people do not shoot each other over a barrel of beer. Hopefully if we get smart and end drug prohibition… people will no longer shoot each other over drugs either. Drugs are not bad or dangerous on their own, their monetary value has been multiplied and inflated because of their imposed illegality. Illegal drugs and medicines are simply worth more money than other products because of prohibition. Drugs are medicines. NOT dangerous but helpful to all when used properly.
Michele Alexander The New Jim Crow
Many things can kill you when misused, does that make them all dangerous to where we need prohibition? Cannabis can NOT kill you even when misused! Is cannabis dangerous?
The bias against cannabis is cultural. Americans must stop supporting this corrupt, racist, ignorant, and immoral drug war! End institutional racism now! END DRUG PROHIBITION NOW!
If we do not find the courage to call out, expose, and honestly deal with all elements of oppression racial, gender, and otherwise, then we are all destined for complete failure due to cowardice. Cowardice to face the issues. You cannot ignore the systematic assault and oppression of so many people and then wonder why communities and institutions are failing. It is an ignorant and naive position and a vicious lie to say so. I challenge ANYONE to reference this course of events and defend any of this drug war behavior as not corrupt, not racist, not ignorant, not a tragic hypocrisy and morally right. Please see definitions for the following terms corrupt, racist, ignorant, and immoral at end of article.
“In things racial… we have always been and I believe continue to be in too many ways a nation of cowards.” Attorney General Eric Holder United States Department of Justice
US Attorney General Eric Holder
Cowardice is defined as a lack of bravery. Fits well. You think?
Modern politicians and voters that believe and buy into the propaganda of “Reefer Madness” are still acting in unison with the racist and immoral officials of the past. Supporting racist and ignorant policies decades after they have been proven to be illegitimate, harmful, misinformed, and unconstitutional.
The last few presidential campaigns illustrate very clearly that a republican party goal is to disenfranchise people of color. Republicans do not want African-Americans and many others to vote, and have acted on those goals regularly for decades but increasingly more so recently. How different are today’s white Americans than all of those White Americans watching on in satisfaction or indifference as black families were tortured and murdered in the public square, as a sign to others. Not unlike how modern terrorists and groups, ISIS and ISIL (Islamic State In Syria/Libya), publicly torture and murder their victims to warn others. And not unlike so many American Police Departments that broadcast the murders that they will be getting away with every day on tv and the internet. It is a powerful message that law enforcement has been sending the black community for so many years. It goes something like this…
“We are given the power to destroy you on sight, publicly or privately and wherever or whenever we so please. You have no recourse so when you see police officers know that they have the right to do as they please with you, your person, your property, and your family. You have NO rights when an officer is talking to you BOY so listen up or suffer whatever the officer decides your punishment or execution should be. We can beat you, shoot you, rape or sodomize you, and kidnap and imprison you to do it all over every day for the rest of your miserable black life. Our society says as a white officer I’m better than you and its my job to make sure you are oppressed. I take my job serious and you should too.”
The presidential campaign of Republican Nominee Donald Trump is openly encouraging physical violence against African Americans now in August of 2016 and is promising to punish Muslims, people of Mexican heritage, and foreigners as well.
Are citizens allowed to fight back against oppression? The culture in America and Boston must change. These changes must happen or we can all expect the pitiful situation that our culture has created today to continue. The drug war, racist institutions, mass incarceration, police terrorism of the black population, increasing racial violence and white supremacist media rhetoric and groups, the Jim Crow paradigm, all will continue to lead us as a nation towards ruin. No one will feel safe or content until agents of oppression cease fire. The public will NOT trust government, law enforcement, or any of their representatives because it has been their policy to treat so many Americans as targets of oppression and have not bothered to change the dynamic. We have been waiting a VERY long time.
END AMERICAN COWARDICE!!! STOP OPPRESSION!!! END JIM CROW!!!
Loyalty Duty Respect Selfless Service Honor Integrity Personal Courge L.D.R.S.H.I.P.
Nothing about the drug war can be said to embody ANY of these American Army Values which are required to be memorized and practiced by all US Soldiers.. The Drug War is and always has been immoral. So as far as this veteran is concerned, The Drug War has no place in our society. For those that wish to continue the racist and immoral drug war… please let us know why the oppression of so many is necessary?
USA Drug Policy Reeks with Oppression
“He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.” – Thomas Paine
None of the previous has been a secret folks.. when will reasonable people act?
Chief – from BostonCannabis.Info
cor·rup·tion
noun
1.
dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery.
cor·rupt
adjective
1.
having or showing a willingness to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain.
rac·ist
noun
1.
a person who believes that a particular race is superior to another.
adjective
1.
having or showing the belief that a particular race is superior to another.
ig·no·rant
adjective
lacking knowledge or awareness in general; uneducated or unsophisticated.
The above statement is not intended to be controversial. The immorality of the Drug War has been well documented. The failure of the drug war has been well documented. The racism of the drug war has been well documented…
Advocates of police body cams should be forewarned..
Documentation is absolutely no guarantee of justice in America..
For decades laws that were originally set up to continue the persecution of black people in a racist society still exist.. (Cannabis was outlawed essentially twice 1937 later found unconstitutional, and 1970, Racism was a more upfront reality then. Policy clearly reflects racism both times.) There has never been an honest accounting of these historic wrongs which has allowed politicians to continue these racist and immoral policies today. They fill jails on the basis of lies about cannabis and other drugs..
Cannabis is not dangerous. But they lie and say it is. Cannabis is medicine, but they lie and say its not. Cannabis does not make one want to use other drugs, is not a “gateway drug”, research shows cannabis to be an “exit drug” helping people to get off of opiates, but they will continue to lie and tell you it is so..
Cannabis is safer than coffee as far as researchers can tell but once again government policies lie and say that cannabis is as dangerous as heroin and list it as more dangerous than cocaine..
Allowing them to take peoples freedoms away if caught with the “dangerous, gateway drug cannabis which offers no medical benefit whatsoever!”
Police and law enforcement supporters conveniently dismiss the experiences of minority communities and its members as the complaints of children. Worthy of an ear but not worth doing anything about. Now that modern video has proven what thousands have complained about for decades…
Police and the DEA are allowed to lie to American citizens to do their jobs, get convictions, and protect their jobs… this means they are allowed and encouraged to lie to us as they prey on us… filling their quotas and private run jails… while people suffer in inhumane prisoner conditions.
Without the total admission of the racist and immoral injustice that continues to be waged against minorities in America, and an implemented plan of action is underway… the conversation that so many want to happen will never amount to much.
Minorities will continue to be gunned down in the street, on video.. and Police unfortunately as well, will be targets for enraged community members pushed beyond their faculties. The tit for tat police versus terrorist black gunman of the day dynamic will continue and intensify.. History is clear. All African Americans will easily be seen as terrorists after decades of being seen as violent criminals, and whatever else the society decides on. Given the current situation the most effective strategy goes to the roots of the issue. The racist and immoral drug war leads to mass incarceration, leads to distrust of police and the justice system, leads to failed society where normal and rational citizens are forced to avoid and are not served by the police but are hunted as criminals.. or, coming to a neighborhood near you any day now!!! hunted as terrorists for their political views or more easily … just being black or brown.
African-Americans and minorities have suffered hundreds of years now of being targeted by law enforcement and the wider society. The modern term for this new dynamic is a rehash of older term.. The New Jim Crow..
Police have been waging a proxy war for the powerful white society against Americas minorities and it is no longer sustainable.
Modern day slavery…
An American Caste system with no end in sight…
That is not a dynamic I would choose but its what exists and has been supported and maintained until now..
End the Drug War and we may have a way out of this as a nation.
