Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." So said the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1967, when he spoke out against the Vietnam War. At the time, he was roundly criticized for speaking out on an issue considered outside the purview of civil rights leaders. King understood better than most at the time, the true cost of war - in lives lost, in futures squandered, in dreams deferred and in misspent resources. Eventually, a majority of Americans came to agree with him about the war in Vietnam. His moral courage lay in speaking out in the face of no agreement, caring more about his integrity than his popularity.
It is the mission of the California NAACP to eradicate injustice and continue the fight for civil rights and social justice wherever and whenever we can. We are therefore compelled to speak out against another war, the so called "war on drugs."
This is not a war on the drug lords and violent cartels. This is a war that disproportionately impacts young men and women and is the latest tool for imposing Jim Crow justice on poor African Americans.
We reject the oft-repeated but deceptive argument that there are only two choices for dealing with drugs - heavy-handed law enforcement or total permissiveness. Substance abuse and addiction are American problems that impact every socioeconomic group, and meaningful public health and safety strategies are needed to address it. However, law enforcement strategies that target poor blacks and Latinos and cause them to bear the burden and shame of arrest, prosecution and conviction for marijuana offenses must stop.
The report released in June by the Drug Policy Alliance confirmed our view that marijuana law enforcement in California disproportionately target our youth. Despite consistent evidence that black youth use marijuana at lower rates than whites, in every one of the 25 largest counties in California, blacks are arrested for marijuana possession at higher rates than whites, typically at double, triple, or even quadruple the rate. We believe whatever potential harms may be associated with using marijuana are more than outweighed by the immediate harms that derive from being caught up in the criminal justice system.
Given the current economic crisis and high level of unemployment, particularly for black men, do we really want to permanently handicap a person's ability to get an education, make a decent living and have a productive life because they used marijuana? Equally important - is arresting people for possessing marijuana the best use of our scarce tax dollars? Can we justify wasting millions attempting to reduce demand for cannabis through law enforcement? How many more years do we wait before declaring that strategy a failure?
The California NAACP does not believe maintaining the illusion that we're winning the "war on drugs" is worth sacrificing another generation of our young men and women.
Enough is enough. We want change we can believe in, and that's why we're supporting Prop. 19. Instead of wasting money on marijuana law enforcement, Prop. 19 will generate tax revenues we can use to improve the education and employment outcomes of our youth. Our youth want and deserve a future. Let's invest in people, not prisons.
NewsHawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: sfgate.com
Author: Alice Huffman - President of the California State NAACP
Copyright: 2010 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: Feedback — SFGate, news and information for the San Francisco Bay Area.
Website: Marijuana law reform is a civil rights issue
It is the mission of the California NAACP to eradicate injustice and continue the fight for civil rights and social justice wherever and whenever we can. We are therefore compelled to speak out against another war, the so called "war on drugs."
This is not a war on the drug lords and violent cartels. This is a war that disproportionately impacts young men and women and is the latest tool for imposing Jim Crow justice on poor African Americans.
We reject the oft-repeated but deceptive argument that there are only two choices for dealing with drugs - heavy-handed law enforcement or total permissiveness. Substance abuse and addiction are American problems that impact every socioeconomic group, and meaningful public health and safety strategies are needed to address it. However, law enforcement strategies that target poor blacks and Latinos and cause them to bear the burden and shame of arrest, prosecution and conviction for marijuana offenses must stop.
The report released in June by the Drug Policy Alliance confirmed our view that marijuana law enforcement in California disproportionately target our youth. Despite consistent evidence that black youth use marijuana at lower rates than whites, in every one of the 25 largest counties in California, blacks are arrested for marijuana possession at higher rates than whites, typically at double, triple, or even quadruple the rate. We believe whatever potential harms may be associated with using marijuana are more than outweighed by the immediate harms that derive from being caught up in the criminal justice system.
Given the current economic crisis and high level of unemployment, particularly for black men, do we really want to permanently handicap a person's ability to get an education, make a decent living and have a productive life because they used marijuana? Equally important - is arresting people for possessing marijuana the best use of our scarce tax dollars? Can we justify wasting millions attempting to reduce demand for cannabis through law enforcement? How many more years do we wait before declaring that strategy a failure?
The California NAACP does not believe maintaining the illusion that we're winning the "war on drugs" is worth sacrificing another generation of our young men and women.
Enough is enough. We want change we can believe in, and that's why we're supporting Prop. 19. Instead of wasting money on marijuana law enforcement, Prop. 19 will generate tax revenues we can use to improve the education and employment outcomes of our youth. Our youth want and deserve a future. Let's invest in people, not prisons.
NewsHawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: sfgate.com
Author: Alice Huffman - President of the California State NAACP
Copyright: 2010 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: Feedback — SFGate, news and information for the San Francisco Bay Area.
Website: Marijuana law reform is a civil rights issue
