Mo’Kelly’s not so sure about this one. I’m going to have to really meditate on this one. My first inclination is to be angry with the NAACP. Lowering the bar so some of us can step over is not something I wish to support. My first read says that “because more African-Americans are put in jail for this…we should change the law.”
Does that mean raise the speed limit if a disproportionate number of African-Americans get speeding tickets? The question is not who goes to jail, the question (and answers) are in how we choose to enforce the laws and what responsibility is on the citizen. Not only that…Mo’Kelly is clearly uncomfortable with couching the legalization of marijuana as a “civil rights” issue.
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Saying that prohibition takes a heavy toll on minorities, leaders of the NAACP’s California chapter announced Monday that they are backing passage of a marijuana legalization initiative on the November ballot.
The war on drugs is a failure and disproportionately targets young men and women of color, particularly African-American males, said Alice Huffman, president of the NAACP’s state conference.
The group cited statistics from the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice showing that in 2009, 62% of the state’s marijuana arrests were of nonwhite suspects and that 42% were under 20.
The pattern was consistent in the state’s 25 largest counties, with arrests of African Americans at double, triple and quadruple the rate of whites even though studies show that blacks use marijuana at lower rates than whites, NAACP officials said.
“We are joining a growing number of medical professionals, labor organizations, law enforcement authorities, local municipalities and approximately 56% of the public in saying that it is time to decriminalize the use of marijuana,” Huffman said in a prepared statement.
November’s measure, if approved, would allow people 21 and older to legally possess an ounce of cannabis. Marijuana sales would be taxed, potentially raising billions of dollars for government services. Opponents say legalization would increase crime and drug dependency.
— Catherine Saillant
4 responses to “California NAACP Backs Legalization of Marijuana”
Why isn't the right to grow and smoke your own plant exactly a civil rights issue?
And why is anybody in this country in jail for growing, possessing or selling it?
Among the more archaic aspects of American law is the prohibition against cannabis when alcohol and nicotine are perfectly legal.
Civil rights and civil liberties are not the same thing. Don't confuse the two.
Fair point 🙂
I would defend the right to smoke one's own, whatever method we use 🙂
I agree 100%
There are other drugs that are legal that are more harmful then smoking weed.
Like alcohol, etc.