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Will new Obama policy on marijuana be a boon for black America?
Sep 5, 2013 By Mildred Gaddis
Earlier this month, Attorney General Eric Holder announced the Obama administration’s commitment to reduce harsh mandatory sentencing policies enacted as part of the “war on drugs,” which have resulted in a major community crisis: hundreds of thousands of prisoners, most of whom are black or brown, behind bars for relatively minor charges.
Many were wondering what position they would take in regards to the 20 states defying federal law by allowing legal access to marijuana for medical purposes or Washington and Colorado, who have gone even further by legalizing marijuana outright even though it is still considered a Schedule 1 narcotic and is illegal at the federal level.
Now the White House has broken their silence on this issue. Eric Holder publicly announced the U.S. government will not interfere with states deciding to change their marijuana laws. These moves present a monumental shift in the drug war.
Sentencing reform, if executed effectively, could result in a significant portion of the largely black and Latino men and women with low level drug offenses getting a fairer shake under the law. Likewise, this unprecedented step giving a green light to states that choose to make pot legal will mean fewer people being criminalized for consuming and selling the plant, which is also a real game changer.
In 2011, of the 1.5 million drug arrests made, 750,000 were for marijuana. People of color make up the overwhelming majority of those targeted by law enforcement. In every step, from those who are stop and frisked to those convicted and sent to serve time, the drug war certainly picks favorites. According to a recent report from the ACLU, black people are nearly four times as likely to be arrested for a marijuana arrest, even though marijuana consumption is fairly even across races.
Marijuana prohibition is heavily steeped in racism from its very origin. The original anti-marijuana laws were proposed to target black people and Mexicans. Today they are used to justify routine police harassment of young black and Latino men who “fit the profile” and are suspicious merely on the basis of daring to be out in public and existing in their skin. And marijuana arrests, even when they don’t result in serious criminal penalties, establish a permanent record that can exclude people from opportunities for jobs, housing, schooling and student loans.
Sharda Sekaran is the Communications Director of the Drug Policy Alliance (www.drugpolicy.org)
Read more from this article on The Grio.com
Sep 5, 2013 By Mildred Gaddis
Earlier this month, Attorney General Eric Holder announced the Obama administration’s commitment to reduce harsh mandatory sentencing policies enacted as part of the “war on drugs,” which have resulted in a major community crisis: hundreds of thousands of prisoners, most of whom are black or brown, behind bars for relatively minor charges.
Many were wondering what position they would take in regards to the 20 states defying federal law by allowing legal access to marijuana for medical purposes or Washington and Colorado, who have gone even further by legalizing marijuana outright even though it is still considered a Schedule 1 narcotic and is illegal at the federal level.
Now the White House has broken their silence on this issue. Eric Holder publicly announced the U.S. government will not interfere with states deciding to change their marijuana laws. These moves present a monumental shift in the drug war.
Sentencing reform, if executed effectively, could result in a significant portion of the largely black and Latino men and women with low level drug offenses getting a fairer shake under the law. Likewise, this unprecedented step giving a green light to states that choose to make pot legal will mean fewer people being criminalized for consuming and selling the plant, which is also a real game changer.
In 2011, of the 1.5 million drug arrests made, 750,000 were for marijuana. People of color make up the overwhelming majority of those targeted by law enforcement. In every step, from those who are stop and frisked to those convicted and sent to serve time, the drug war certainly picks favorites. According to a recent report from the ACLU, black people are nearly four times as likely to be arrested for a marijuana arrest, even though marijuana consumption is fairly even across races.
Marijuana prohibition is heavily steeped in racism from its very origin. The original anti-marijuana laws were proposed to target black people and Mexicans. Today they are used to justify routine police harassment of young black and Latino men who “fit the profile” and are suspicious merely on the basis of daring to be out in public and existing in their skin. And marijuana arrests, even when they don’t result in serious criminal penalties, establish a permanent record that can exclude people from opportunities for jobs, housing, schooling and student loans.
Sharda Sekaran is the Communications Director of the Drug Policy Alliance (www.drugpolicy.org)
Read more from this article on The Grio.com
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