Los Angeles Times / By Arianna Huffington
comments_imageCOMMENTS: 306

The War on Drugs Is Really a War on Minorities

Democratic presidential candidates crave the Latino and black vote, but ignore the Drug War's unfair toll on people of color.
March 27, 2007  |  
 
 
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There is a subject being forgotten in the 2008 Democratic race for the White House.

While all the major candidates are vying for the black and Latino vote, they are completely ignoring one of the most pressing issues affecting those constituencies: the failed "war on drugs" -- a war that has morphed into a war on people of color.

Consider this: According to a 2006 report by the American Civil Liberties Union, African Americans make up an estimated 15% of drug users, but they account for 37% of those arrested on drug charges, 59% of those convicted and 74% of all drug offenders sentenced to prison. Or consider this: The U.S. has 260,000 people in state prisons on nonviolent drug charges; 183,200 (more than 70%) of them are black or Latino.

Such facts have been bandied about for years. But our politicians have consistently failed to take action on what has become yet another third rail of American politics, a subject to be avoided at all costs by elected officials who fear being incinerated on contact for being soft on crime.

Perhaps you hoped this would change during a spirited Democratic presidential primary? Unfortunately, a quick search of the top Democratic hopefuls' websites reveals that not one of them -- not Hillary Clinton, not Barack Obama, not John Edwards, not Joe Biden, not Chris Dodd, not Bill Richardson -- even mentions the drug war, let alone offers any solutions.

The silence coming from Clinton and Obama is particularly deafening.

Obama has written eloquently about his own struggle with drugs but has not addressed the tragic effect the war on drugs is having on African American communities.

As for Clinton, she flew into Selma, Ala., to reinforce her image as the wife of the black community's most beloved politician and has made much of her plan to attract female voters, but she has ignored the suffering of poor, black women right in her own backyard.

Located down the road from her Chappaqua, N.Y., home are two prisons housing female inmates, Taconic and Bedford. Forty-eight percent of the women in Taconic are there for nonviolent drug offenses; 78% of those in the prison are African American or Latino.

And Bedford, the state's only maximum-security prison for women, is home to some of the worst victims of New York's draconian Rockefeller-era drug laws -- mothers and grandmothers whose first brush with the law resulted in their being locked away for 15 years or more on nonviolent drug charges.

Yet even though these prisons are so nearby, Clinton has turned a blind eye to the plight of the women locked away there, notably refusing to speak out on their behalf.

Avoidance of this issue comes at a very stiff price (and not just the more than $50 billion a year we're spending on the failed drug war). The toll is paid in shattered families, devastated inner cities and wasted lives (with no apologies for using that term).

During the 10 years I've been writing about the injustice of the drug war, I've repeatedly watched as politicians paid lip service to the problem but then ducked as the sickening status quo claimed more victims. In California, of the 171,000 inmates jamming the state's wildly overcrowded prisons, 36,000 are nonviolent drug offenders.

I remember in 1999 asking Dan Bartlett, then the campaign spokesman for candidate George W. Bush, about Bush's position on the outrageous disparity between the sentences meted out for possession of crack cocaine and those given for possession of powder cocaine -- a disparity that has helped fill U.S. prisons with black low-level drug users (80% of sentenced crack defendants are black). Federal sentencing guidelines dictate that judges impose the same five-year prison sentence for possession of five grams of crack or 500 grams of powder cocaine.

"The different sentencing for crack cocaine and powder cocaine is something that there's no doubt needs to be addressed," Bartlett told me. But in the more than six years since Bush and Bartlett moved into the White House, the problem has gone unaddressed. No doubt about it.

Maybe the president will suddenly wake up and decide to take on the issue five days before he leaves office. That's what Bill Clinton did, writing a 2001 New York Times Op-Ed article in which he trumpeted the need to "immediately reduce the disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentences" -- conveniently ignoring the fact that he had the power to solve it for eight years and did nothing.

When it mattered, he maintained an imperial silence. Then, when it didn't, he became Captain Courageous. And he lamented the failures of our drug policy as though he had been an innocent bystander rather than the chief executive (indeed, the prison population doubled on his watch).

The injustice is so egregious that a conservative senator, Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), is now leading the charge in Congress to ease crack sentences. "I believe that as a matter of law enforcement and good public policy, crack cocaine sentences are too heavy and can't be justified," he said. "People don't want us to be soft on crime, but I think we ought to make the law more rational."

There's a talking point Hillary and Obama should adopt. It's both the right thing and the smart thing. Because of disenfranchisement statutes, large numbers of black men who were convicted of drug crimes are ineligible to vote, even those who have fully paid their debt to society.

A 2000 study found that 1.4 million African American men -- 13% of the total black male population -- were unable to vote in the 2000 election because of state laws barring felons access to the polls. In Florida, one in three black men is permanently disqualified from voting. Think that might have made a difference in the 2000 race? Our shortsighted drug laws have become the 21st century manifestation of Jim Crow.

Shouldn't this be an issue Democratic presidential candidates deem worthy of their attention?
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It's RACISM!
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Temporary on Mar 27, 2007 12:28 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Pure and simple! White people drink alcohol, blacks and coloreds smoke weed! Both are equally as harmful, yet alcohol and even tobacco are not banned. WHY???

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» It's Prohibition Posted by: edith
» RE: It's Prohibition Posted by: pingoo
» RE: It's RACISM! Posted by: Poe
» RE: It's RACISM! Posted by: Conservasaurus
» 15% of the population Posted by: WhatNow?
» RE: 15% of the population Posted by: pingoo
» My apologies Posted by: WhatNow?
» RE: My apologies Posted by: Lauren
» RE: My apologies Posted by: Conservasaurus
» RE: My apologies Posted by: Chris420
» RE: My apologies Posted by: Conservasaurus
» RE: My apologies Posted by: Chris420
» The gateway Posted by: slydad
» RE: The gateway Posted by: ALANHESTER
» Thank You Posted by: slydad
» Oh like you do. . . Posted by: peacefullaim
» RE: Oh like you do. . . Posted by: slydad
» fear Posted by: brasilaron
» RE: It's RACISM! Posted by: anonymous black writer
» RACISM! Hmmm! Posted by: derfb1
» RE: RACISM! Hmmm! Posted by: anonymous black writer
» RE: I'm white, I don't drink. I smoke weed. Posted by: anonymous black writer
» RE: It's RACISM! Posted by: bornxeyed
» RE: You're ignorant Posted by: ateo
» RE: It's RACISM! Posted by: EagleMB
» RE: Good points Posted by: ateo
» RE: It's RACISM! Posted by: bornxeyed
» RE: It's RACISM! Posted by: EagleMB
» RE: Get off the phone, you idiot!! Posted by: anonymous black writer
» RE: Marijuana harmful? Posted by: Topaz

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You people are crazy
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Colton on Mar 27, 2007 12:31 AM   
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Don't you all know what the unemployment % would be if all those worthless people were not in jail? How the heck are we supposed to give people faith in our imaginary economy if you start casting shadows of doubt? All this money isn't going to levitate on it's bootstraps by itself !

/sarcasm off

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» RE: You people are crazy Posted by: pingoo
» 75% unemployment rate... Posted by: Aufklaerung_Baboon
» RE: 75% unemployment rate... Posted by: cardboardurinal
» RE: You people are crazy Posted by: pingoo
» RE: You people are crazy Posted by: Colton
» RE: You people are crazy Posted by: hms2004
» RE: You people are crazy Posted by: Colton

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RACISM in America continues
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Posted by: thinkverybig on Mar 27, 2007 12:41 AM   
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It's plain and simple. White America still controls everything and is envy and jealous of the Black Man or anyone with pigmention. Throughout history white folks have raped, killed, conquered, destroyed, enslaved, hung, murdered, you name it and they've done it. Why should we believe that racism has stopped. But.... it won't last for long. The time is coming where you start to reap what you have sown.... and I can feel it in the air.

Our judicial system is RACIST.... Our political System is RACIST and so on.... This country won't be all it can be until white folks are OUT OF POWER................. Plain and Simple.

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» Uncle Tom Stawman Posted by: edith
» What's wrong with you man? Posted by: slydad
» RE: What's wrong with you man? Posted by: ALANHESTER
» Idiotic response Posted by: ISlamIslam
» Not really Posted by: ISlamIslam
» Absolutely Posted by: ISlamIslam
» RE: Absolutely Posted by: anonymous black writer
» RE: ACISM in America continues Posted by: thinkverybig
» RE: ACISM in America continues Posted by: Conservasaurus
» RE: ACISM in America continues Posted by: peacefullaim
» RACISM in America continues Posted by: derfb1
» RE: YOU are the racist Posted by: ateo
» RE: Jealous of what? Posted by: ateo
» I am only jealous of one thing Posted by: veggiegrrrl
» RE:Let the self flaggelation begin Posted by: OhioPatriot

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Nixon's War on Blacks and Hippies
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Posted by: lessbread on Mar 27, 2007 2:06 AM   
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Smoke and Mirrors: The War on Drugs and the Politics of Failure

The White House lived by the principles of the southern strategy, and Dent's office had its own lingo. There were issues that mattered to "our" people, and those that mattered to "their" people. "Their" people were what the White House called "the young, the poor, and the black." The phrase rolled off the tongue like one word: theyoungthepoorandtheblack. The young were the longhaired student antiwar types for whom the president had open and legendary contempt; the poor and the black were leftover concerns from the Great Society.

Brownell daily read a dozen newspapers from around the country and clipped stories that played on those themes. He looked for stories about badly managed social programs, watched for currents of localized resentment, combed the columns for colorful quotes and juicy anecdotes the presidential speechwriters might use. He particularly kept an eye out for drug stories. Drugs were one thing the young, the poor, and the black all seemed to have in common.

Despite Nixon's assertion to the preelection Disneyland crowd that drugs were "decimating a generation of Americans," drugs were so tiny a public health problem that they were statistically insignificant: far more Americans choked to death on food or died falling down stairs as died from illegal drugs.

So Brownell was delighted that the media were inflating the story by melding the tiny "hard drug" herein threat with the widespread "soft drug".marijuana craze. Marijuana, Brownell knew, was a perfect focus for the anger against the antiwar counterculture that Nixon shared with "his people." Brownell dug out a-recent clip from Newsweek: "Whether picketing on campus or parading barefoot in hippie regalia, the younger generation seems to be telling [the middle-class American] that his way of life is corrupt, his goals worthless and his treasured institutions doomed. Logically enough, a good many middle-class-citizens tend to-resent the message."in an article Brownell might have penned himself, Newsweek identified the targets of that middle-class resentment this way: "The incendiary black militant and the welfare mother, the hedonistic hippie and the campus revolutionary." The young, the poor, and the black. Nixon couldn't make it illegal to be young, poor, or black, but he could crack down hard on the illegal drug identified with the counterculture.

Tobacco and alcohol 'are more dangerous than LSD'
Alcohol worse than ecstasy on shock new drug list
Scientists want new drug rankings

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» Don't forget Reagan... Posted by: Sushi
» RE: Don't forget Reagan... Posted by: lessbread

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RACE RACE RACE RACE RACE RACE 24-7 24-7 24-7!!!
[Report this comment]
Posted by: emmanuel_goldstein_fights_fake_lefties on Mar 27, 2007 4:50 AM   
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GOTTA KEEP THE PSEUDO-LEFT FOCUS ON RACE!
GOTTA KEEP THE PSEUDO-LEFT FOCUS ON RACE!
GOTTA KEEP THE PSEUDO-LEFT FOCUS ON RACE!

Now that the pseudoLeft has created a generation white-hating political warriors like the type who are democratic activists, alternet posters, etc, and now that the pseudoLeft has poisoned the well of Leftism as far as lower middle class whites are concerned, now the rich people can just kick back and let their pseudoLeft snowball momentum do the work.

As long as the rich folks can tie every worthwhile political idea (like ending the drug war) to RACE or Gender or Identity Politics (or any other identifiable pseudoLeft idea), then they have nothing to worry about, because that worthwhile political idea will go NOWHERE with white lower middle class america! Why? Because the pseudoLeft has already poisoned the well of leftism as far as the largest voting segment of americans are concerned. ANYTHING the PseudoLeft is associated with becomes ANATHEMA to a huge portion of lower middle class whites. Why? Because the Pseudoleft (such as alternet and its posters) have already demonized and attacked whites and in particular white males for so long that by now ANYTHING the pseudoLeft promotes is automatically rejected by most lower middle class whites -- just because the PseudoLeft switched the villain from the rich person to the white male, and in particular the lower middle class white male, i.e., the "redneck".

So do you pseudolefties really wanna end the drug war? OK, then STOP talking about ending it. Do not have anything to do with ending the drug war. Stop the anti-drug war propaganda. Because anything you touch will not find favor with lower middle class whites. Do not talk about ending the the drug war. Do not talk about the need for single payer healthcare. Do not talk about raising taxes on the upper class. Do not talk about the need for an indexed minimum wage starting at 10 dollars. Do not talk about minimum 5 weeks annual vacation.

Because america desperately needs all those things. And because of that, YOU pseudoLefties should stay far away from these ideas, because your touch is the touch of death for any good idea. Because you have already poisoned the well.

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» to further the analogy Posted by: emmanuel_goldstein_fights_fake_lefties
» RE: to further the analogy Posted by: Lauren
» RE: Counter productive Posted by: ateo
» RE: Counter productive Posted by: hms2004

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DON'T BLAME THE CANDIDATES
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Posted by: gellero on Mar 27, 2007 4:54 AM   
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Can't blame them.,,the candidates have to pander to the majority and mass media. BLAME THE SO CALLED 'BLACK CAUCUS' and 'HISPANIC CAUCUS' for not taking a stand. And since when was Pres. Clinton so 'beloved' by the black community??

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The "Drug War" has failed...
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Posted by: RON_KING on Mar 27, 2007 5:00 AM   
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... not only because prohibition never works, but because it has diverted crucial resources from solving the problems we CAN solve. Even in Law Enforcement, diversion of resources into the Drug War has left communities with fewer officers available for other crucial tasks.

It is time to end this prohibition and stop funding the smugglers and the DEA.

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A True National Disgrace
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Posted by: drricklippin on Mar 27, 2007 5:18 AM   
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Thanks Arianna;

Add this to the willful (I believe criminal) "pushing" of licit psychotropic drugs by the drug companies onto the middle and upper classes including the rich and it compounds the immorality of this story.

(AnnnaNicole had NINE drugs in her body as per autopsy)

The presidential candidates should answer your good questions soon

Dr. Rick Lippin
Southampton, Pa

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I'm white. I don't drink but I smoke weed.
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Posted by: veggiegrrrl on Mar 27, 2007 5:59 AM   
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I'm white. I don't drink but I smoke weed. And I'm a 45 year old professional homeowner, taxpayer, yadda ya. NOBODY is gonna throw me in jail for smoking pot. But poor folks on public assistance.... straight to the slammer. So, it may be more "economic racism" than actually racism. Rich black folks aren't going to prison for smoking pot either.

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» RE: Keep thinking that Posted by: ateo
» Flightless Eagle Posted by: brasilaron
» RE: Flightless Eagle Posted by: EagleMB

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Urban Rebellions in 1968-early 1970s, roots of drug war in RACIST U.S.
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Posted by: volscho on Mar 27, 2007 6:12 AM   
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This is also what helped trigger this new organization of society. After MLK was assassinated, riots broke out in various cities, like Detroit. The rioters were poor African-Americans, economically and racially oppressed. Rebelling after being told to "wait their turn" and the slow pace of civil rights reforms, the white power structure told them to wait, but when you are suffering it is very difficult to wait (white power structure does not suffer and does not get it).

Irony. Civil Rights movement legally desegregated American society and guaranteed right to vote for African-Americans. The irony is that the massive incarceration of African-American men strips away the voting rights and other civil and human rights of a large fraction of this population. It is racial oppression.

Other dimensions: Militarization of domestic police force, cross-pollination of ideas, people, strategies, tactics, even weapons between U.S. armed forces and domestic police officers. The term "peace officer" seems quite foreign. Before the late 1960s, SWAT teams were unheard of. Community policing of ethnic groups in their own neighborhoods very common. (White glove officer, sometimes without a firearm) Impoverished neighborhoods (ghetto, slums, barrios) are now patrolled in military-like fashion by police commando units to "keep order" (all the while "white" kids in the suburbs use cocaine).

Other dimensions of social control: Sterilization of poor African-American, Latino, and Native American women (tubal litigation, norplant, depo provera injections) without woman's approval or making the women sign paperwork to "consent" while in labor. This is a form of Race Population Control.

These are some of the dimensions of how racism operates in the United States.

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Alright Arianna.
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Posted by: WhatNow? on Mar 27, 2007 6:17 AM   
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That's one of the best articles I have read of yours in a while.

There are a few things you did not question though. The drug war is as much class warfare as it is racist. And another thing you failed to mention is that alot of latinos refuse to feed the system like whites by paying fines. It's a form of civil disobediance I find admirable. I spent some time in jail with a couple of mexican immigrants that would rather spend 60 or 90 days than pay a $100-200 fine for open container violations. Those guys did not know anything about Thoreau but acted with his zeal.

It's also funny that Sessions would make such a rational statement. Maybe there is some real hope for alabama.

Someone posted a link about the war on drugs recently that had a very important aspect about it all. The war on drugs leads to a disdain for the law thus making people more likely to break other laws. That hurts everybody more than the ill effects of drugs on some people. The war on drugs just brings more misery for everybody but a few cruel and heartless people.

If the american public had not accepted the unconstitutionality of the war on drugs, do you think they ever would have accepted the war on terror? It's terribly sad too many of us don't care or don't even understand the ideals in the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. To me the war on drugs seems so unamerican, but that's because I believe in the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence.

For over twenty years I've thought about how much nazi germany would have loved amerikas drug laws. Inform on your friend, your neighbor, your family. Distrust and fear will rule. Look at our modern day gestapo, who are they? They are the heavily armed stormtroopers called drug enforcement units. Is this freedom or is it oppression?

"“One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

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» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: EagleMB
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: lessbread
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: EagleMB
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: lessbread
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: EagleMB
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: lessbread
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: EagleMB
» and the winner is..... Posted by: brasilaron
» RE: and the winner is..... Posted by: EagleMB
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: lessbread
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: bornxeyed
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: EagleMB
» And you just make sh*t Posted by: lessbread
» RE: And you just make sh*t Posted by: EagleMB
» RE: And you just make sh*t Posted by: lessbread
» RE: And you just make sh*t Posted by: EagleMB
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: Lauren
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: EagleMB
» Well Posted by: WhatNow?
» RE: Well Posted by: EagleMB
» Well, just a little more Posted by: WhatNow?
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: doneman2000
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: EagleMB
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: doneman2000
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: EagleMB
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: doneman2000
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: EagleMB

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LEAP........Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.....
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Posted by: picket on Mar 27, 2007 6:24 AM   
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members have seen first hand the DISASTER that prohibition has cost our citizens in lost lives alone. USA Drug Policy is severely flawed.

I read a couple months ago that Congress was expected to revisit sentencing laws. The disparity unfairly singles out largely the poor. 5 grams of crack =5 years....and 400grams of cocaine=5years.

I hate myself for watching COPS TV show but .......amazing to see the huge undercover pony-tailed detective crawl into a sewer to retrieve a small white pebble of a substance and act like he has saved the world.

2004 election everybody said Kerry understood .....JUST WAIT until he is elected...don't ask..DO NOT put him on the spot. Well this time ASK ALL CANDIDATES and soon. Do not waste my time.

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hey Obama, here's a chance to show you have a spine...
[Report this comment]
Posted by: schnoggi on Mar 27, 2007 6:24 AM   
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oh never mind, keep shovelling platitudes to churchies, you'll make a fine VP to that hack Hillary. You have a real chance, but if you play it safe and inane like just about every other Dem pretty much ever, well, you won't be missed either.

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War on Drugs Funds Corrections Industry and Secret Police State
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Posted by: mrtshw on Mar 27, 2007 6:51 AM   
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Of course the war on drugs victimizes the young, the poor and the minority! That " secret " has been belabored for fifty years at least and has been obvious to everybody not on life support since 'pot' was demonized and valium wasn't. The real story of the War on Drugs is not the victim but those who benefit so handsomely from our idiotic drug policies.
As a psychotherapist and social activist for the past 40 years, my perspective has been defined by my work with countless 'crack heads', 'pot heads', and even more prescription drug addicts; especially those addicted to pschoactive drugs.
The reason the illicit addicts are subject to criminalization is because that's where the money is..... the money that pays for our grotesquely corrupt corrections industry; that pays the " unreported/untaxed " income ' supplements' of our grotesquely corrupt criminal justice system and that pads the 'cash flow' of our grotesquely corrupt political system from neighborhood ward captains to the " pillars " of our Corporatocracy.
The War on Drugs has also proved very helpful as an ' underground ' funding resource for the US 'closet' government's CIA murders, genocides, Carlyle Group arms trades, House of Saud oil scams, Henry Kissinger secret alliances, APAIC-Sponsored/ Lieberman-Zionist maneuvers to murder innocent Palestians, Egyptians, Iranians. Lebonese,Syrians,Jordanians,etc., South American coups.
Finally, the GOP elephant in the room not often mentioned is the vital role the War on Drugs has played in distracting us
" American Idols " idolaters from the currently approved addictions: alcohol, tobacco, Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Oxycontin, Demoral, Sugary/Transfat laden Junk Food,Heterosexual Kinkiness if a Democrat, Gay Porno Sex if a homophobic Republican, Missionary Sex with the lights off if a straight Republican.

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leagalize it and tax it
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Posted by: eosrk on Mar 27, 2007 6:59 AM   
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that would free up all that mess from law enforcement so that they can focus on the real crooks, espically those in government!

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» RE: leagalize it and tax it Posted by: Lauren
» RE: Why stop there? Posted by: EagleMB
» RE: leagalize it and tax it Posted by: peacefullaim

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wrong tact
[Report this comment]
Posted by: lamar on Mar 27, 2007 7:07 AM   
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This is an issue of personal liberty. Making it about race or immigration cannot possibly help convince law-and-order conservatives that the drug war is a failed policy.

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» RE: wrong tact Posted by: Topaz
» RE: wrong tact Posted by: efficacy

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To quote the late Bill Hicks...
[Report this comment]
Posted by: JoshuaLudd on Mar 27, 2007 7:25 AM   
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Its not a war on drugs, its a war on personal freedom.

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A question of anedotal evidence
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Posted by: DJFedder on Mar 27, 2007 8:05 AM   
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While I do not disagree with Ms Huffington's statistical information about whom is arrested, and jailed for drug use I do believe it misses a point brought forward by other commentators.
Is it poor folks or colored folks who are arrested. I am reminded of a statistical study I read just last week that inferred that given like circumstance color in a non-defining characteristic in judging who may or who has committed crime. (except for murder, which actually can fit into the paradigm if you remove Crack related murders).
I for one would really like to see a statistical study done that used economic benchmarks, instead of skin color benchmarks, to determine which drug users go to jail and which ones do not.
Call me a socialist, and let me paraphrase, Its about capatalism stupid.

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» RE: A question of anedotal evidence Posted by: Revolutionary
» Anecdotes Posted by: brasilaron
» RE: Anecdotes Posted by: EagleMB

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Jim Crow
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Posted by: Revolutionary on Mar 27, 2007 8:06 AM   
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You are wrong. The 21st century manifestation of Jim Crow is the spate of antigay "marriage protection amendments" to state constitutions and this Jim Crow is backed mostly by the same people as the old Jim Crow; the controlling majority of southerners who are inbred morons, willfully ignorant crackers, and meanspirited religious fanatics

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It's quite simple really
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Posted by: cletus on Mar 27, 2007 8:08 AM   
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As a responsible drug user who has getting into many of unspeakable things for 20 plus years now the difference between users is wealth not skin color(as if one has nothing to do with the other right,but forget that for a moment)a white middle class kid gets prescribed drugs which are for the most part dealt from the pharm. companys.Now people such as myself we buy from personal dealers but as a kid I bought many drugs of the streets,running the risk of getting caught or for lack of a better term "getting caught up in the game" and being snitched on o remember prescribed drugs ok-illegal drugs BAD!Transltion its ok to do drugs as long as big pharm gets theirs,one reason you'll never see marijuana legalized because with it who needs A.D.D. drugs or anti-depressants.junkies buy heroin people with problems get oxy-contin,

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Racism? Or Self-Hate?
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Posted by: SKPython on Mar 27, 2007 8:07 AM   
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So many leaders of the Black and Latino communities in the US are themselves gung-ho for more enforcement. Decades of hard times have made minority communities way more socially conservative than the national average, especially on the drug issue. The catastrophe of destroyed communities doesn't happen without the support and connivance of significant numbers of leaders and members of those communities!

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» One example, off the bat Posted by: SKPython
» RE: One example, off the bat Posted by: ekipnrut
» Armed militias, huh? Posted by: SKPython
» Completely on the mark Posted by: SKPython
» RE: One example, off the bat Posted by: EagleMB

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It is even worse than it looks
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Posted by: singbowl1 on Mar 27, 2007 8:16 AM   
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What is happening is that several years ago the gop realized that without cheating and lying they were losing any grip on America. So Reagan started the "war on drugs" which of course isn't. Rather it is a thinly veiled attempt to help accomplish several agenga items including: creating a permanant underclass, to disenfranchise their likely polotical opposition and most importantly to keep down the most important plant canabas. So make no mistake every word uttered in the so called war on drugs is a lie just as all their other wars are too.

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Some statistics on race and the drug war
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Posted by: fanny666 on Mar 27, 2007 8:31 AM   
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From Drug War Facts (PDF file)

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EFFICACY
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Posted by: efficacy on Mar 27, 2007 8:47 AM   
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The comments thus far a pretty good but understand this when writting and some just don't get it.

"If one does not understand racism, classism, white privilege, terrorism, and the war on drugs--what these terms mean--how these concepts work, then everything else you do understand will only confuse you"

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Disinformation
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Posted by: sonex on Mar 27, 2007 8:56 AM   
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More disinformation from Alternot, how about revealing the real criminals who profit from the drug trade instead of dividing americans along race lines. The war on drugs is as fake as the war on terror and the ones waging that war are the same people profiting from it.

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» RE: Disinformation Posted by: freethink7
» RE: Disinformation Posted by: hms2004

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Racism is NOT the Primary Problem
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Posted by: dfw_jr on Mar 27, 2007 9:00 AM   
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The problem is primarily about economic exploitation. It is just easier to pick on a minority because they are simply out numbered. Racism, homophobia, or taking away our guns are just smoke screens that distract from the real problem that cripples our society -- the despotism of America's corporate aristocracy.

Cheap labor is the primary goal. The American Civil War wasn't so much about freeing the slaves, it was primarily about money and saving the Union. If the South was allowed to secede from the Union political and economic chaos would have ensued resulting in the destruction of the republic.

The emotionally charged "wedge issues" that tyrants have been spewing from the beginning of history are tactics for dividing and conquering the masses. These issues misdirect by keeping everyone at each others throat. While the real issue behind the economic rape of the people is thereby obfiscated. The more destitute the people are, the greater the political oppression. If you can teach one group of serfs to blame another group of serfs for their squalid lives they wont rebel against their real oppressor their own despotic ruler(s).

America's home grown despots are truly the all time masters of distraction.

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war on class- profiling
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Posted by: kathat on Mar 27, 2007 9:18 AM   
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When I was young and going to college I drove a 'beater' and could not believe how much I got stopped and ticketed for any and every offense they could think of. Missing tabs (true enough) lost insurance card (i did that) no seatbelt on passenger(yeppers). As soon as I moved up in the world by graduating and getting a new car....I get away with murder. I have had cops smile indulgently at me when sailing through a red light( by mistake), if I can't find my insurance card, they smile and say 'I'm sure it's just misplaced'...I really have to wonder just what it is I would have to do to get ticket these days.
Although I haven't had a ticket in years I took my son to traffic court and guess what the entire courtroom was full of blacks and hispanics!! Not one other white person except my son, who guess what? drives a beater. I turned to my son and said 'apparentley the white people in this town are very very good drivers'!
I'm just saying if the profiling goes on for traffic stops, then it goes on for everything.

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Decriminalize Posession
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Posted by: NoPCZone on Mar 27, 2007 9:45 AM   
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Slam those trafficking big time and let the rest off if they complete treatment & stay clean. Until the drug economy is broken it will not get better.

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» RE: Decriminalize Posession Posted by: pingoo

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Retired
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Posted by: Gerald on Mar 27, 2007 9:46 AM   
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As a white/middle class/senior/male, I can't quite understand why African Americans (at least those I've talked to about the subject of the racism of the drug war) refuse to accept the proposition it's the Drug War that imprisons so many. To them it's a matter personal failure (and sin) of those arrested and "put away".

Any Democrat who dared to address the implicant racism of the drug war would lose votes among the whites AND the African American voters. It's a "It's a lose/lose proposition".

BTW Obama did not write that he "struggled with drugs"; he tried them, he used and moved on. He's had more trouble quiting tobacco than he did weed and any other illegal he may have tried.

Keep up the good work.

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» RE: Probably because... Posted by: ateo
» RE: etired Posted by: Lauren

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Voting rights
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Posted by: famouspipeliner on Mar 27, 2007 9:50 AM   
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Am I correct in understanding that those with a felony record can't vote in the U.S.A.? In Canada, prisoners still get to vote and crazy as it may seem, a lot of them vote Conservative.

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» RE: Breach of the social contract Posted by: famouspipeliner
» So, Mr. Ateo Posted by: famouspipeliner
» RE: Breach of the social contract Posted by: Madam Hatter
» That's only in 15 states Posted by: lessbread
» RE: That's only in 15 states Posted by: famouspipeliner
» Read lessbreads' link nm Posted by: famouspipeliner

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Bush's War on Crime
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Posted by: leedavis546@msn.com on Mar 27, 2007 10:15 AM   
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The way the Bush Administration deals with any problem, is to treaten those responsiable for anything that differs from his point of view, send them to jail, and then throw away the Key. nothing is done to help people change their lives. at some point these people will return to sociaty,but they have this mark on there Record, they can't get a job. So they go back to what they know best,and end up back in jail. with President Bush, its always the Quick Fix to any problem.

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Focusing on race drives away support
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Posted by: ateo on Mar 27, 2007 10:31 AM   
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As a previous poster commented, focusing all the blame on racism and ranting about "white males" simply drives away support.

I'm a white male and I've never been arrested on drug charges. Guess what, I've never used drugs - go figure. At some point you have to grow up and realize that the law is the law whether you like it or not. If you dislike a law attempt to have it changed through the democratic process.

I suppose the reality is we have a large segment of the population that chooses to live a semi-anarchist life style then gripes about the consequences. There is no sense of civic responsibility in the U.S. today. Everyone wants to be able to do whatever they want with absolutely no consequences. I guess this sounds very idealistic and preachy so let me change my tune for a bit.

I try to treat people fairly in my life. I'm not an elite policy maker or corporate overlord, I'm just a normal guy. When the reaction is people blaming me for THEIR problems, problems I have nothing to do with, it's like you're spitting in my face. Why has the republican party become the party of the poor white man? Because the leftists have demonized them and their general existence to the point where they would rather be poor and alive than vote for a group that would, judging by some of the comments here, either oppress or kill them.

So in closing. Many of you are too radical, too angry, too focused on playing the race card as an excuse for your problems, and it does nothing but divide the country along racial boundaries and stifle any legitimate political discourse.

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U.S. Biggest Drug Runners + Gun Runners in Poor Minority Areas/Inner Cities
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Posted by: freethink7 on Mar 27, 2007 12:21 PM   
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Dear AlterNet:

When are you going to run an article about U.S. + CIA being biggest gun runners and drug runners not only in the entire world, but right here at home? U.S. + CIA run illegal guns and drugs into the minority and poorest areas of inner cities. Why would they do such a nefarious and evil thing? Possibly any number of despicable reasons: Dissolution of social fabric of the inner city, intentional destruction of minority cultures in U.S., enormous profits, et al.

If you want to do an article about intersection of drugs and minorities, start with the SOURCE (where the drugs/guns originate) of this problem which is our own treasonous/evil government.

Please run an article on this very important issue.

Source(s):
http://www.finalcall.com/features/cia-dope.html

http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_2625.shtml

google: CIA, Guns, Drugs, U.S. Inner City

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Most Illegal Drug-Users are White
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Posted by: sarahk on Mar 27, 2007 12:31 PM   
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If the government was really serious about the War on Drugs, most of those arrested would be white. But this is currently not the case. Most white illegal-drug users feel confident that they will never have their middle-to-upper class lifestyle disrupted by a drug-raid or arrest. If we really believe in the principles of the Drug War, we need to start arresting the soccer-moms' kids as they are huge consumers of illegal drugs. They have the disposable income to snort and smoke up the vast quantities of drugs that come into the US.
According to the federal Household Survey, "most current illicit drug users are white. There were an estimated 9.9 million whites (72 percent of all users), 2.0 million blacks (15 percent), and 1.4 million Hispanics (10 percent) who were current illicit drug users in 1998." And yet, blacks constitute 36.8% of those arrested for drug violations and over 42% of those in federal prisons for drug violations. African-Americans comprise almost 57% of those in state prisons for drug felonies; Hispanics account for 17.2%.

We (white people who are middle and upper class) would be horrified to see the college-aged children of our friends and neighbors carted off to jail to do 15 to 25 years for a first time offence, but this happens all the time in minority and in poor white neighorhoods. We need to realize that huge amounts of drug use is occuring in our pristine suburbs and that it is the height of hypocrisy to criticize the illegal-drug use of of miniorites and poor whites while we (white and wealthy) are living in a bubble of protection where these assinine laws don't affect our lives much at all.

If your kids are in an elite private school, you can be almost certain that they are scoring drugs with the allowance you gave them. Growing up, I was shocked at how much drug use went on in these elite environments--much more casual drug-use than in the poor, minority neighborhood I grew up in.
I would recommend giving your privileged teenager random drug tests.

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» RE: Most Illegal Drug-Users are White Posted by: famouspipeliner

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Um...like...Kucinich?
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Posted by: hbw on Mar 27, 2007 1:28 PM   
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Testing, testing...Hello, is this on?

Dennis Kucinich is one Democratic candidate who takes a different view of the failed war on drugs.

DK is also the candidate who might get a lot of Greens to vote for a Democrat in 2008 if the powerz that bez did not already declare him a non-starter.

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War on drugs - a phony war is right
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Posted by: Rod from Canada on Mar 27, 2007 2:55 PM   
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The drug trade has been a valuable source of revenue for all kinds of shady organizations - the CIA, organized crime, etc. - with strong links to political establishments. It is not going to be stopped, at least not easily.

The so-called war on drugs was never sincere. Much of the money used for this campaign (according to one of Noam Chomsky's recent books) is actually used to poison South American peasants and indigenous communities with aerial spraying, not to wipe out drug plantations per say, but simply to drive these people from their lands, so these can be taken over by corrupt elites, corporations, etc. The land may be planted again with cocaine plants, but to the benefit of someone else, not the original inhabitants.

A pretty wretched business in which governments (and not just the U.S.) are involved up to their eyeballs.

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Non-violent?
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Posted by: jmooney on Mar 27, 2007 4:57 PM   
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I hear the term non-violent and wonder exactly what that means? I would assume it means situations where people had illegal drugs on them. I agree there needs to be a way to divert folks like that away from prison and into treatment, but treatment would need to work a whole lot more effectively than it does now. I am not anti 12-steps, but those programs don't work for a large number of people. And I think that treatment centers are often operated by folks in recovery themselves. While that has some good aspects, just having been addicted oneself and in recovery doesn't necessarily mean one will be a great treatment counselor. Maybe we should try to have people who never got messed up on drugs, who are healthy, productive role models and have them also work with addicts and alcoholics. What's wrong with that?

Sure, divert non-violent folks to treatment, but we gotta fund treatment more strongly and we need to continue to look for better treatment models using scientific research. Faith based systems can work, sure, but they work mainly because they psyche the addict into thinking that a supernatural being is making them well. That works ok for some, but not for others, and it takes the accountability away from the recovering person.

Sure, I have great empathy for the addict, and I do believe it is a disease of sorts, but when addicts do bad things (and there are undoubtedly a lot of violent and very offeensive breakers of the law in jail who may not have had drugs on them but who did it because of their addictions.
We need to address dysfunctionality in families, we need to have early intervention into dysfunction young folks. It isn't an easy thing with an easy solution.
Yes, too many minority addicts are in jail, people who need treatment. Of course, sometimes incarceration can provide the necessary "bottom" to get someone to try to change, but I think we need to try to do something more humanely than throwing folks into terribly difficult prison situations. That may work for some, but not for others. There is no panacea for addition. It is a tough nut to crack.

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Worse than racism
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Posted by: dslarsentmn on Mar 27, 2007 7:55 PM   
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The War on Drugs is worse than racism. Racism is just one nasty side effect. In actuality, the War on Drugs is nothing less than a trojan horse to get inside the Bill of Rights, and erode that away to the mere nub is is now, in order to facilitate an all-embracing police-state. First you have to find an excuse to take away some people's rights, and then you can move to expand it out to take away everyone's rights. The War on Terror is a similar construction, with Americans in the crosshairs of these evil schemers.

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Ahem...
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Posted by: notrab68 on Mar 27, 2007 8:51 PM   
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This article is a load of crap. It could only be written by someone who feels a lot of guilt about their own racism.

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Sick Article
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Posted by: TWilliams on Mar 27, 2007 9:40 PM   
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I have lost count of how many of my friends I have lost to meth. It decimated my high school classmates. All of them were white or American Indian too.

Racist garbage like this needs to be stopped. Drugs effect every community. I am tired of whites getting blamed for something that is destroying every ethnic community in America.

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» Explain to me... Posted by: JoshuaLudd

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INDICT AND CONVICT SO CALLED LEGAL DRUG PUSHERS
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Posted by: drricklippin on Mar 28, 2007 12:35 PM   
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AnnaNicole Smith had #9 drugs in her body as per autopsy results. You heard me right #9!

While she may not be the norm, data demonstrates that many U.S. Citizens (perhaps most) take too many OTC and prescibed medications.

Big PhRMA is salivating at the 77 million U.S. baby boomers whom they hope will medicate themselves to excess over the next 30 years or so.

Like other wars we have focused on the wrong enemy in the so called war on drugs.

I personally won't sleep well until the "legal" drug pushers (Big PhRMA) are indicted, found guilty an go to jail

Nominations from the floor accepted.

Dr. Rick Lippin
Southampton, Pa
http://medicalcrises.blogspot.com

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Truth is it IS about racism and certain white men's fear marijuana leads black and latin men to rape
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Posted by: pitty on Mar 28, 2007 3:52 PM   
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white women. Go read up on it. It was legal to smoke pot in the 1920s and 1930s. In fact, my granny had bad asthma as was advised by her physician to smoke it to ease her breathing problems.

This issue of criminalizing marijuana is 3-fold.
1. Jail black and mexican men to keep them out of white women's panties.
2. Certain industries benefited when hemp was outlawed, the stalk of the marijuana plants.
3. Fear, stalling change and social control over the populace as a whole.

Those of you who say talking about race pushes people away who are anti-racism. You are being silly. Race is an issue and that may make it difficult for you to look into the past and present but you need to toughen up. Acting like it doesn't or never existed is the equivalent of covering your eyes and thinking you are now invisible to all. All is not fair and being an adult is tough some times.

The real deal is they were able to get marijuana criminalized by portraying the black man as becoming uncontrollable when he smokes it. THIS IS A FACT. They used fear of black MEN to make illegal what had been legal all along.

What I find reprehensible is how many local communities want to decriminalize smoking pot for users but leave those who sell it to them out in the cold. What hypocrisy.

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frank67
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Posted by: frank67 on Mar 28, 2007 5:33 PM   
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Drug use in this country is a BILLION dollar business. Do any of you think there is a Billion dollars in the black ghettos or in the brown barrios? Come on people - Drug use is a white suburban "non-crime." Let me give you an example from my old stomping ground: Bridgeport, Connecticut. White folks in their SUV's would get off the Connecticut Thruway at one exit, pick up their drugs, and get back on the Thruway at the next on-ramp. Bridgeport PD had concrete barriers installed, so the buyers could not get back onto the Thruway; they had to drive on city streets for a while. Too bad, eh. What, arresting white people? Yeah!

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The War on _________. (you fill in the blank)
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Posted by: peridot on Mar 28, 2007 9:42 PM   
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Well now, there are overt follies like the war on drugs, but this 'government' wages all kinds of other wars covertly as well. There is a war to disenfranchise and marginalize homosexuals, non-christians, the poor, unions, liberals, the 'democrat' party, enviromentalists, athiests, pacifists, socialists, latte drinkers, and on and on. In fact, this American government uses its power to wage some kind of war on everybody who isn't one of the 'haves or have mores' Like Warren Buffet stated after the 2004 election..."The class war is over..and my side won"

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The War on Drugs is Ethnic Cleansing
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Posted by: Zorro Billy Jack on Mar 29, 2007 7:40 AM   
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Drug use is pervasive on every layer of American society, yet the drug war is focused almost exclusively on people of color. Why? Selective enforcement is a form of ethnic cleansing. Think about it. When someone gets convicted of a non-violent drug charge that person immediately looses three important rights; the right to vote, the right to bear arms, and the right to make a decent living. What ever happened to " No body is above the law!", when the Bush girls were caught with cocaine, or even the presidente (sic) himself? This in turn cripples the drug offender from ever fully participating in American life. Sooner or later, this misguilded policy will come back to haunt us.

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Promoting drug use in the black community mean more value to the white community
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Posted by: Lesha on Mar 29, 2007 11:38 AM   
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l

Drugs in the black communities can serve several purposes:

1. It is one of many tools that can be use to keep the black community in some form of dis-array.

2. It keeps law enforcement officers employed along with funding so-called drug intervention programs that are not designed to cure but rather pacify and cultivate the problem. Without a need for law enforcement type jobs wither they be Detectives, cops etc, the economy would be effected not to mention the jobs that would be lost.
This is why the 1992 peace treaty was a major threat to the elite because if you have peace in the black community, then one would see where all of the trouble is coming from: The ruling white elite.

3. By drugs being promoted as a inner city (black community) problem, this helps in raising the image and value of the white community. When one thinks of a crack head they think of black people, but on the other hand when you have a drug problem in the white community this is referred to as kids being kids. The following helps demonize one people (black) while elevating the image of other people (white). When the topic of drugs shifts to the white community you usually hear terms like troubled teens or some term that doesn't make it sound that bad.


Although drugs affect people from all walks of life, it is important as far as the media in concerned that it be promoted as a black problem by using terms or code words like inner city, war on drugs, crack, narcotics and other terms that don't necessarily describe a particular race but would make one think of a certain race (blacks) when these terms are used. When these terms are used, one would not think of white kids from the suburbs but rather someone who is dark and menacing (these are called race code words). This is why it is important in the realm of white supremacy (elite whites) to focus their so-called enforcement on the black community so that the jail system would reflect a black image when one thinks of a drug dealer or criminal. This deception has occurred despite the fact that white neighborhoods is where the drug industry makes the bulk of its money and that whites are the ones who can afford the most expensive and highest quality and quantity of drugs. Rest assure that the drug industry did come here to make a profit off of black people who barely have enough to live day by day.

The main theme here is that as long as drugs can be promoted as a black problem along with criminalizing that community, this means that the white community will continue to have more value and respect in the form of deceiving the world into believing the drug problem in America comes from the black community.
One must remember that white supremacy is not as it was in the early days of this country, its more sophisticated and is hidden in many forms such as code words to trick people.


Tricks and lies is the name of the game.

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And here chileans so enthusiastic...!
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Posted by: Henrick on Apr 2, 2007 8:29 PM   
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Something you should know:

here in Latin America (I'm from Chile) the great model for our own "drug war" is the wise DEA-FBI recipes. You should see all those "progressive" people talking this "martial" hymns against drugs.
In Latin America there is an old permanent culture abour drugs. Drug business and drug business culture (an important point to consider and analize) exist because they were created and developed by drug producers from USA, Mexico and Colombia, that had USA as their principal market.
And what's more: it seems there has been a very consequent politics (principally made up by CIA) of drug-dealing in Europe after WWII (Italy, for sure), Southeast Asia (60-70s) and Latin America (remember Noriega?). Maybe there is a connection with an accusation the past year made the former chief of the 1st chilean secret police under Pinochet regime, Manuel Contreras -who, you know, was the coordinator of Condor Operation, that was evidently known and backed-up by CIA-, about cocaine PROCESSING in chilean military quarters, managed by Marco Antonio Pinochet -son of Augusto (I can say that in the region I live there's a common saying that M. A. Pinochet INTRODUCED the massive offer of cocaine in Valparaiso y Viña del Mar, the most important touristical places of Chile) and with the professional aide of the chemist Eugenio Berríos (quite a dark character, I recommend you google him: the last thing to know was that he poisoned with nerve gas our former president Eduardo Frei Montalva as he was in a hospital).

Keep on,
our problems are not so different from the ones you have.

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It's RACISM!
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Posted by: Temporary on Mar 27, 2007 12:28 AM   
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Pure and simple! White people drink alcohol, blacks and coloreds smoke weed! Both are equally as harmful, yet alcohol and even tobacco are not banned. WHY???

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» It's Prohibition Posted by: edith
» RE: It's Prohibition Posted by: pingoo
» RE: It's RACISM! Posted by: Poe
» RE: It's RACISM! Posted by: Conservasaurus
» 15% of the population Posted by: WhatNow?
» RE: 15% of the population Posted by: pingoo
» My apologies Posted by: WhatNow?
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» The gateway Posted by: slydad
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» Thank You Posted by: slydad
» Oh like you do. . . Posted by: peacefullaim
» RE: Oh like you do. . . Posted by: slydad
» fear Posted by: brasilaron
» RE: It's RACISM! Posted by: anonymous black writer
» RACISM! Hmmm! Posted by: derfb1
» RE: RACISM! Hmmm! Posted by: anonymous black writer
» RE: I'm white, I don't drink. I smoke weed. Posted by: anonymous black writer
» RE: It's RACISM! Posted by: bornxeyed
» RE: You're ignorant Posted by: ateo
» RE: It's RACISM! Posted by: EagleMB
» RE: Good points Posted by: ateo
» RE: It's RACISM! Posted by: bornxeyed
» RE: It's RACISM! Posted by: EagleMB
» RE: Get off the phone, you idiot!! Posted by: anonymous black writer
» RE: Marijuana harmful? Posted by: Topaz

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You people are crazy
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Posted by: Colton on Mar 27, 2007 12:31 AM   
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Don't you all know what the unemployment % would be if all those worthless people were not in jail? How the heck are we supposed to give people faith in our imaginary economy if you start casting shadows of doubt? All this money isn't going to levitate on it's bootstraps by itself !

/sarcasm off

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» RE: You people are crazy Posted by: pingoo
» 75% unemployment rate... Posted by: Aufklaerung_Baboon
» RE: 75% unemployment rate... Posted by: cardboardurinal
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» RE: You people are crazy Posted by: Colton

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RACISM in America continues
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Posted by: thinkverybig on Mar 27, 2007 12:41 AM   
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It's plain and simple. White America still controls everything and is envy and jealous of the Black Man or anyone with pigmention. Throughout history white folks have raped, killed, conquered, destroyed, enslaved, hung, murdered, you name it and they've done it. Why should we believe that racism has stopped. But.... it won't last for long. The time is coming where you start to reap what you have sown.... and I can feel it in the air.

Our judicial system is RACIST.... Our political System is RACIST and so on.... This country won't be all it can be until white folks are OUT OF POWER................. Plain and Simple.

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» Uncle Tom Stawman Posted by: edith
» What's wrong with you man? Posted by: slydad
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» Not really Posted by: ISlamIslam
» Absolutely Posted by: ISlamIslam
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» RE: ACISM in America continues Posted by: thinkverybig
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» RE: ACISM in America continues Posted by: peacefullaim
» RACISM in America continues Posted by: derfb1
» RE: YOU are the racist Posted by: ateo
» RE: Jealous of what? Posted by: ateo
» I am only jealous of one thing Posted by: veggiegrrrl
» RE:Let the self flaggelation begin Posted by: OhioPatriot

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Nixon's War on Blacks and Hippies
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Posted by: lessbread on Mar 27, 2007 2:06 AM   
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Smoke and Mirrors: The War on Drugs and the Politics of Failure

The White House lived by the principles of the southern strategy, and Dent's office had its own lingo. There were issues that mattered to "our" people, and those that mattered to "their" people. "Their" people were what the White House called "the young, the poor, and the black." The phrase rolled off the tongue like one word: theyoungthepoorandtheblack. The young were the longhaired student antiwar types for whom the president had open and legendary contempt; the poor and the black were leftover concerns from the Great Society.

Brownell daily read a dozen newspapers from around the country and clipped stories that played on those themes. He looked for stories about badly managed social programs, watched for currents of localized resentment, combed the columns for colorful quotes and juicy anecdotes the presidential speechwriters might use. He particularly kept an eye out for drug stories. Drugs were one thing the young, the poor, and the black all seemed to have in common.

Despite Nixon's assertion to the preelection Disneyland crowd that drugs were "decimating a generation of Americans," drugs were so tiny a public health problem that they were statistically insignificant: far more Americans choked to death on food or died falling down stairs as died from illegal drugs.

So Brownell was delighted that the media were inflating the story by melding the tiny "hard drug" herein threat with the widespread "soft drug".marijuana craze. Marijuana, Brownell knew, was a perfect focus for the anger against the antiwar counterculture that Nixon shared with "his people." Brownell dug out a-recent clip from Newsweek: "Whether picketing on campus or parading barefoot in hippie regalia, the younger generation seems to be telling [the middle-class American] that his way of life is corrupt, his goals worthless and his treasured institutions doomed. Logically enough, a good many middle-class-citizens tend to-resent the message."in an article Brownell might have penned himself, Newsweek identified the targets of that middle-class resentment this way: "The incendiary black militant and the welfare mother, the hedonistic hippie and the campus revolutionary." The young, the poor, and the black. Nixon couldn't make it illegal to be young, poor, or black, but he could crack down hard on the illegal drug identified with the counterculture.

Tobacco and alcohol 'are more dangerous than LSD'
Alcohol worse than ecstasy on shock new drug list
Scientists want new drug rankings

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» Don't forget Reagan... Posted by: Sushi
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RACE RACE RACE RACE RACE RACE 24-7 24-7 24-7!!!
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Posted by: emmanuel_goldstein_fights_fake_lefties on Mar 27, 2007 4:50 AM   
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GOTTA KEEP THE PSEUDO-LEFT FOCUS ON RACE!
GOTTA KEEP THE PSEUDO-LEFT FOCUS ON RACE!
GOTTA KEEP THE PSEUDO-LEFT FOCUS ON RACE!

Now that the pseudoLeft has created a generation white-hating political warriors like the type who are democratic activists, alternet posters, etc, and now that the pseudoLeft has poisoned the well of Leftism as far as lower middle class whites are concerned, now the rich people can just kick back and let their pseudoLeft snowball momentum do the work.

As long as the rich folks can tie every worthwhile political idea (like ending the drug war) to RACE or Gender or Identity Politics (or any other identifiable pseudoLeft idea), then they have nothing to worry about, because that worthwhile political idea will go NOWHERE with white lower middle class america! Why? Because the pseudoLeft has already poisoned the well of leftism as far as the largest voting segment of americans are concerned. ANYTHING the PseudoLeft is associated with becomes ANATHEMA to a huge portion of lower middle class whites. Why? Because the Pseudoleft (such as alternet and its posters) have already demonized and attacked whites and in particular white males for so long that by now ANYTHING the pseudoLeft promotes is automatically rejected by most lower middle class whites -- just because the PseudoLeft switched the villain from the rich person to the white male, and in particular the lower middle class white male, i.e., the "redneck".

So do you pseudolefties really wanna end the drug war? OK, then STOP talking about ending it. Do not have anything to do with ending the drug war. Stop the anti-drug war propaganda. Because anything you touch will not find favor with lower middle class whites. Do not talk about ending the the drug war. Do not talk about the need for single payer healthcare. Do not talk about raising taxes on the upper class. Do not talk about the need for an indexed minimum wage starting at 10 dollars. Do not talk about minimum 5 weeks annual vacation.

Because america desperately needs all those things. And because of that, YOU pseudoLefties should stay far away from these ideas, because your touch is the touch of death for any good idea. Because you have already poisoned the well.

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» to further the analogy Posted by: emmanuel_goldstein_fights_fake_lefties
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» RE: Counter productive Posted by: hms2004

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DON'T BLAME THE CANDIDATES
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Posted by: gellero on Mar 27, 2007 4:54 AM   
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Can't blame them.,,the candidates have to pander to the majority and mass media. BLAME THE SO CALLED 'BLACK CAUCUS' and 'HISPANIC CAUCUS' for not taking a stand. And since when was Pres. Clinton so 'beloved' by the black community??

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The "Drug War" has failed...
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Posted by: RON_KING on Mar 27, 2007 5:00 AM   
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... not only because prohibition never works, but because it has diverted crucial resources from solving the problems we CAN solve. Even in Law Enforcement, diversion of resources into the Drug War has left communities with fewer officers available for other crucial tasks.

It is time to end this prohibition and stop funding the smugglers and the DEA.

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A True National Disgrace
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Posted by: drricklippin on Mar 27, 2007 5:18 AM   
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Thanks Arianna;

Add this to the willful (I believe criminal) "pushing" of licit psychotropic drugs by the drug companies onto the middle and upper classes including the rich and it compounds the immorality of this story.

(AnnnaNicole had NINE drugs in her body as per autopsy)

The presidential candidates should answer your good questions soon

Dr. Rick Lippin
Southampton, Pa

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I'm white. I don't drink but I smoke weed.
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Posted by: veggiegrrrl on Mar 27, 2007 5:59 AM   
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I'm white. I don't drink but I smoke weed. And I'm a 45 year old professional homeowner, taxpayer, yadda ya. NOBODY is gonna throw me in jail for smoking pot. But poor folks on public assistance.... straight to the slammer. So, it may be more "economic racism" than actually racism. Rich black folks aren't going to prison for smoking pot either.

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» RE: Keep thinking that Posted by: ateo
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Urban Rebellions in 1968-early 1970s, roots of drug war in RACIST U.S.
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Posted by: volscho on Mar 27, 2007 6:12 AM   
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This is also what helped trigger this new organization of society. After MLK was assassinated, riots broke out in various cities, like Detroit. The rioters were poor African-Americans, economically and racially oppressed. Rebelling after being told to "wait their turn" and the slow pace of civil rights reforms, the white power structure told them to wait, but when you are suffering it is very difficult to wait (white power structure does not suffer and does not get it).

Irony. Civil Rights movement legally desegregated American society and guaranteed right to vote for African-Americans. The irony is that the massive incarceration of African-American men strips away the voting rights and other civil and human rights of a large fraction of this population. It is racial oppression.

Other dimensions: Militarization of domestic police force, cross-pollination of ideas, people, strategies, tactics, even weapons between U.S. armed forces and domestic police officers. The term "peace officer" seems quite foreign. Before the late 1960s, SWAT teams were unheard of. Community policing of ethnic groups in their own neighborhoods very common. (White glove officer, sometimes without a firearm) Impoverished neighborhoods (ghetto, slums, barrios) are now patrolled in military-like fashion by police commando units to "keep order" (all the while "white" kids in the suburbs use cocaine).

Other dimensions of social control: Sterilization of poor African-American, Latino, and Native American women (tubal litigation, norplant, depo provera injections) without woman's approval or making the women sign paperwork to "consent" while in labor. This is a form of Race Population Control.

These are some of the dimensions of how racism operates in the United States.

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Alright Arianna.
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Posted by: WhatNow? on Mar 27, 2007 6:17 AM   
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That's one of the best articles I have read of yours in a while.

There are a few things you did not question though. The drug war is as much class warfare as it is racist. And another thing you failed to mention is that alot of latinos refuse to feed the system like whites by paying fines. It's a form of civil disobediance I find admirable. I spent some time in jail with a couple of mexican immigrants that would rather spend 60 or 90 days than pay a $100-200 fine for open container violations. Those guys did not know anything about Thoreau but acted with his zeal.

It's also funny that Sessions would make such a rational statement. Maybe there is some real hope for alabama.

Someone posted a link about the war on drugs recently that had a very important aspect about it all. The war on drugs leads to a disdain for the law thus making people more likely to break other laws. That hurts everybody more than the ill effects of drugs on some people. The war on drugs just brings more misery for everybody but a few cruel and heartless people.

If the american public had not accepted the unconstitutionality of the war on drugs, do you think they ever would have accepted the war on terror? It's terribly sad too many of us don't care or don't even understand the ideals in the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. To me the war on drugs seems so unamerican, but that's because I believe in the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence.

For over twenty years I've thought about how much nazi germany would have loved amerikas drug laws. Inform on your friend, your neighbor, your family. Distrust and fear will rule. Look at our modern day gestapo, who are they? They are the heavily armed stormtroopers called drug enforcement units. Is this freedom or is it oppression?

"“One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

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» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: EagleMB
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: lessbread
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: EagleMB
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: lessbread
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: EagleMB
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: lessbread
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: EagleMB
» and the winner is..... Posted by: brasilaron
» RE: and the winner is..... Posted by: EagleMB
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: lessbread
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: bornxeyed
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: EagleMB
» And you just make sh*t Posted by: lessbread
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» RE: And you just make sh*t Posted by: EagleMB
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: Lauren
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» Well Posted by: WhatNow?
» RE: Well Posted by: EagleMB
» Well, just a little more Posted by: WhatNow?
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: doneman2000
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» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: doneman2000
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: EagleMB
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: doneman2000
» RE: Alright Arianna. Posted by: EagleMB

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LEAP........Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.....
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Posted by: picket on Mar 27, 2007 6:24 AM   
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members have seen first hand the DISASTER that prohibition has cost our citizens in lost lives alone. USA Drug Policy is severely flawed.

I read a couple months ago that Congress was expected to revisit sentencing laws. The disparity unfairly singles out largely the poor. 5 grams of crack =5 years....and 400grams of cocaine=5years.

I hate myself for watching COPS TV show but .......amazing to see the huge undercover pony-tailed detective crawl into a sewer to retrieve a small white pebble of a substance and act like he has saved the world.

2004 election everybody said Kerry understood .....JUST WAIT until he is elected...don't ask..DO NOT put him on the spot. Well this time ASK ALL CANDIDATES and soon. Do not waste my time.

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hey Obama, here's a chance to show you have a spine...
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Posted by: schnoggi on Mar 27, 2007 6:24 AM   
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oh never mind, keep shovelling platitudes to churchies, you'll make a fine VP to that hack Hillary. You have a real chance, but if you play it safe and inane like just about every other Dem pretty much ever, well, you won't be missed either.

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War on Drugs Funds Corrections Industry and Secret Police State
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Posted by: mrtshw on Mar 27, 2007 6:51 AM   
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Of course the war on drugs victimizes the young, the poor and the minority! That " secret " has been belabored for fifty years at least and has been obvious to everybody not on life support since 'pot' was demonized and valium wasn't. The real story of the War on Drugs is not the victim but those who benefit so handsomely from our idiotic drug policies.
As a psychotherapist and social activist for the past 40 years, my perspective has been defined by my work with countless 'crack heads', 'pot heads', and even more prescription drug addicts; especially those addicted to pschoactive drugs.
The reason the illicit addicts are subject to criminalization is because that's where the money is..... the money that pays for our grotesquely corrupt corrections industry; that pays the " unreported/untaxed " income ' supplements' of our grotesquely corrupt criminal justice system and that pads the 'cash flow' of our grotesquely corrupt political system from neighborhood ward captains to the " pillars " of our Corporatocracy.
The War on Drugs has also proved very helpful as an ' underground ' funding resource for the US 'closet' government's CIA murders, genocides, Carlyle Group arms trades, House of Saud oil scams, Henry Kissinger secret alliances, APAIC-Sponsored/ Lieberman-Zionist maneuvers to murder innocent Palestians, Egyptians, Iranians. Lebonese,Syrians,Jordanians,etc., South American coups.
Finally, the GOP elephant in the room not often mentioned is the vital role the War on Drugs has played in distracting us
" American Idols " idolaters from the currently approved addictions: alcohol, tobacco, Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Oxycontin, Demoral, Sugary/Transfat laden Junk Food,Heterosexual Kinkiness if a Democrat, Gay Porno Sex if a homophobic Republican, Missionary Sex with the lights off if a straight Republican.

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leagalize it and tax it
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Posted by: eosrk on Mar 27, 2007 6:59 AM   
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that would free up all that mess from law enforcement so that they can focus on the real crooks, espically those in government!

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» RE: leagalize it and tax it Posted by: Lauren
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» RE: leagalize it and tax it Posted by: peacefullaim

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wrong tact
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Posted by: lamar on Mar 27, 2007 7:07 AM   
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This is an issue of personal liberty. Making it about race or immigration cannot possibly help convince law-and-order conservatives that the drug war is a failed policy.

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» RE: wrong tact Posted by: Topaz
» RE: wrong tact Posted by: efficacy

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To quote the late Bill Hicks...
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Posted by: JoshuaLudd on Mar 27, 2007 7:25 AM   
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Its not a war on drugs, its a war on personal freedom.

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A question of anedotal evidence
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Posted by: DJFedder on Mar 27, 2007 8:05 AM   
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While I do not disagree with Ms Huffington's statistical information about whom is arrested, and jailed for drug use I do believe it misses a point brought forward by other commentators.
Is it poor folks or colored folks who are arrested. I am reminded of a statistical study I read just last week that inferred that given like circumstance color in a non-defining characteristic in judging who may or who has committed crime. (except for murder, which actually can fit into the paradigm if you remove Crack related murders).
I for one would really like to see a statistical study done that used economic benchmarks, instead of skin color benchmarks, to determine which drug users go to jail and which ones do not.
Call me a socialist, and let me paraphrase, Its about capatalism stupid.

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» RE: A question of anedotal evidence Posted by: Revolutionary
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Jim Crow
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Posted by: Revolutionary on Mar 27, 2007 8:06 AM   
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You are wrong. The 21st century manifestation of Jim Crow is the spate of antigay "marriage protection amendments" to state constitutions and this Jim Crow is backed mostly by the same people as the old Jim Crow; the controlling majority of southerners who are inbred morons, willfully ignorant crackers, and meanspirited religious fanatics

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It's quite simple really
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Posted by: cletus on Mar 27, 2007 8:08 AM   
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As a responsible drug user who has getting into many of unspeakable things for 20 plus years now the difference between users is wealth not skin color(as if one has nothing to do with the other right,but forget that for a moment)a white middle class kid gets prescribed drugs which are for the most part dealt from the pharm. companys.Now people such as myself we buy from personal dealers but as a kid I bought many drugs of the streets,running the risk of getting caught or for lack of a better term "getting caught up in the game" and being snitched on o remember prescribed drugs ok-illegal drugs BAD!Transltion its ok to do drugs as long as big pharm gets theirs,one reason you'll never see marijuana legalized because with it who needs A.D.D. drugs or anti-depressants.junkies buy heroin people with problems get oxy-contin,

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Racism? Or Self-Hate?
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Posted by: SKPython on Mar 27, 2007 8:07 AM   
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So many leaders of the Black and Latino communities in the US are themselves gung-ho for more enforcement. Decades of hard times have made minority communities way more socially conservative than the national average, especially on the drug issue. The catastrophe of destroyed communities doesn't happen without the support and connivance of significant numbers of leaders and members of those communities!

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» One example, off the bat Posted by: SKPython
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» Armed militias, huh? Posted by: SKPython
» Completely on the mark Posted by: SKPython
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It is even worse than it looks
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Posted by: singbowl1 on Mar 27, 2007 8:16 AM   
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What is happening is that several years ago the gop realized that without cheating and lying they were losing any grip on America. So Reagan started the "war on drugs" which of course isn't. Rather it is a thinly veiled attempt to help accomplish several agenga items including: creating a permanant underclass, to disenfranchise their likely polotical opposition and most importantly to keep down the most important plant canabas. So make no mistake every word uttered in the so called war on drugs is a lie just as all their other wars are too.

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Some statistics on race and the drug war
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Posted by: fanny666 on Mar 27, 2007 8:31 AM   
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From Drug War Facts (PDF file)

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EFFICACY
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Posted by: efficacy on Mar 27, 2007 8:47 AM   
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The comments thus far a pretty good but understand this when writting and some just don't get it.

"If one does not understand racism, classism, white privilege, terrorism, and the war on drugs--what these terms mean--how these concepts work, then everything else you do understand will only confuse you"

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Disinformation
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Posted by: sonex on Mar 27, 2007 8:56 AM   
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More disinformation from Alternot, how about revealing the real criminals who profit from the drug trade instead of dividing americans along race lines. The war on drugs is as fake as the war on terror and the ones waging that war are the same people profiting from it.

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» RE: Disinformation Posted by: freethink7
» RE: Disinformation Posted by: hms2004

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Racism is NOT the Primary Problem
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Posted by: dfw_jr on Mar 27, 2007 9:00 AM   
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The problem is primarily about economic exploitation. It is just easier to pick on a minority because they are simply out numbered. Racism, homophobia, or taking away our guns are just smoke screens that distract from the real problem that cripples our society -- the despotism of America's corporate aristocracy.

Cheap labor is the primary goal. The American Civil War wasn't so much about freeing the slaves, it was primarily about money and saving the Union. If the South was allowed to secede from the Union political and economic chaos would have ensued resulting in the destruction of the republic.

The emotionally charged "wedge issues" that tyrants have been spewing from the beginning of history are tactics for dividing and conquering the masses. These issues misdirect by keeping everyone at each others throat. While the real issue behind the economic rape of the people is thereby obfiscated. The more destitute the people are, the greater the political oppression. If you can teach one group of serfs to blame another group of serfs for their squalid lives they wont rebel against their real oppressor their own despotic ruler(s).

America's home grown despots are truly the all time masters of distraction.

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war on class- profiling
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Posted by: kathat on Mar 27, 2007 9:18 AM   
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When I was young and going to college I drove a 'beater' and could not believe how much I got stopped and ticketed for any and every offense they could think of. Missing tabs (true enough) lost insurance card (i did that) no seatbelt on passenger(yeppers). As soon as I moved up in the world by graduating and getting a new car....I get away with murder. I have had cops smile indulgently at me when sailing through a red light( by mistake), if I can't find my insurance card, they smile and say 'I'm sure it's just misplaced'...I really have to wonder just what it is I would have to do to get ticket these days.
Although I haven't had a ticket in years I took my son to traffic court and guess what the entire courtroom was full of blacks and hispanics!! Not one other white person except my son, who guess what? drives a beater. I turned to my son and said 'apparentley the white people in this town are very very good drivers'!
I'm just saying if the profiling goes on for traffic stops, then it goes on for everything.

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Decriminalize Posession
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Posted by: NoPCZone on Mar 27, 2007 9:45 AM   
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Slam those trafficking big time and let the rest off if they complete treatment & stay clean. Until the drug economy is broken it will not get better.

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» RE: Decriminalize Posession Posted by: pingoo

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Retired
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Posted by: Gerald on Mar 27, 2007 9:46 AM   
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As a white/middle class/senior/male, I can't quite understand why African Americans (at least those I've talked to about the subject of the racism of the drug war) refuse to accept the proposition it's the Drug War that imprisons so many. To them it's a matter personal failure (and sin) of those arrested and "put away".

Any Democrat who dared to address the implicant racism of the drug war would lose votes among the whites AND the African American voters. It's a "It's a lose/lose proposition".

BTW Obama did not write that he "struggled with drugs"; he tried them, he used and moved on. He's had more trouble quiting tobacco than he did weed and any other illegal he may have tried.

Keep up the good work.

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» RE: Probably because... Posted by: ateo
» RE: etired Posted by: Lauren

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Voting rights
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Posted by: famouspipeliner on Mar 27, 2007 9:50 AM   
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Am I correct in understanding that those with a felony record can't vote in the U.S.A.? In Canada, prisoners still get to vote and crazy as it may seem, a lot of them vote Conservative.

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» RE: Breach of the social contract Posted by: famouspipeliner
» So, Mr. Ateo Posted by: famouspipeliner
» RE: Breach of the social contract Posted by: Madam Hatter
» That's only in 15 states Posted by: lessbread
» RE: That's only in 15 states Posted by: famouspipeliner
» Read lessbreads' link nm Posted by: famouspipeliner

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Bush's War on Crime
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Posted by: leedavis546@msn.com on Mar 27, 2007 10:15 AM   
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The way the Bush Administration deals with any problem, is to treaten those responsiable for anything that differs from his point of view, send them to jail, and then throw away the Key. nothing is done to help people change their lives. at some point these people will return to sociaty,but they have this mark on there Record, they can't get a job. So they go back to what they know best,and end up back in jail. with President Bush, its always the Quick Fix to any problem.

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Focusing on race drives away support
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Posted by: ateo on Mar 27, 2007 10:31 AM   
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As a previous poster commented, focusing all the blame on racism and ranting about "white males" simply drives away support.

I'm a white male and I've never been arrested on drug charges. Guess what, I've never used drugs - go figure. At some point you have to grow up and realize that the law is the law whether you like it or not. If you dislike a law attempt to have it changed through the democratic process.

I suppose the reality is we have a large segment of the population that chooses to live a semi-anarchist life style then gripes about the consequences. There is no sense of civic responsibility in the U.S. today. Everyone wants to be able to do whatever they want with absolutely no consequences. I guess this sounds very idealistic and preachy so let me change my tune for a bit.

I try to treat people fairly in my life. I'm not an elite policy maker or corporate overlord, I'm just a normal guy. When the reaction is people blaming me for THEIR problems, problems I have nothing to do with, it's like you're spitting in my face. Why has the republican party become the party of the poor white man? Because the leftists have demonized them and their general existence to the point where they would rather be poor and alive than vote for a group that would, judging by some of the comments here, either oppress or kill them.

So in closing. Many of you are too radical, too angry, too focused on playing the race card as an excuse for your problems, and it does nothing but divide the country along racial boundaries and stifle any legitimate political discourse.

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U.S. Biggest Drug Runners + Gun Runners in Poor Minority Areas/Inner Cities
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Posted by: freethink7 on Mar 27, 2007 12:21 PM   
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Dear AlterNet:

When are you going to run an article about U.S. + CIA being biggest gun runners and drug runners not only in the entire world, but right here at home? U.S. + CIA run illegal guns and drugs into the minority and poorest areas of inner cities. Why would they do such a nefarious and evil thing? Possibly any number of despicable reasons: Dissolution of social fabric of the inner city, intentional destruction of minority cultures in U.S., enormous profits, et al.

If you want to do an article about intersection of drugs and minorities, start with the SOURCE (where the drugs/guns originate) of this problem which is our own treasonous/evil government.

Please run an article on this very important issue.

Source(s):
http://www.finalcall.com/features/cia-dope.html

http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_2625.shtml

google: CIA, Guns, Drugs, U.S. Inner City

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Most Illegal Drug-Users are White
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Posted by: sarahk on Mar 27, 2007 12:31 PM   
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If the government was really serious about the War on Drugs, most of those arrested would be white. But this is currently not the case. Most white illegal-drug users feel confident that they will never have their middle-to-upper class lifestyle disrupted by a drug-raid or arrest. If we really believe in the principles of the Drug War, we need to start arresting the soccer-moms' kids as they are huge consumers of illegal drugs. They have the disposable income to snort and smoke up the vast quantities of drugs that come into the US.
According to the federal Household Survey, "most current illicit drug users are white. There were an estimated 9.9 million whites (72 percent of all users), 2.0 million blacks (15 percent), and 1.4 million Hispanics (10 percent) who were current illicit drug users in 1998." And yet, blacks constitute 36.8% of those arrested for drug violations and over 42% of those in federal prisons for drug violations. African-Americans comprise almost 57% of those in state prisons for drug felonies; Hispanics account for 17.2%.

We (white people who are middle and upper class) would be horrified to see the college-aged children of our friends and neighbors carted off to jail to do 15 to 25 years for a first time offence, but this happens all the time in minority and in poor white neighorhoods. We need to realize that huge amounts of drug use is occuring in our pristine suburbs and that it is the height of hypocrisy to criticize the illegal-drug use of of miniorites and poor whites while we (white and wealthy) are living in a bubble of protection where these assinine laws don't affect our lives much at all.

If your kids are in an elite private school, you can be almost certain that they are scoring drugs with the allowance you gave them. Growing up, I was shocked at how much drug use went on in these elite environments--much more casual drug-use than in the poor, minority neighborhood I grew up in.
I would recommend giving your privileged teenager random drug tests.

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» RE: Most Illegal Drug-Users are White Posted by: famouspipeliner

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Um...like...Kucinich?
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Posted by: hbw on Mar 27, 2007 1:28 PM   
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Testing, testing...Hello, is this on?

Dennis Kucinich is one Democratic candidate who takes a different view of the failed war on drugs.

DK is also the candidate who might get a lot of Greens to vote for a Democrat in 2008 if the powerz that bez did not already declare him a non-starter.

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War on drugs - a phony war is right
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Posted by: Rod from Canada on Mar 27, 2007 2:55 PM   
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The drug trade has been a valuable source of revenue for all kinds of shady organizations - the CIA, organized crime, etc. - with strong links to political establishments. It is not going to be stopped, at least not easily.

The so-called war on drugs was never sincere. Much of the money used for this campaign (according to one of Noam Chomsky's recent books) is actually used to poison South American peasants and indigenous communities with aerial spraying, not to wipe out drug plantations per say, but simply to drive these people from their lands, so these can be taken over by corrupt elites, corporations, etc. The land may be planted again with cocaine plants, but to the benefit of someone else, not the original inhabitants.

A pretty wretched business in which governments (and not just the U.S.) are involved up to their eyeballs.

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Non-violent?
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Posted by: jmooney on Mar 27, 2007 4:57 PM   
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I hear the term non-violent and wonder exactly what that means? I would assume it means situations where people had illegal drugs on them. I agree there needs to be a way to divert folks like that away from prison and into treatment, but treatment would need to work a whole lot more effectively than it does now. I am not anti 12-steps, but those programs don't work for a large number of people. And I think that treatment centers are often operated by folks in recovery themselves. While that has some good aspects, just having been addicted oneself and in recovery doesn't necessarily mean one will be a great treatment counselor. Maybe we should try to have people who never got messed up on drugs, who are healthy, productive role models and have them also work with addicts and alcoholics. What's wrong with that?

Sure, divert non-violent folks to treatment, but we gotta fund treatment more strongly and we need to continue to look for better treatment models using scientific research. Faith based systems can work, sure, but they work mainly because they psyche the addict into thinking that a supernatural being is making them well. That works ok for some, but not for others, and it takes the accountability away from the recovering person.

Sure, I have great empathy for the addict, and I do believe it is a disease of sorts, but when addicts do bad things (and there are undoubtedly a lot of violent and very offeensive breakers of the law in jail who may not have had drugs on them but who did it because of their addictions.
We need to address dysfunctionality in families, we need to have early intervention into dysfunction young folks. It isn't an easy thing with an easy solution.
Yes, too many minority addicts are in jail, people who need treatment. Of course, sometimes incarceration can provide the necessary "bottom" to get someone to try to change, but I think we need to try to do something more humanely than throwing folks into terribly difficult prison situations. That may work for some, but not for others. There is no panacea for addition. It is a tough nut to crack.

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Worse than racism
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Posted by: dslarsentmn on Mar 27, 2007 7:55 PM   
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The War on Drugs is worse than racism. Racism is just one nasty side effect. In actuality, the War on Drugs is nothing less than a trojan horse to get inside the Bill of Rights, and erode that away to the mere nub is is now, in order to facilitate an all-embracing police-state. First you have to find an excuse to take away some people's rights, and then you can move to expand it out to take away everyone's rights. The War on Terror is a similar construction, with Americans in the crosshairs of these evil schemers.

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Ahem...
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Posted by: notrab68 on Mar 27, 2007 8:51 PM   
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This article is a load of crap. It could only be written by someone who feels a lot of guilt about their own racism.

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Sick Article
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Posted by: TWilliams on Mar 27, 2007 9:40 PM   
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I have lost count of how many of my friends I have lost to meth. It decimated my high school classmates. All of them were white or American Indian too.

Racist garbage like this needs to be stopped. Drugs effect every community. I am tired of whites getting blamed for something that is destroying every ethnic community in America.

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» Explain to me... Posted by: JoshuaLudd

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INDICT AND CONVICT SO CALLED LEGAL DRUG PUSHERS
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Posted by: drricklippin on Mar 28, 2007 12:35 PM   
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AnnaNicole Smith had #9 drugs in her body as per autopsy results. You heard me right #9!

While she may not be the norm, data demonstrates that many U.S. Citizens (perhaps most) take too many OTC and prescibed medications.

Big PhRMA is salivating at the 77 million U.S. baby boomers whom they hope will medicate themselves to excess over the next 30 years or so.

Like other wars we have focused on the wrong enemy in the so called war on drugs.

I personally won't sleep well until the "legal" drug pushers (Big PhRMA) are indicted, found guilty an go to jail

Nominations from the floor accepted.

Dr. Rick Lippin
Southampton, Pa
http://medicalcrises.blogspot.com

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Truth is it IS about racism and certain white men's fear marijuana leads black and latin men to rape
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Posted by: pitty on Mar 28, 2007 3:52 PM   
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white women. Go read up on it. It was legal to smoke pot in the 1920s and 1930s. In fact, my granny had bad asthma as was advised by her physician to smoke it to ease her breathing problems.

This issue of criminalizing marijuana is 3-fold.
1. Jail black and mexican men to keep them out of white women's panties.
2. Certain industries benefited when hemp was outlawed, the stalk of the marijuana plants.
3. Fear, stalling change and social control over the populace as a whole.

Those of you who say talking about race pushes people away who are anti-racism. You are being silly. Race is an issue and that may make it difficult for you to look into the past and present but you need to toughen up. Acting like it doesn't or never existed is the equivalent of covering your eyes and thinking you are now invisible to all. All is not fair and being an adult is tough some times.

The real deal is they were able to get marijuana criminalized by portraying the black man as becoming uncontrollable when he smokes it. THIS IS A FACT. They used fear of black MEN to make illegal what had been legal all along.

What I find reprehensible is how many local communities want to decriminalize smoking pot for users but leave those who sell it to them out in the cold. What hypocrisy.

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frank67
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Posted by: frank67 on Mar 28, 2007 5:33 PM   
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Drug use in this country is a BILLION dollar business. Do any of you think there is a Billion dollars in the black ghettos or in the brown barrios? Come on people - Drug use is a white suburban "non-crime." Let me give you an example from my old stomping ground: Bridgeport, Connecticut. White folks in their SUV's would get off the Connecticut Thruway at one exit, pick up their drugs, and get back on the Thruway at the next on-ramp. Bridgeport PD had concrete barriers installed, so the buyers could not get back onto the Thruway; they had to drive on city streets for a while. Too bad, eh. What, arresting white people? Yeah!

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The War on _________. (you fill in the blank)
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Posted by: peridot on Mar 28, 2007 9:42 PM   
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Well now, there are overt follies like the war on drugs, but this 'government' wages all kinds of other wars covertly as well. There is a war to disenfranchise and marginalize homosexuals, non-christians, the poor, unions, liberals, the 'democrat' party, enviromentalists, athiests, pacifists, socialists, latte drinkers, and on and on. In fact, this American government uses its power to wage some kind of war on everybody who isn't one of the 'haves or have mores' Like Warren Buffet stated after the 2004 election..."The class war is over..and my side won"

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The War on Drugs is Ethnic Cleansing
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Posted by: Zorro Billy Jack on Mar 29, 2007 7:40 AM   
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Drug use is pervasive on every layer of American society, yet the drug war is focused almost exclusively on people of color. Why? Selective enforcement is a form of ethnic cleansing. Think about it. When someone gets convicted of a non-violent drug charge that person immediately looses three important rights; the right to vote, the right to bear arms, and the right to make a decent living. What ever happened to " No body is above the law!", when the Bush girls were caught with cocaine, or even the presidente (sic) himself? This in turn cripples the drug offender from ever fully participating in American life. Sooner or later, this misguilded policy will come back to haunt us.

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Promoting drug use in the black community mean more value to the white community
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Posted by: Lesha on Mar 29, 2007 11:38 AM   
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l

Drugs in the black communities can serve several purposes:

1. It is one of many tools that can be use to keep the black community in some form of dis-array.

2. It keeps law enforcement officers employed along with funding so-called drug intervention programs that are not designed to cure but rather pacify and cultivate the problem. Without a need for law enforcement type jobs wither they be Detectives, cops etc, the economy would be effected not to mention the jobs that would be lost.
This is why the 1992 peace treaty was a major threat to the elite because if you have peace in the black community, then one would see where all of the trouble is coming from: The ruling white elite.

3. By drugs being promoted as a inner city (black community) problem, this helps in raising the image and value of the white community. When one thinks of a crack head they think of black people, but on the other hand when you have a drug problem in the white community this is referred to as kids being kids. The following helps demonize one people (black) while elevating the image of other people (white). When the topic of drugs shifts to the white community you usually hear terms like troubled teens or some term that doesn't make it sound that bad.


Although drugs affect people from all walks of life, it is important as far as the media in concerned that it be promoted as a black problem by using terms or code words like inner city, war on drugs, crack, narcotics and other terms that don't necessarily describe a particular race but would make one think of a certain race (blacks) when these terms are used. When these terms are used, one would not think of white kids from the suburbs but rather someone who is dark and menacing (these are called race code words). This is why it is important in the realm of white supremacy (elite whites) to focus their so-called enforcement on the black community so that the jail system would reflect a black image when one thinks of a drug dealer or criminal. This deception has occurred despite the fact that white neighborhoods is where the drug industry makes the bulk of its money and that whites are the ones who can afford the most expensive and highest quality and quantity of drugs. Rest assure that the drug industry did come here to make a profit off of black people who barely have enough to live day by day.

The main theme here is that as long as drugs can be promoted as a black problem along with criminalizing that community, this means that the white community will continue to have more value and respect in the form of deceiving the world into believing the drug problem in America comes from the black community.
One must remember that white supremacy is not as it was in the early days of this country, its more sophisticated and is hidden in many forms such as code words to trick people.


Tricks and lies is the name of the game.

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And here chileans so enthusiastic...!
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Posted by: Henrick on Apr 2, 2007 8:29 PM   
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Something you should know:

here in Latin America (I'm from Chile) the great model for our own "drug war" is the wise DEA-FBI recipes. You should see all those "progressive" people talking this "martial" hymns against drugs.
In Latin America there is an old permanent culture abour drugs. Drug business and drug business culture (an important point to consider and analize) exist because they were created and developed by drug producers from USA, Mexico and Colombia, that had USA as their principal market.
And what's more: it seems there has been a very consequent politics (principally made up by CIA) of drug-dealing in Europe after WWII (Italy, for sure), Southeast Asia (60-70s) and Latin America (remember Noriega?). Maybe there is a connection with an accusation the past year made the former chief of the 1st chilean secret police under Pinochet regime, Manuel Contreras -who, you know, was the coordinator of Condor Operation, that was evidently known and backed-up by CIA-, about cocaine PROCESSING in chilean military quarters, managed by Marco Antonio Pinochet -son of Augusto (I can say that in the region I live there's a common saying that M. A. Pinochet INTRODUCED the massive offer of cocaine in Valparaiso y Viña del Mar, the most important touristical places of Chile) and with the professional aide of the chemist Eugenio Berríos (quite a dark character, I recommend you google him: the last thing to know was that he poisoned with nerve gas our former president Eduardo Frei Montalva as he was in a hospital).

Keep on,
our problems are not so different from the ones you have.

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