The War On Some Drugs

by Dennis Green

We arrest and imprison more of our citizens than any other nation on earth, including the most repressive dictatorships. 2.3 million Americans. “Land of the free and home of the brave,” we practice the mass incarceration of our people that constitutes in many ways a “new era of Jim Crow,” since a disproportionate number of those imprisoned are people of color. A caste system in which “felon” is the untouchable of our society.

The use, and the sale of drugs are no different among whites than among blacks, but there are no tac squad DEA drug raids on middle class college campuses where such drug use is common. If there were, there would be an outcry that would put a stop to our infamous “War on Some Drugs.”

I recently hit a nerve with several of my older, more conservative readers when I pointed out that some of the most abused drugs in our society are prescription drugs abused by elder citizens. They mistakenly thought I was calling for a “War” on those drugs as well, but au contraire mon frere! I am not. Prohibition doesn’t work, except for the bootleggers and the revenuers.

I am opposed to the War on Drugs, launched by Ronald Reagan in a cynical bid for white southern votes from conservative Democrats who felt threatened by school desegregation, bussing, affirmative action, human rights and equality issues. They knew — from Reagan’s language about “welfare mothers driving Cadillacs,” “crack babies,” and other code language — that the War on Drugs would be prosecuted primarily against inner-city blacks, which it soon was.

Unfortunately, many of those crackers watched in dismay as their own kids were thrown into prison, convicted of felonies, prohibited forever from voting or owning firearms, because they were caught cooking meth. The problem with any unjust war is that it takes casualties on all sides, the innocent and the guilty alike, the sick, the addicted and the criminal alike.

Many more lives have been ruined by the selective War on Drugs than by the drugs themselves. The inconsistencies inherent in the law itself, as evidenced by the abuse of prescription drugs, the legality of tobacco and alcohol, (both proven more harmful than most banned drugs), undermine the very concept of justice in America. In some states, 31% of blacks have been deprived of the right to vote because of felony drug convictions.

So what do we do? Californians have the opportunity, once again, to legalize marijuana, which is far less unhealthy, even smoked, than tobacco, and certainly produces less belligerence, reckless driving and fist fights than booze does. Whether marijuana makes people more laid-back, mellow, of even lazy than Jack Daniels remains to be seen.

So I say, call off the War on Drugs, spend about half as much money on rehab for those who need it and want it, create jobs programs for dealers thrown out of work in the ghetto or at Cal Berkeley, and watch the use of guns in the inner city and along the Mexican border go waaayyy down. And half the prisons will be empty, for more savings of your precious tax dollars.

Unless all your talk about “deficits” is empty rhetoric, that is.

There will be a lot of resistance in California to the legislative initiative, already is. Lots of people have a vested interest in keeping Cannabis Sativa illegal. But the demographics are finally there, enough of us older, unrepentant Hippies still in favor, and very few people under 30 buying the old arguments about “gateway” drug, “Devil’s Weed,” and who laugh at that old movie, Reefer Madness.

There’s still hope for America, and the end of the New Jim Crow.

©2010 Dennis Green