News @lemmy.world Admiral Patrick @dubvee.org 2 mo. ago

The drug war devastated Black and other minority communities. Is marijuana legalization helping?

apnews.com The drug war devastated Black and other minority communities. Is marijuana legalization helping?

Argument for legalizing the adult use of cannabis was to stop the harm caused by disproportionate enforcement of drug laws in Black, Latino and other minority communities.

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Legal challenges over the permitting process in states like New York have slowed implementation.

After settling other cases, New York — which has issued 60% of all cannabis licenses to social equity applicants, according to regulators — is facing another lawsuit. Last month, the libertarian-leaning Pacific Legal Foundation alleged it favors women- and minority-owned applicants in addition to those who can demonstrate harm from the drug war.

It's not going to help minority communities if there are groups hell-bent on never doing anything to help minority communities.
- I feel like this article is missing the main point. Yes; assholes trying to prevent black and minority success continue to be a thing same as ever.
  
  But getting the police boot lifted off your neck a little has got to be a good thing, right? Tell me about that! Have arrests and hassling gone down or not?
  
  Agree 100%. You put it much better than I did.
So when do we start talking about all the reparations the US owes for the millions of lives it destroyed with it's decades-long "War On Drugs" terrorism campaign?
- When poor people stop fighting each other and start fighting the people who put them there.
  
  You mean themselves too?
Don't forget the hippies and socialists. McCarthyism is baked into that as well, because political persecution.
Get fucked prohibitionists.

There will come a time when humanity wins the war on drugs, and everyone has the bodily autonomy to put what drugs they want in their own body.

And when that day happens… will you see drug users persecuting people for not being high?

Will you see prisons built for those who dare stay sober?

Will people be given felonies for being straight edge?

Will drug users militarize the police and erode our constitutional rights in a vain quest to enforce thier way of life on others?

NO

Who would want to do that to someone? Prohibitionists.

And we are NOT them.

Marijuana legalization will not end the worst consequences of the war on drugs.

Full legalization of all drugs is maximum harm reduction.
- Permanently Deleted
  
  Out of curiosity, what drugs have you done? I rank powder cocaine as a low/medium level drug for addiction potential and effects. It seems like it gets its hooks in as a facilitator for alcoholism.
  
  Crack, while the same drug, is an entirely different experience. If powder cocaine is a roller coaster, crack is like covering the same distance, but shot out of a cannon. Every thing is faster, harder on your body, and a lot more intense. The rush is so big that you immediately feel like you’re in a pretty heavy withdrawal within an hour, and there is no fatigue from a whole night of partying to inform you not to do more.
  
  Maybe the law should pay attention to methods of ingestion and the effect each one has on behavior rather than demonizing a chemical by itself.
- Idk, look at Portugal. Full drug legalization is not doing too hot.
  
  Really? You care to source that? Because everything I can find has them significantly less burdened by drug problems than other European countries or most US States.
Thank fuck they didn't use "decimate" like a dumbass. 🤘🏽

edit: The whingy downvotes here only underline the issue of confident illiteracy, vernacular morphology be damned. Just because some lazy fuck barely remembered the feel/sound/look of "devastate" and settled for the wrong word, doesn't mean you have jump off the bridge too, kiddo. Read a damn book.
- To "decimate" means "to destroy 10%." I agree with you that "decimate" would be inaccurate, in the sense that the destruction wrought by the drug war easily exceeded 10%.
  
  I'm well aware of what the term means and its historical usage. I'm also glad to see you know at least half that, and thank you for your support. 🤓
  
  people have been using "decimate" to mean "to remove 90% and leave only 10% remaining." When I was younger I was surprised to learn it didn't mean that.
  
  We already have a different word to indicate "to remove 10%" : tithe.
Unfortunately, a lot of people in that culture will just move to harder drugs like cocaine and ecstasy.
- What a stupid take. This is just DARE propaganda.
  
  Consuming cannabis is not a gateway to other drugs. Needing to have regular contact with a drug dealer that wants to sell you more addictive drugs is the gateway. It's that fucking simple.
- Poor people have always sold things that are illegal or not available through other channels because they are desperate or ignorant enough to take the risk so I'm with you
- Incorrect. That's commonly known as propaganda actually.

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