NAACP Supports Legalized Marijuana

[L.Funk]

Originally Posted by Roaddog

Put the dope down and get yourself some help, you gotta be joking, prison is a event triggered because you broke the law, it's not slavery it is a punishment given to you because you committed a crime are you living in this world? Hell no i have not been in prison, I am much smarter than that, prisoners should work their butts off for zero pay, they are a burden on the tax payers like me, i pay for their time and if you worked and paid taxes you would understand. this has nothing to do with making weed legal, go to a clinic and check yourself in, I don't need TV I see the real world, turn off yours and get out and see the real world.

Roaddog !!! ... BRAVO !

It is extremely difficult for a select few of our CDF folks to recognize the actual "TRUTH" when they hear it !!! Thanks for trying !

Old Sgt. Lamar

[californio sur]

Here's another interesting article pointing out that blacks in California could very well be who decides if marijuana should be legal. Black Baptist pastors along with priests are vocally voicing opposition. And will fight Prop 19 just like they fought against gay marriage. So the clergy could decide the fate of marijuana use in California.

Also interesting is that not only the NAACP favors legalizing marijuana but the former U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Joycelyn Elders, who was the first black and woman to hold that office. Yet the black district attorney of San Francisco, Kamala D. Harris is opposing legal cannabis and she is the Democratic candidate for state attorney general.

"SACRAMENTO —

. . . a cadre of black pastors, priests and other religious leaders have bonded together in recent weeks to fight what they see as a potentially devastating blow to their communities: Proposition 19, the California ballot measure that would tax and regulate marijuana.

In doing so, Mr. Allen and his followers have opened a new, potentially crucial front in the battle over Proposition 19, pitting those afraid of more widespread use of the drug versus those who see legalization as “an exit strategy in the war on marijuana.”

How black voters in California decide on Proposition 19, which would allow anyone 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of marijuana, could be critical to its success or failure. Blacks make up less than 10 percent of the population in California, but unlike two larger minority groups in the state where opinions on the measure are also split — Asians and Latinos — their “participation in elections is on par with their populations,” according to the California Voter Foundation, a nonprofit group here.

In a statement to be published in a voter guide, Dr. Elders said the legalization bill would help divert law enforcement resources to more serious threats. “We can let police prevent violent crime, or we can accept the status quo, and keep wasting resources sending tens of thousands of nonviolent marijuana consumers — a disproportionate number who are minorities — to jail,” Dr. Elders wrote.

Kamala D. Harris, the San Francisco district attorney, who is black, joined the opposition last week. Ms. Harris, who is running for state attorney general, issued a statement saying that the proposition would encourage “driving while high” and drugs in the workplace.

This month, the Drug Policy Alliance — a New York group that is supporting Proposition 19 — released a study showing that blacks were arrested for possession at far higher rates than whites in California’s 25 largest counties, often two or three times higher. In those 25 counties, blacks make up 7 percent of the population but accounted for 20 percent of the marijuana possession arrests; in Los Angeles County, which accounts for about a quarter of the state’s population, blacks were arrested for marijuana possession at three times the rate of whites. At the moment, 1,515 people are in California prisons on marijuana charges, 750 of them black, state corrections officials say.

The poll found only 40 percent of black voters backing the proposition with 52 percent opposed. But white people are supporting the measure, 48 to 43 percent.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/us...pagewanted=all

[Beaconowner]

Originally Posted by Roaddog

Put the dope down and get yourself some help, you gotta be joking, prison is a event triggered because you broke the law, it's not slavery it is a punishment given to you because you committed a crime are you living in this world? Hell no i have not been in prison, I am much smarter than that, prisoners should work their butts off for zero pay, they are a burden on the tax payers like me, i pay for their time and if you worked and paid taxes you would understand. this has nothing to do with making weed legal, go to a clinic and check yourself in, I don't need TV I see the real world, turn off yours and get out and see the real world.

You are right, prison is not slavery, working for pennies or no pay at all, while your freedom is curtailed, is slavery. I particularly liked the poster who equated prisoners working with children working, slave owners used to equate slaves with children too. Prison is an event triggered for most people because they are poor and don't have access to adequate representation. Except for a few high profile cases, the rich and well off rarely go to jail, (they go to rehab) the poor almost always do. Prison for marijuana use or possession began, and continues to be, a racist response to white fear of Hispanics and Blacks and a failed attempt to keep drugs away from children. Look at the stats of who is going to jail. How smart you are remains to be seen, your vocabrulary and remarks are not suggestive of any high level of education, and you admit you know nothing about prison or the prison experience. People who are in prison for a marijuana charge are only a burden on the taxpayers because "smart" people like you think that they should be there, often for longer than if they committed many types of violent crime. Prison is not an answer to casual use or addiction, there are drugs in prison. If you won't give them a break, then give yourself a break and legalize marijuana, then convince your legislators to give the tax savings back to the taxpayers. That would be a better use of your time than railing on prisoners. I work full time and have since I was 16 years old. Today I make a comfortable 6 figure salary, so I'm paying a lot in taxes. I'd like to see marijuana offenders get out of prison, reduce my taxes, and have them (and all non violent prisoners) get a chance at becoming productive citizens again, which would further help keep my taxes lower, obviously you don't. We've already paid 2 Trillion dollars for the drug war these past 40 years, and ruined coutless lives. I'd say that was enough. You may be in the majority, but you are not right. All you, and others like you do, is perpetuate the same cylce of ineffective, futile law enforcement and incarceration that marijuana users have been dealing with for over 40 years. It's time we tried a different approach.

[LongIslandEddie]

I could be wrong on this point but I always believed that the NAACP was an organization dedicated to the advancement of "colored" people,
if the race had assumed the label "black", it might've been the NAABP but in my day, calling the colored people black was considered to be
somewhat derogatory and demeaning to the race. Perhaps the intention of advancing the black man is aimed at bringing the race to a higher
strata, by the debunking of some (or most) of the mythical conceptions that were classically held, when evaluating the race in the stark white
and comparative light of contemporary moires, the skewed perceptions which were passed along from generations of traditional attitudes.

Over a long and successful white life, I have come to understand the cruel myth that has prolonged the legalization of marijuana. It is not a
substance which has an endemic base in any ethnic group in particular and certainly, not necessarily the black race but I do feel that because
it has been viewed by-and-large by a predominantly white society as abhorrent behavior and been classified as criminal behavior, what other
racial group could have become a better target for the "Massa" turned legislator? I further speculate that the day when the possibility of having
a black man in the presidential palace, serving as "Massa", would NEVER come but now that this day has arrived, we see that attitudes must
change and get in step with the world of 2010.

There are too many Americans who're locked-up today because of Marijuana and perhaps there is disparity between the number of blacks as versus
the whites. The key issue in this regard, is less of a class or color issue and much more of upholding personal rights and the liberties that we, the people,
have been stripped of while a long progression of white dominance has defined marijuana users as lower-class citizens. What more apropos group could
there be than to foist it all off on the blacks?

In their never-ending quest for equality, the NAACP has taken a progressive step in seeking legislation that will help to remove one more stigma that has
been placed upon the race, they have begun to understand that society in general, has associated both the criminality of marijuana use and the great
falsehood that keeps working to connect any racial group to it's use. Personally, I think that the NAACP should join forces with NORML and work together,
to advance all of society in the manner that they have sought to clear the misplaced reputation of an equal, but surely misunderstood, people.

[Iwaswondering]

Originally Posted by NorCal Dude

Its a shame the naacp has endorsed this. I would figure they would endorse young black men being law abiding and being productive vs selling dope or smoking blunts and still living and gramdma's.

What a pity

- A black male

Wow! What rock have you been under! So, in your world all People/blacks who use Pot like alcohol and medication are.........quilty of Something!

[BacktoBlue]

Originally Posted by Ceece

Pretty much everyone who knows the score supports legalizing, or decriminalizing, pot. The only ones against it seem to be against it for illogical and emotional reasons. Or because in their life "it's always been that way" and change is scary.

yeah this is true. People of California don't like chnage