Cannabis Legalization in the United States Isn't Helping Those Who Need It Most
WEED WEDNESDAY
On Wednesday (and other other days as well), I will post a cannabis-related article or story.
Cannabis Legalization in the United States Isn't Helping Those Who Need It Most
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Drug Policy Alliance released a report recently titled From Prohibition to Progress: A Status Report on cannabis Legalization. The report features findings from studies made of the first 8 US states in which cannabis was made at least partially legal for some adults.
Contained within the report is a lot of pretty good news. Probably some things you've come to expect by now, if you pay attention to the cannabis world. Arrests have plummeted in states which have legalized cannabis for some adults. This saves hundreds of millions of dollars and spares the lives of those who would've otherwise had their lives turned upside down because of the failed war on drugs, which was ramped up in the 1970s under Richard Nixon's watch.
Then, of course, there are the stories of how the money taken in taxes from sales of legal cannabis are helping communities. You've probably heard already that Colorado was able to use help their schools with $230 million from cannabis sales. That's great, right?
Hold on a second. One of the most damaging aspects of the failed war on drugs by far was the disproportionate rate at which it affected minorities. Surely, legalization has corrected this wrong, and that should be the focus of the findings... right? Wrong.
It's sadly not all that surprising in this society, but the findings show that cannabis legalization has helped white people the most, and that there is still a stark contrast between ways in which legalization has helped members of different races.
Some examples from the report:
- In Colorado, cannabis arrests for white people decreased by 51%, but only decreased by 33% for Latinx people and 25% for black people between 2012 and 2014.
- The post-legalization arrest rate for black people in Washington is double the arrest rate for other races and ethnicities.
- A black person in Washington, D.C. is **11 times more likely **than a white person to be arrested for public consumption of cannabis.
- In Alaska, black people were arrested for cannabis at a rate of 17.7 per 100,000 in 2016, while white people were arrested at a rate of 1.8 per 100,000 — about 10 times less.
Overall statistics
Statistics for Alaska
Statistics for Washington, DC
There are multiple reasons for this problem, in my opinion. One of them is that legalization is neither broad enough, nor does it go far enough. When you make a substance legal within some imaginary lines (state borders) but a felony outside of them (and inside technically because of federal law), then things are far more complicated than they need to be.
People have been growing, distributing, and using cannabis amongst themselves, in the shadows of the black market for as far back as prohibition has existed. Simply removing cannabis form the ridiculous controlled substances act isn't as crazy or unrealistic has the bureaucrats would have you believe. Instead of rewarding those who built up their own successful underground markets (albeit in defiance of the law, but when a law is unjust, I think we must break it), we're still locking them in cages, and the money just flows to the other side of the tracks like it always does.
Another one is our police state and racial profiling. A lot of police are tragically just more likely to stop and harass essentially anyone who isn't white. The problem is bad enough that the ACLU of Maryland has a survey on their site which can be filled out anonymously by people who feel that they have been racially profiled and searched for cannabis.
If you're like me, you're still shaking your head, wondering when this madness will truly be over. Until then, we are not truly free. Stay strong! Especially since Trump said last night in his State of the Union speech that he intends to "get much tougher" on drugs.
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some good ideas, hopefully we can open the market in ohio so adults can grow and/or deal any amount.
Pot prices for select US cities
So true @marksheppard "A black person in Washington, D.C. is **11 times more likely **than a white person to be arrested for public consumption of cannabis". However those days are almost over and DC nowadays lights up at night list Christmas tree (build a closet business is booming).
that's good to hear! I hope the days are almost over for everyone in the world.
We need a complete global re-legalize. 420 !
Yes we absolutely do!
It's a shame, espic. here in germany. For medical use its legal but so damn hard to fine a doc who's not afflicted by the media (thc is the pure evil thing) ...
In a few years it will be relegalized here. It's forbidden in the early 19' century, i got a very old german hemp grow book (bizarre funny stuff) in pdf. So it was culture here aswell. And will be again someday. Hemp is a wonderplant !
Yes it is! Do people in Germany still smoke mostly spliffs? The last time I spent time in Germany was about 2003, and everyone there seemed to roll joints that were part tobacco and part cannabis. I wasn't really into that as a non-smoker of tobacco.
Well, it depends wich part of germany imho. In my env. only some ppl smoke pure, it's too expensive for most stoners ;) If some smoke pure, they are a: rich or b: grow their own stuff. I also noticed during my time in middle germany (nrw) there are also diffrent smoking cultures. diffrent type of bongs, diffrent type of roling and such stuff. I have a mate who dont smoke tabak, so he almost smokes pure with a bong :)
I almost smoke ~ 40% tabak - 60% weed in a nice inside-out rolled joint. I also have a vaporizer, the taste is amazing, but sadly i miss the kick when i inhale. Sorry for my english, dude :D
Your English is certainly a lot better than my German!
I only learned some key phrases while I was there: "Kann ich bitte ein Bier haben?" was a good one.
Well, it's one of most important sentences :D
Why have you visited germany, holyday ?! army ?! business ?!
A band. An old band I was in toured Europe twice, and our tours were centered in Germany. The company that booked it was in Germany, van rental came from Germany, etc. In my younger days!
Weed should be legal for all types of consumption in all 50 states! The war on drugs is an obvious failure! Time to legalize is now!
!
I agree!
the failed war on drugs, which was started decades before Richard Nixon's watch. FTFY
Wow, must be hard to be the black guy in Alaska.
You're right. It was started way before Nixon was in office. I edited it a little bit.
I've never been to Alaska, but I feel lie it would just be hard to be there in general. Maybe not if you can get high enough, though. haha.
honestly i am prescribed in NY, but the loopholes you have to go through and the high payments to get a license and then a doctor that gives you a one mnth supply and you have to pay him out of pocket everymonth after all of this i can't even afford my medication. I pretty much paid qll this money for a new identification card and never used the product that is supposed to help me. they have a lot of work to do in NY ill tell you that. Of course when you go to a new state they dont accept your card so its a lose lose over here.....
That certainly doesn't sound very helpful! That's yet another prime example of why we just need to make it legal for everyone, everywhere, for any reason. I hope NY follows some of its neighbors and legalizes as well!
Sadly here in MA when they legalized cannabis they changed it from being a $100 civil fine if you were caught with it to now being able to hit you with a DUI and an open container criminal charge. So before they were not able to arrest people for pot possession in the car, it was funny to watch an episode of Cops filmed in Boston during that time, a frustrated cop pulling over carload after carload of kids and minorities and then writing them $100 civil fines and sending them on their way. But now that they can once again arrest you for having pot in the car I am sure once again teens and minorities with pot are the cops bread and butter.
@originalworks
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