Pubdate: Thu, 16 Sep 2010
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2010 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Alice Huffman
Note: Alice Huffman is the president of the California State NAACP.

MARIJUANA LAW REFORM IS A CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." So said the 
late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1967, when he spoke out 
against the Vietnam War. At the time, he was roundly criticized for 
speaking out on an issue considered outside the purview of civil 
rights leaders. King understood better than most at the time, the 
true cost of war - in lives lost, in futures squandered, in dreams 
deferred and in misspent resources. Eventually, a majority of 
Americans came to agree with him about the war in Vietnam. His moral 
courage lay in speaking out in the face of no agreement, caring more 
about his integrity than his popularity.

It is the mission of the California NAACP to eradicate injustice and 
continue the fight for civil rights and social justice wherever and 
whenever we can. We are therefore compelled to speak out against 
another war, the so called "war on drugs."

This is not a war on the drug lords and violent cartels. This is a 
war that disproportionately impacts young men and women and is the 
latest tool for imposing Jim Crow justice on poor African Americans.

We reject the oft-repeated but deceptive argument that there are only 
two choices for dealing with drugs - heavy-handed law enforcement or 
total permissiveness. Substance abuse and addiction are American 
problems that impact every socioeconomic group, and meaningful public 
health and safety strategies are needed to address it. However, law 
enforcement strategies that target poor blacks and Latinos and cause 
them to bear the burden and shame of arrest, prosecution and 
conviction for marijuana offenses must stop.

The report released in June by the Drug Policy Alliance confirmed our 
view that marijuana law enforcement in California disproportionately 
target our youth. Despite consistent evidence that black youth use 
marijuana at lower rates than whites, in every one of the 25 largest 
counties in California, blacks are arrested for marijuana possession 
at higher rates than whites, typically at double, triple, or even 
quadruple the rate. We believe whatever potential harms may be 
associated with using marijuana are more than outweighed by the 
immediate harms that derive from being caught up in the criminal 
justice system.

Given the current economic crisis and high level of unemployment, 
particularly for black men, do we really want to permanently handicap 
a person's ability to get an education, make a decent living and have 
a productive life because they used marijuana? Equally important - is 
arresting people for possessing marijuana the best use of our scarce 
tax dollars? Can we justify wasting millions attempting to reduce 
demand for cannabis through law enforcement? How many more years do 
we wait before declaring that strategy a failure?

The California NAACP does not believe maintaining the illusion that 
we're winning the "war on drugs" is worth sacrificing another 
generation of our young men and women.

Enough is enough. We want change we can believe in, and that's why 
we're supporting Prop. 19. Instead of wasting money on marijuana law 
enforcement, Prop. 19 will generate tax revenues we can use to 
improve the education and employment outcomes of our youth. Our youth 
want and deserve a future. Let's invest in people, not prisons.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart