How the drug war rolls back civil rights

[marmar]

from the Detroit Metro Times:



How the drug war rolls back civil rights
Why the War on Drugs is increasingly seen as Jim Crow under another name

By Larry Gabriel
Published: March 7, 2012


State Rep. Rick Olson (R-Saline) made an amazing blog post last month. He had recently attended a luncheon hosted by the Legislative Black Caucus to hear Michelle Alexander, a lawyer and author who teaches at Ohio State University. Olson's post was titled "Medical Marijuana Law Needs Clarification, But Should We Decriminalize Marijuana?"

Part of the post reads: "I have visited a dispensary, and witnessed for myself what appeared to be a service that is needed for both caregivers and patients, in matching them up and recommending appropriate marijuana-based substances in a multitude of forms. I believe there is a place for these dispensaries, properly regulated, and I would support such recommendations if they come out of committee."

Given the attitude against medical marijuana from the state attorney general's office, it seems refreshing that a state representative takes this stance. But it was a subsequent Olson statement that took the post to a different realm: "On a broader note, I am significantly rethinking my opposition to the legalization of marijuana."

Olson isn't the first mind to be changed by Alexander. Her 2010 book, The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, examines the mass incarceration of poor people of color in the War on Drugs. It has received the NAACP Image Award and the Constitutional Commentary Award from the Constitution Project at Georgetown University, and continues to make an impact across the country. Her work was instrumental in last year's NAACP resolution calling for an end to the War on Drugs because it is unfairly fought in mostly African-American and Latino communities, creating a permanent underclass and enslaving multitudes in the prison system. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://metrotimes.com/mmj/how-the-drug-war-rolls-back-civil-rights-1.1281949