Apparently marijuana legalization is not just a drug issue. It is now a racial issue as well.
At least that's what the California State Conference of the NAACP claim. In a recent article on CNN's website California State Conference President Alice Huffman says that a disproportionate number of young blacks are being arrested for marijuana-related crimes. This, Huffman asserts, makes decriminalization of marijuana an issue of race rights.
Let me start out by saying that I do believe that marijuana legalization is a matter of civil rights. Adults should have the right to what they wish with their bodies as long as their actions do not directly impede on the rights of others. Also, study after study after study shows that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol or even tobacco. And let's not forget the "War on Drugs" that is costing us more than $20,000,000,000 a year.
Also, Huffman seems to be right in claiming that blacks are being arrested for marijuana-related offenses at a rate quite disproportionate to actual usage when compared to whites. According to a report by the Drug Policy Alliance, whites are more likely to use marijuana for recreational use than blacks or Latinos, yet blacks are arrested at a much higher rate for possession of marijuana (at least in California). In some cases, the arrest rates for blacks are as much as triple or quadruple than those for whites. If these statistics are accurate, then this is a serious problem that needs to be looked into. If the government is going to impose drug laws against us, can't it at least enforce the laws in a fair and just manner (for a change)?
Now, I have said I do agree with the NAACP's stance on marijuana legalization and I do agree that the disproportionate are a serious problem, but there is one bone I'd like to pick the organization: Why is it only after evidence is released that blacks are being most affected by these unfair laws do you take a stance on the grounds for civil rights? The War on Drugs have had a negative impact on practically every demographic since it was declared by Nixon over 40 years ago. Hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money has been wasted, civil rights have been steadily chiseled away, and countless lives have been devastated all in the name of the government protecting us from ourselves...and the NAACP doesn't consider it to be a civil rights issue until they get the idea that it might be affecting the black community in particular?
If the NAACP really did believe that this was an issue of civil rights (meaning equal rights for all people, and not just the black community) then they would have taken this stance at the very beginning. Although blacks may be hit particularly hard by the War on Drugs, they are by no means the only ones. Unfortunately, I think the NAACP is acting only with blacks in mind. And if we are ever to achieve true equality for all people, then we need to think not only of our rights, but the rights of others as well. In this regard, I think the NAACP has failed to do that.
