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Yet somehow Jeff Sessions can't stop talking about "urban pot epidemic" and how pot, including medical pot, needs to be cracked down upon. Meanwhile opioids an

Yet somehow Jeff Sessions can't stop talking about "urban pot epidemic" and how pot, including medical pot, needs to be cracked down upon. Meanwhile opioids and meth are completely out of control, but because they are largely white rural/suburban drug users, they have been getting a free pass for decades.

jrs95 9y ago
They haven't been getting a pass, criminalization is just totally ineffective at dealing with the problem. As far as disproportionate enforcement goes, rural and suburban Americans haven't been murdering anyone at nearly the rate of inner city gangs, which is a big part of why there's more enforcement in urban areas.
- drzaiusapelord 9y ago
  Criminalization is not what I'm advocating. If Sessions and Trump are fighting the legalization of medicinal cannibis what exactly do you think are the chances of decrim or state funded medical treatment for opioid and meth addicts? >rural and suburban Americans haven't been murdering anyone Those drugs are brought into the US by very violent gangs and I certainly can grow pot peacefully in my home. Ignoring the trafficking of these drugs is morally inexcusable. How many of these addicts make their own opioids or meth? Meth linked crimes are a huge number and almost always violent. Opioid withdrawal brings in a great deal of crime too. Those rural towns that have fallen into opioid addiction are crime hellholes for this very reason. Heavy opioid use is linked to crime, unlike some drugs: >(2) heavy opioid users committed crimes significantly more frequently than did moderate opioid users, non-opioid polydrug users, cannabis users or alcohol users https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2790266 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2790266 Also: >Methamphetamine was the only drug use variable that was strongly correlated with homicide. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18936516 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18936516 I'd much rather work with "urban pot" users than rural meth and opioid addicts, and so would you. Why the former is more under attack than the latter shows our systemic problems with race in this country. Remember sentiment like this is why pot is illegal, from Harry J. Anslinger, the founder of the war on drugs: “There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others.” “Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.”
  - pizza 9y ago
    Criminalization only increases the attractiveness of the drug trade. The government's stance doesn't merely ignore the trafficking, it makes it ridiculously lucrative.
    - pizza 9y ago
      Which, of course, ends up hurting people more.
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  > As far as disproportionate enforcement goes, rural and suburban Americans haven't been murdering anyone at nearly the rate of inner city gang Certainly, more ruled-as-murders per population unit happen in urban areas, but I'm aware of no statistics by urban/rural residence of killer (where a crime happens doesn't tell you where the criminal is from, and people who live in rural areas obviously can commit crimes in cities.) And rural areas have higher death rates and it's at least plausible that the decreased population density makes it easier for evidence of homicide to be concealed and murders to be passed off as death by other causes, so the relative rates of ruled-as-murders may not accurately reflect the relative rate of actually-is-murder.
  - 987412365 9y ago
    That's a real stretch
  - 1123581321 9y ago
    Race is a proxy for urban/rural and income. Population density is correlated with increased crime rates. Certainly that's not to say urban living causes crime. The idea that so many rural deaths could be covered-up murders is simply fanciful.
vesrah 9y ago
What are you talking about? He's been going after over-proscribing doctors. http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/jeff-sessions-targeting-doctors-profiting-off-opioid-epidemic-w495603 http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/jeff-sessions-targe...
- drzaiusapelord 9y ago
  You can certainly do two things at the same time but his policy talk and actions are very much focused primarily on recreational pot usage and state's right to medicinal pot. Sessions: "Good people don't smoke marijuana." "We need grown-ups in charge in Washington to say marijuana is not the kind of thing that ought to be legalized, it ought not to be minimized, that it's in fact a very real danger." “I thought those guys [the Ku Klux Klan] were OK until I learned they smoked pot.” “Colorado was one of the leading states that started the movement to suggest that marijuana is not dangerous. And we’re going to find it, in my opinion, ripple throughout the entire American citizenry; and we’re going to see more marijuana use, and it’s not going to be good. We’re going to see more other drug use, illegal drug use, also, which is damaging.”
aaronbrethorst 9y ago
A comment from earlier this summer that I think explains a lot: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14879335 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14879335
nnfy 9y ago
You may have missed this one amongst the mud slinging/circle jerking: http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/10/health/trump-opioid-emergency-declaration-bn/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/10/health/trump-opioid-emergency-... That said, I agree that sessions' views on drugs are abhorrent.
emodendroket 9y ago
> Meanwhile opioids and meth are completely out of control, but because they are largely white rural/suburban drug users, they have been getting a free pass for decades. Are you saying what we need is a draconian crackdown on more drug users? I understand the impulse, but I don't agree that that is the solution, personally.
DKnoll 9y ago
If you think opioid addiction only affects white people outside urban areas I invite you to visit any large city in North America.

jrs95 9y ago

They haven't been getting a pass, criminalization is just totally ineffective at dealing with the problem. As far as disproportionate enforcement goes, rural and suburban Americans haven't been murdering anyone at nearly the rate of inner city gangs, which is a big part of why there's more enforcement in urban areas.

drzaiusapelord 9y ago
Criminalization is not what I'm advocating. If Sessions and Trump are fighting the legalization of medicinal cannibis what exactly do you think are the chances of decrim or state funded medical treatment for opioid and meth addicts? >rural and suburban Americans haven't been murdering anyone Those drugs are brought into the US by very violent gangs and I certainly can grow pot peacefully in my home. Ignoring the trafficking of these drugs is morally inexcusable. How many of these addicts make their own opioids or meth? Meth linked crimes are a huge number and almost always violent. Opioid withdrawal brings in a great deal of crime too. Those rural towns that have fallen into opioid addiction are crime hellholes for this very reason. Heavy opioid use is linked to crime, unlike some drugs: >(2) heavy opioid users committed crimes significantly more frequently than did moderate opioid users, non-opioid polydrug users, cannabis users or alcohol users https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2790266 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2790266 Also: >Methamphetamine was the only drug use variable that was strongly correlated with homicide. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18936516 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18936516 I'd much rather work with "urban pot" users than rural meth and opioid addicts, and so would you. Why the former is more under attack than the latter shows our systemic problems with race in this country. Remember sentiment like this is why pot is illegal, from Harry J. Anslinger, the founder of the war on drugs: “There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others.” “Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.”
- pizza 9y ago
  Criminalization only increases the attractiveness of the drug trade. The government's stance doesn't merely ignore the trafficking, it makes it ridiculously lucrative.
  - pizza 9y ago
    Which, of course, ends up hurting people more.
dragonwriter 9y ago
> As far as disproportionate enforcement goes, rural and suburban Americans haven't been murdering anyone at nearly the rate of inner city gang Certainly, more ruled-as-murders per population unit happen in urban areas, but I'm aware of no statistics by urban/rural residence of killer (where a crime happens doesn't tell you where the criminal is from, and people who live in rural areas obviously can commit crimes in cities.) And rural areas have higher death rates and it's at least plausible that the decreased population density makes it easier for evidence of homicide to be concealed and murders to be passed off as death by other causes, so the relative rates of ruled-as-murders may not accurately reflect the relative rate of actually-is-murder.
- 987412365 9y ago
  That's a real stretch
- 1123581321 9y ago
  Race is a proxy for urban/rural and income. Population density is correlated with increased crime rates. Certainly that's not to say urban living causes crime. The idea that so many rural deaths could be covered-up murders is simply fanciful.

vesrah 9y ago

What are you talking about? He's been going after over-proscribing doctors. http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/jeff-sessions-targeting-doctors-profiting-off-opioid-epidemic-w495603 http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/jeff-sessions-targe...

drzaiusapelord 9y ago
You can certainly do two things at the same time but his policy talk and actions are very much focused primarily on recreational pot usage and state's right to medicinal pot. Sessions: "Good people don't smoke marijuana." "We need grown-ups in charge in Washington to say marijuana is not the kind of thing that ought to be legalized, it ought not to be minimized, that it's in fact a very real danger." “I thought those guys [the Ku Klux Klan] were OK until I learned they smoked pot.” “Colorado was one of the leading states that started the movement to suggest that marijuana is not dangerous. And we’re going to find it, in my opinion, ripple throughout the entire American citizenry; and we’re going to see more marijuana use, and it’s not going to be good. We’re going to see more other drug use, illegal drug use, also, which is damaging.”

aaronbrethorst 9y ago

A comment from earlier this summer that I think explains a lot: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14879335 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14879335

nnfy 9y ago

You may have missed this one amongst the mud slinging/circle jerking: http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/10/health/trump-opioid-emergency-declaration-bn/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/10/health/trump-opioid-emergency-... That said, I agree that sessions' views on drugs are abhorrent.

emodendroket 9y ago

> Meanwhile opioids and meth are completely out of control, but because they are largely white rural/suburban drug users, they have been getting a free pass for decades. Are you saying what we need is a draconian crackdown on more drug users? I understand the impulse, but I don't agree that that is the solution, personally.

DKnoll 9y ago

If you think opioid addiction only affects white people outside urban areas I invite you to visit any large city in North America.