3 ms·

"If it's war, it must be serious and we should fund it seriously." This is America. Have you seen the wars we fight? Millions dead throughout the word. Million

by joesmo 12y ago

"If it's war, it must be serious and we should fund it seriously." This is America. Have you seen the wars we fight? Millions dead throughout the word. Millions in jail being tortured. I don't know what definition of war you have, but that is war. "I think any association with race is coincidental." If it's not about race, please explain the arrest and incarceration rates for different races given that consumption is roughly equal for all races. You don't criminalize an everyday, common activity without an agenda. The war on drugs was not a policy mistake, it was intentionally created. It was intentionally labelled as war and now has those connotations despite not being a traditional war. You cannot remove connotations that exist in the world simply by wishful and naive thinking.

mc32 12y ago
It's about class. Look at drug incarceration in Africa, see who gets jailed. The same in any country. Who gets jailed for drugs offences? The poor blacks, Hispanics, whites, etc. Look who gets locked up for drugs offences in Russia. The poor. It's not race. Race is a byproduct.
- joesmo 12y ago
  It might be a byproduct outside the US, but it certainly isn't one inside the US, which is the point of my comment.
  - mc32 12y ago
    I don't think someone said, how do we suppress black people? Oh, let's criminalize drugs. I believe, as most things which go badly, they start out with good intentions, but it snowballs, and has unintended consequences. In towns with black mayors or black police forces, judges, etc., people still believe that drugs are a scourge and anyone involved in it needs to be corrected. It's not a white conspiracy, it's people's genuine belief drugs add to undesirable behavior and want to lessen it. I think this attitude stems from people's religious upbringing, believing addiction is a fall from grace, some personal failure. I think as a society we're beginning to realize that this infatuation with punishing addicts is counterproductive. And the real enemy is poverty. If you address poverty and allow people to earn a decent wage, you'll have a better society, fewer social problems, more social cohesion and more bonhommie.

by joesmo 12y ago

mc32 12y ago

It's about class. Look at drug incarceration in Africa, see who gets jailed. The same in any country. Who gets jailed for drugs offences? The poor blacks, Hispanics, whites, etc. Look who gets locked up for drugs offences in Russia. The poor. It's not race. Race is a byproduct.

joesmo 12y ago
It might be a byproduct outside the US, but it certainly isn't one inside the US, which is the point of my comment.
- mc32 12y ago
  I don't think someone said, how do we suppress black people? Oh, let's criminalize drugs. I believe, as most things which go badly, they start out with good intentions, but it snowballs, and has unintended consequences. In towns with black mayors or black police forces, judges, etc., people still believe that drugs are a scourge and anyone involved in it needs to be corrected. It's not a white conspiracy, it's people's genuine belief drugs add to undesirable behavior and want to lessen it. I think this attitude stems from people's religious upbringing, believing addiction is a fall from grace, some personal failure. I think as a society we're beginning to realize that this infatuation with punishing addicts is counterproductive. And the real enemy is poverty. If you address poverty and allow people to earn a decent wage, you'll have a better society, fewer social problems, more social cohesion and more bonhommie.