"The New Jim Crow" article

[winkingskeever]

An interesting article about a book called The New Jim Crow. Has anyone read this book? The argument that drug laws are about racial division has been punted around for a long time, but apparently this book actually gathers the statistics to back the claim.

After giving a speech on it the author received a 2min standing ovation and reading the book inspired on state representative to write legislation addressing the issue.

 

While it may not be so much a race as a class issue here in oz, as the tide turns against the reasons for prohibition and exposes the underlying discrimination, books like this give me hope that more people will join the cause. The question I ask is - if America decided that these laws are unjust and overturned them, what will happen in countries like ours where the American policy has influenced our own prohibition? Would it be enough to turn things around fairly quickly or would we need our own books of statistics to get the point across? And which of our researchers would be in the position to provide that information?

[Ford Fairlane]

I reckon if the US made cannabis legal the world would follow. For some reason the US (or some power brokers within the US) appears to have the rest of the world by the throat when it comes to cannabis law. I am unsure why this is the case but just look at the Mark Emery case and the North Marinaris Islands.

 

Why would Canada had over one of their citizens to be prosecuted by another country when Canadas laws allow seed distribution?

 

Why does the US think they have the right to tell the North Marinaris Islands weather or not they can legalize cannabis?

 

As far as I know the North Marinaris Island case is centered around funding. The US gives them a crap load of $$ each year and is threatening to withdraw support if they make cannabis legal.

 

I can't see the US legalizing or even decriminalizing cannabis any time shortly. Even the president doesn't have the power to do this. Obama has been put on tape saying that he believes medical use of cannabis is acceptable (he even looks pretty ripped in the video), yet still he is not doing anything to push this agenda. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SwBtML2JPY).

[winkingskeever]

I feel bad for Obama - a lot of people expected some sort of magic wand waving and the disappearance of these laws. The truth is probably a very complex net of people (pharma, prison industry, etc) holding that second term over his head. There's only so much he could push for and the system is corrupt to the core. Maybe if he is re-elected he might push harder, but he was voted in as the voice for change and there are plenty of US commentators saying how little change he has actually achieved - is it all rhetoric? Was it just to get elected? Or was it a genuine mission that got subverted by the system? I hope it was genuine, and I hope that the second term sees him become more dominant in delivering on that mandate for change, but there, as here, unfortunately democracy seems very distant from "the will of the people".

[bufo marinus]

You need to look at the International Treaties and Conventions most western countries have signed onto to understand why even Obama can't simply legalise Cannabis.

Medical use is a real possibility though.