In this very honest, historically accurate, and informative video, Ethan Nadelmann, Executor Director of the Drug Policy Alliance, brilliantly explains the shockingly racist origins and outcomes of the failed “War on Drugs.”
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As he begins, “if you ask the question, why are some drugs legal and others illegal, why are cigarettes and alcohol legal, and pharmaceuticals in the middle, and these other drugs like marijuana and other ones illegal, you know, some people inherently assume, ‘well this must be because of a thoughtful consideration of the relative risks of drugs,’ but then you think, ‘well, that can’t be, because some drugs like alcohol are more associated with violence more than any other illegal drugs, and cigarettes are more addictive than any of the illegal drugs. I mean, heroin addicts routinely say it’s harder to quit cigarettes then it is to put heroin, so it’s not as if there was ever any kind of ‘National Academy of Science’ that 100 years ago decided that these drugs had to be illegal and these drugs illegal… So if you ask how and why this distinction got made? What you realize, when you look at the history, is that it has almost nothing to do with the relative risk of these drugs, and almost everything to do with who used, and who was perceived, to use these drugs!”
He goes on to give a powerful and concise explanation of the racist origins of this ill-advised war.
No matter what your race, background, or economic stature, or even if you or do not do drugs, the war on drugs negatively affects you as it ravages low income communities and communities of color all around you, not to mention its gargantuan waste of government resources and taxpayer dollars.
Please watch the video and share this and other related articles on social media forums so that everyone will understand why it is time to end the reckless war on drugs.
This post originally appeared at Occupy Democrats
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Photo: AP
