According to Bishop Ron Allen, President of the International Faith Based Coalition, Bernie Sanders’s remarks favoring legalization of marijuana, which has the support of Alice Huffman, President of the California NAACP, appear more related to financial contributions than good sense, or what is best for America.
According to Bishop Allen, “Our civil rights leaders of years past must be turning over in their graves that our oldest civil rights organization is calling for an increase in young people getting high as a solution to discrimination; or that a candidate for President is so unenlightened on the enormous personal, social and economic impacts that marijuana is having on our youth and environment. Both Sanders and Huffman are a threat to our nation’s security and what it will take to help young people of color to escape their plight in under-served communities.”
The disproportionate arrest rate for African-Americans is primarily reflective of socio-economics Making marijuana more available won’t fix the problem. It will just make it worse.
Marijuana is categorized as a Schedule I drug because it’s harmful. It can cause permanent, physical and chemical alterations of the brain leading to loss of IQ, motivation, maturation, academic achievement and productivity. It has a particularly devastating impact on the brain of anyone under age 25, but particularly adolescents, which in turn adversely affects school performance.
Nationally, only 70% of African-American kids graduate from high school on time. High school dropouts make an average of $25,000 per annum vs $46,000 for those who graduate; they have higher unemployment rates; worse health and more demands on Medicare and Medicaid; and they commit 75% of crimes. 70% of dropouts come from low-income families. 80% of prisoners are high school dropouts. It is a self-perpetuating problem.
The answer to all of these problems starts with higher graduation rates, academic achievement and higher incomes. To that end, less marijuana and other drugs are critical … not more.
In Sacramento, 59% of those arrested test positive for marijuana, 83% for any drug. Since crime rates are up 38%, as reported by the Sacramento Bee, perhaps it’s time we elect people that understand that to cut crime we need less drugs … not more.
Bernie Sanders Marijuana Remarks Show Misunderstanding About Drug Use and Incarceration
Sanders is ignorant when he says too many people are incarcerated for marijuana. Nobody today is incarcerated for simple possession. In California the fine for one ounce of marijuana in possession (60-120 joints) is a non-escalating fine of $100, about 1/4th the fine for a red light violation. “This is not a civil rights issue,” Bishop Allen insists, and it has been wrongly framed as civil rights.
Of those in federal prison, less than 1/3rd of 1 percent are there for “simple possession” because they plea bargained down, and/or had other offenses. On average, they had 115 lbs. of marijuana in possession. That isn’t simple possession. That is drug dealing.
For roughly 30% of the population who are vulnerable, marijuana can lead to life-long chronic illnesses of schizophrenia, paranoia and bi-polar disorders. Over 500,000 people are admitted to Emergency Rooms yearly because of psychotic episodes, which have and are causing violent acts of murder and suicides. Addiction to marijuana will enslave 9 to 17% of marijuana users, which will ruin individual lives and entire families, and place a further social and economic burden on all Americans. The lifetime cost of one high school dropout is $392,000 (UC Santa Barbara High School Dropout Research).
Says Bishop Allen, “…It is time we elect leaders who are more motivated by the truth than personal contributions to their campaigns. Neither Bernie Saunders nor Alice Hoffman are deserving of the jobs they hold or seek. After 6 ½ years of no federal enforcement of marijuana laws, we desperately need leaders who are knowledgeable and motivated to protect our youth. If they have no future, neither do we as a nation.”
Thank you for the data. We are being overwhelmed with the drug movement. We are being hit from every conceivable angle and every devious method imaginable.
The fact that there is a Holocaust in Mexico financed by our illegal drug culture, and yet none of our politicians, not the President, not even the Pope, will address this crisis, tells us something is terrible askew.
The minorities, as usual, are getting hit hardest with our vices, including marijuana, all the other drugs, and alcohol. Families ruined, neighborhoods in shambles, murders, suicide, suppression against those who try to escape, etc, and all for dope.
Marijuana has corrupted the brains of millions so much so, lies and propaganda, so drug users can get high, prevail over human rights. They think they are so smart, that the rest of us are “unenlightened” or that we are anti-drug zealots, or “Reefer Madness” fools, etc.
But what they do not realize is it is their brains that are being corrupted. Marijuana appears to shrink gray matter, while the brain desperately tries to compensate with neural re-wiring. Most cope and function, but their brains are permanently different. Some don’t cope very well, and they never reach full intellectual potential and productivity. With a kind of quasi- addiction, (not by the medical definition), they have thus become enslaved to our drug culture, whether they realize it or not.
And then for the ones who abuse marijuana in childhood, or who abuse enough, or whom have genetic predispositions, the outcomes are not so good. They may move on to other drugs to get high, they lose jobs, they simply can not function well in society, They are SCREWED!
And then even worse, some of the marijuana abusers never properly rewire their brains. Something goes haywire, they develop mental ‘issues’, become somewhat outcasts, and in extreme cases, become homicidal. They have lost all empathy for life, their own or for others, because marijuana in my humble opinion destroyed that essential gray matter of the brain.
For the casual reader here, please before you assume I am crazy, look at ALL the murders of cops in recent years, today, yesterday, last week, last month, last years etc. And read about who is killing these cops, and ruining families etc. The vast majority, if not all, are dopers. The brains of these killers have lost empathy for life, they are paranoid, they assume cops are evil obstructions to their drug habits.
Black Americans are not being locked up in droves because of marijuana possession alone. They are unfortunately (as a group) more inclined to be engage in the drug culture, and the assorted crime that goes with it. (Not all Blacks, please understand, but a sizable subset)
The ultimate crime is spreading the propaganda, the outright lies propagated by the marijuana movement. I cannot believe our politicians wittingly lie about this, so hopefully, shall we say they are simply ‘misinformed.’
If we are to ever help the minorities, to show true compassion for others, we need to extract the truth from this mountain of outright lies, and we need to stop the drug flow, de-popularize all recreational drugs, and expose all of those who are pushing the drug culture, illegal or not, for what they are.
And the state, such as Colorado, the ‘drug pusher’? It’s crazy when you think about it. Of course, millions will love drugs, especially when they sanctioned and even encouraged. So they develop their habits and addictions, and then they need more of the drugs to keep their brains happy. That’s exactly what drug pushers do. A hundred million in tax revenues now is nothing to be proud of. Instead it’s a measure of the totality of this wickedness. The State involved in the business of creating addicts, and all the devastating aspects that accompany, just to make money in a non-productive , actually destructive manner? Insane.
And the grand irony, it’s all for naught. Addiction is likely the primary driver causing so much of the devastation of the inner cities, of course hitting the minorities the hardest. Yet addicted abusers of drugs do not like drugs!
Their brains start with euphoria, but immediately, the brain begins to cease creating the neurotransmitters such as dopamine, that give pleasure and normalcy to the mind. The drug user, then demands more drug, not simply for getting high any more, but just in vain attempts to regain normalcy! It’s a horrible downward spiral.
So all this killing, all this mayhem, all the cops being murdered, all the killing from the drug trade in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America, to get drugs to America, etc. And it’s all for naught! The addicted dopers don’t like the drugs!
If we ever get judged, our era will not be favorable. It was never supposed to happen in America. A Holocaust, and we don’t even know it, or worse, don’t even care.
Drug dealers prey on minorities, poor areas and minority communities. If the pot shops become legal, as in Denver and Los Angeles, they will purposely try
to locate near where minorities live. We need to offer meaningful employment to minorities so they will not be lured into the drug trade. That is our
challenge to the politicians.
Your astute observation explains the process far better than my bungled attempt!
For clarification: Blacks as individuals are no more inclined, perhaps actually less than Whites, to engage in the drug culture, as some recent studies show! And, as you stated much better, the poorer communities are unfortunately far more vulnerable to drug trade operations.