Highbrow Magazine - drug use https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/drug-use en The Disastrous War on Cannabis Users https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/23923-disastrous-war-cannabis-users <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Wed, 04/26/2023 - 18:07</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1smokebook.jpg?itok=nsk43KNK"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1smokebook.jpg?itok=nsk43KNK" width="480" height="320" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">What have been the harms of criminalizing cannabis users? The damage, when added up, is staggering and includes about 20 <em>million </em>arrests in this country over the last 50 years. <a href="https://www.aclu.org/gallery/marijuana-arrests-numbers" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">According to the ACLU</a>, of the 8.2 million marijuana arrests between 2001 and 2010, 88 percent were for simple possession of marijuana.  </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">This has led to lifelong criminal records and in some cases imprisonment. It also resulted in vast amounts of collateral damage such as student loans denied, housing forfeited, voting rights revoked, and families broken. The cycle of poverty created can last for generations, and it disproportionately affects communities of color. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">An increasing awareness of these injustices, along with a pervasive yet growing sense that we’ve all been sold a bill of goods about cannabis by our government and many of our experts, combine to explain the astounding groundswell of public opinion in favor of legalization. As legalization spreads across the United States and across the globe, one might be tempted to think that arrests for simple cannabis possession have gone away. Unfortunately, that is not the case. In 2019, <a href="https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/topic-pages/persons-arrested" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">more than half a million Americans were arrested</a> for cannabis-related charges, the vast majority of which (91.7 percent), as usual, were for simple possession. In 2020, it was better, but there still were 350,000 arrests, with most of these arrests serving no purpose whatsoever. There shouldn’t be <em>any </em>arrests for simple cannabis possession. I believe that we should be focusing on expunging these harmful criminal records and on restitutions to people and communities that have been harmed, not on perpetuating greater harm. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Further, even though arrests are trending down, according to the paper “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/21533687221087355" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Racial Disparities in the Wake of Cannabis Legalization: Documenting Persistence and Change</a>,” “substantial racial disparities persist following legalization.” A common saying is that the War on Drugs is nothing more than a war on (certain groups of) people. This is particularly true for the War on Cannabis. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">According to integrative medicine pioneer and best-selling author Dr. Andrew Weil, “the ubiquity of drug use is so striking that it must represent a basic human appetite (<em>The Natural Mind: An Investigation of Drugs and the Higher Consciousness </em>(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1986). ” Writer Michael Pollan echoes this thought when he cites the paucity of cultures and civilizations that have existed without the use of any psychoactive substances. The difference between heroin, which will promptly get you arrested, and codeine, morphine, or oxycodone, which we frequently prescribe in clinics, is merely a few atoms. We freely accept the deadliest of drugs by the score—tobacco and alcohol, along with dozens of addictive, intoxicating prescription drugs—yet we have demonized much less dangerous drugs, including most psychedelic drugs, just because of their cultural or racial associations. Our drug control regime is incoherent and deadly. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2smokebook.jpg" style="height:600px; width:600px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Why are we waging war on cannabis users? Does this “war” fit any type of pattern? </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">In the book <em>Drugs and Drug Policy: The Control of Consciousness Alteration</em>, authors Clayton Mosher and Scott Akins discuss the demonization of illegal drugs and the “social construction of drug epidemics.” The main points they make are that: </span></span></p> <ol> <li><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“The drug warrior industry, which includes both the private sector and a massive government bureaucracy devoted to ‘enforcement,’ has an enormous economic incentive to keep the war raging.” (This is part of why criminalization fit so well in the 1930s—alcohol prohibition had just ended, and there was a huge bureaucracy to support and justify.) </span></span></li> </ol> <p> </p> <ol start="2"> <li><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Government officials need drugs in order to create heroes and villains and, in many cases, to divert attention away from the issues which have caused the drug use in the first place.” (Such as homelessness, limited access to medical care, unemployment, racism, and inequitable economic opportunity.) </span></span></li> </ol> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Therefore, </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“As a result of these needs . . . government and criminal justice officials in the United States, frequently assisted by the popular media, have engaged in a concerted campaign to demonize certain drugs in order to justify their prohibition (Clayton Mosher and Scott Akins, <em>Drugs and Drug Policy: The Control of Consciousness Alteration</em>, 2nd ed. (Los Angeles: SAGE, 2013) ” </span></span></p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3smokebook.jpg" style="height:435px; width:652px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">According to Mosher and Akins, common techniques include blaming the commission of crime on these drugs (whether or not they actually are responsible); associating these drugs with bizarre or deviant actions such as uncontrollable sexual urges or violent acts (“voodoo pharmacology,” where the drug takes over); and, finally, asserting that the particular drug in question is “consumed primarily by members of underrepresented groups” and that the substances are “distributed primarily by evil foreign traffickers.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Hmm . . . sound familiar? </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Mosher and Akins go on to discuss several fluffed-up “epidemics” that fall into this pattern of governmental demonization. Every single aspect of it is true for cannabis, from blaming it on the Mexicans, to associating cannabis with sexually deviant and violent behavior, with the users at a complete loss to control themselves. As an example of this, in the movie <em>Reefer Madness</em>, people try to rape and shoot each other after using cannabis. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">I will cite a 1967 quote from an official position piece in the <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/335058" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Journal of the American Medical Association</em></a>: </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The use of marihuana among Puerto Ricans and both southern and northern Negroes is reputed to be quite high. In all likelihood, marihuana use among the poverty-stricken urbanite is concomitant with . . . a broad range of asocial and antisocial activity. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">One could argue, fairly effortlessly, that the AMA were playing the part of “useful idiots” in laying the groundwork for Nixon’s upcoming War on Drugs. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/4smokebook.jpg" style="height:435px; width:652px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">As a cannabis user, it was easy to get arrested for cannabis, and I had many close calls. For example, next to the main lawn of Swarthmore College, I was enjoying a smoke with a few friends on a beautiful spring evening. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the fuzz appeared, sirens blaring. The officer physically cornered us with his squad car, jumped out, got right into our stoned faces, and barked at us. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Do you have any cigarettes in your pocket?”</span></span></p> <p><br /> <span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Um . . . no, officer, of course not. Smoking is bad for you.”</span></span></p> <p><br /> <span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Then what were you just smoking? Empty your pockets.”</span></span></p> <p><br /> <span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">I handed him my beautiful hand-carved wooden pipe and, sadly, my entire stash of high-end weed. One of my friends, a fellow philosophy major, started to argue with him about how morally bankrupt his entire position was and the ethical and racial abyss in which the officer was placing himself by accosting us. This wasn’t helping the prospects for getting us off the hook. Once we were able to shut my friend up and the officer could get a word in edgewise, he threatened to arrest us but instead settled for giving us a vicious tongue lashing. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">How would being arrested for harmlessly and innocently smoking a little weed with friends on the Swarthmore College campus have helped anything? It is easy to come up with a long list of things it might have harmed. I doubt left-wing, Quaker-themed, drug-accepting Swarthmore would have kicked me out, but it would have precluded medical school, as admission committees don’t particularly approve of things like criminal records or drugs. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/5smokebook.jpg" style="height:434px; width:650px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">If I weren’t a middle-class white college student, I likely would have been arrested and charged—this infraction would have truly compromised all of my future prospects. Had we been arrested, we would likely have all dealt with something similar to the ordeal my friend and roommate went through a few years later. Brian was a successful consultant with the U.S. government who specialized in mitigating contaminants. We shared an apartment in Washington, DC, during the time when I was working at Greenpeace’s national headquarters. Our apartment was right near the National Zoo, and when we hung out on our back porch on summer evenings, we would hear the lions roaring as well as many of the other animals. It sounded like we were on safari. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Brian was talented at brewing beer, but the only thing that truly quieted his constant anxious rumination was cannabis, which he would use at night. You could see a full-body unclenching with just one puff. Then he’d be happily socializing rather than just worrying neurotically about hypothetical problematical scenarios. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">One afternoon, I was down at the Washington Mall with a friend— the same friend that gave the stoned sermon on morality to the cop at Swarthmore five years earlier. We were enjoying the splendid summer weather tossing a Frisbee when we received a panicked phone call: “This is Brian. I’ve been arrested for weed. This is my one call. They took my glasses, belt, and shoelaces. I can’t see anything, and I’m sitting in a freezing cell with nothing to do. I’m going to lose my job. I’m freaking out. You have to bail me out.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Hang on, Brian, we’ll be there. This will be OK.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">What did he get arrested for? A nickel bag of pot, which is five dollars’ worth. It comes in a tiny bag and is probably about enough to consume in six modest puffs. It was late 1980s cannabis, with a lower THC content than today’s weed. It was barely enough to get one person high, once. He was buying it from a street dealer in Meridian Hill Park, which was right down the street from where we lived. He had no other source, as this was in the dark days before the advent of legal weed. Unbeknownst to him, the entire transaction was being watched by law enforcement, who materialized and pounced just after the deal was consummated. Brian said they had difficulty locating the five bag—and almost had to let him go—because they had him shoved up so hard against the police car that they couldn’t access the inner pocket he had hidden it in. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">They threw the book at Brian because they were trying to move up the chain to implicate a drug dealer of some significance, which was bad luck and bad news for Brian. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Brian’s plight was as good as you could get for a cannabis arrest. It was in DC, not in Georgia or Alabama, where the laws were draconian, leading to years in prison. Most importantly, and unfairly, he was a white professional whom the criminal justice system would greatly favor if he acted a certain way, choreographed by his expensive attorney. Being a professional, he could afford a specialized attorney (whom my dad hooked him up with). With all of these advantages, he still suffered from several years of immense anxiety over this, thousands in legal fees, repeated court appearances, mandatory drug testing, and lots of uncertainty. He was barely able to hang on to his job and had to contend with this blemish on his record. He didn’t have cannabis to help him relax anymore, so he started drinking much more heavily. It is mind-boggling that he went through all of this grief and punishment—and that our society wasted all of these resources— for the crime of self-treating his anxiety with a tiny bag of weak cannabis. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Black people have had it far worse. They use cannabis at the same rate as whites do, yet they are arrested at <a href="https://graphics.aclu.org/marijuana-arrest-report/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">almost four times</a> the rate of white people. The smell of cannabis is considered “probable cause” in many states, particularly in southern states, and this allows the policeperson to snoop around and look for things to bust them for. Blacks are much more likely to end up in prison for the same infractions and to suffer far more severe consequences from the same criminal records. This impacts jobs, finances, housing, and education. Families are broken up. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">It is no wonder that, at my twin brother’s wedding, when my older brother and I snuck outside with some family friends to smoke a joint, they were much more concerned about concealment than we were. I was totally insensitive. We were in a slightly darkened alleyway, and I said, “We can just smoke here; no one will care.” One friend gave me a pointed look and said, “Not if you look like us.” We found a much more secluded place to spark up. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">I doubt Brian would still be working for the government if he had dark skin, and he may well have ended up behind bars. In 1989, there were four hundred thousand other cannabis arrests in the United States, all equally as useless and destructive. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Adapted from <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Seeing-through-Smoke-Specialist-Untangles/dp/1633888460/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=1679337919&amp;sr=8-1" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Seeing through the Smoke: A Cannabis Specialist Untangles the Truth about Marijuana</em></a> by Peter Grinspoon, M.D. Printed with permission.</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Author Bio:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>Peter Grinspoon, M.D., is the author, most recently, of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Seeing-through-Smoke-Specialist-Untangles/dp/1633888460/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=1679337919&amp;sr=8-1" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Seeing through the Smoke: A Cannabis Specialist Untangles the Truth about Marijuana</a>. He is a primary care physician and cannabis specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. </em></strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Highbrow Magazine</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Image Sources:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Audrey Steenhaut (<a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/smoke-weed-marijuana-joint-1216032/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Pixabay</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Lovingimages (<a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/cannabis-cbd-marijuana-hemp-ganja-5003417/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Pixabay</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--MurrrPhoto <a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/cannabis-smoking-marijuana-cigarette-5890427/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">(Pixabay</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Diego Parra (<a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/car-police-cars-caravan-sirens-red-1531273/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Pixabay</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/peter-grinspoon" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Peter Grinspoon</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/seeing-through-smoke" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Seeing Through the Smoke</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/cannabis" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">cannabis</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/marijuana" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">marijuana</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/smoking-weed" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">smoking weed</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/drugs" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">drugs</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/taking-drugs" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">taking drugs</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/legal-drugs" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">legal drugs</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/drug-use" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">drug use</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/legalizing-drugs" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">legalizing drugs</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/cannabis-related-charges" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">cannabis-related charges</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Peter Grinspoon</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">In Slider</div></div></div> Wed, 26 Apr 2023 22:07:40 +0000 tara 11834 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/23923-disastrous-war-cannabis-users#comments Rethinking and Reforming the War on Drugs https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/2704-rethinking-and-reforming-war-drugs <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Wed, 08/14/2013 - 10:29</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1warondrugs.jpg?itok=bnsqa6Lp"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1warondrugs.jpg?itok=bnsqa6Lp" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>From our content partner, <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2013/08/holder-says-the-obvious---drug-war-is-a-war-on-minorities.php">New America Media</a>:</p> <p> </p> <p>The scuttlebutt is that Attorney General Eric Holder is poised to say what has long been obvious to anyone who has the faintest notion about how the wildly failed, flawed war on drugs has been waged for three decades. The obvious is that the war on drugs has been a ruthless, relentless and naked war on minorities, especially African-Americans.</p> <p> </p> <p>In the coming weeks, Holder may tell exactly how he’ll wind that war down. It shouldn’t surprise if he does. President Obama and Holder have been hinting for a while that it’s time to rethink how the war is being fought and who its prime casualties have been. Their successful push a few years back to get Congress to finally wipe out a good deal of the blatantly racially skewed harsh drug sentencing for crack versus powder cocaine possession was the first hint. Another is the mixed signals that both have sent about federal marijuana prosecutions, sometimes tough, sometimes lax.</p> <p> </p> <p>But if, and more likely when, Holder acts on much needed and long overdue drug law reforms, he’ll do it standing on solid ground. Past surveys by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the sex and drug habits of Americans and a legion of other similar surveys have tossed the ugly glare on the naked race-tainted war on drugs. They found that whites and blacks use drugs in about the same rate.</p> <p> </p> <p>Yet, more than 70 percent of those prosecuted in federal courts for drug possession and sale (mostly small amounts of crack cocaine) and given stiff mandatory sentences are blacks. Federal prosecutors and lawmakers in the past and some at present still justify the disparity with the retort that crack cocaine is dangerous and threatening, and lead to waves of gang shoot-outs, turf battles, and thousands of terrorized residents in poor black communities. In some instances, that's true, and police and prosecutors are right to hit back hard at the violence.</p> <p> </p> <p>The majority, however, of those who deal and use crack cocaine aren't violent-prone gang members, but poor, and increasingly female, young blacks. <a href="http://www.recovery.org/topics/about-rehab-and-recovery/">They clearly need treatment</a>, not long prison stretches.</p> <p> </p> <p>It's also a myth that powder cocaine is benign and has no criminal and violent taint to it. In a comprehensive survey in 2002, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the White House's low-profile task force to combat drug use, attributed shoplifting, burglary, theft, larceny, money laundering and even the transport of undocumented workers in some cities to powdered cocaine use. It also found that powder cocaine users were more likely to commit domestic violence crimes. The report also fingered powder cocaine users as prime dealers of other drugs that included heroin, meth and crack cocaine.</p> <p> </p> <p>The big difference is that the top-heavy drug use by young whites -- and the crime and violence that go with it -- has never stirred any public outcry for mass arrests, prosecutions, and tough prison sentences for white drug dealers, many of whom deal drugs that are directly linked to serious crime and violence. Whites unlucky enough to get popped for drug possession are treated with compassion, prayer sessions, expensive psychiatric counseling, <a href="http://heroin.net/">treatment and rehab programs</a>, and drug diversion programs. And they should be. But so should those blacks and other non-whites victimized by discriminatory drug laws.</p> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2mediumdrugsarticle_1.jpg" style="height:335px; width:600px" /></p> <p>A frank admission that the laws are biased and unfair, and have not done much to combat the drug plague, would be an admission of failure. It could ignite a real soul searching over whether all the billions of dollars that have been squandered in the failed and flawed drug war -- the lives ruined by it, and the families torn apart by the rigid and unequal enforcement of the laws -- has really accomplished anything.</p> <p> </p> <p>This might call into question why people use and abuse drugs in the first place -- and if it is really the government's business to turn the legal screws on some drug users while turning a blind eye to others?</p> <p> </p> <p>The greatest fallout from the nation’s failed drug policy is that it has further embedded the widespread notion that the drug problem is exclusively a black problem. This makes it easy for on-the-make politicians to grab votes, garner press attention, and balloon state prison budgets to jail more black offenders, while continuing to feed the illusion that we are winning the drug war.</p> <p> </p> <p>In an interview, Holder on that point was blunt, “There’s been a decimation of certain communities, in particular communities of color.” This is no accident. The policy deliberately targeted those communities due to a lethal mix of racism, criminal justice system profit, political expediency, and media-fed public mania over drug use. This is why Obama and Holder have delicately, but to their credit, publicly inched towards a rethink of the drug war, including whom it benefits and whom it hurts. They should be applauded for that.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Autho Bio:</strong></p> <p><em>Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is a frequent MSNBC contributor. He is an associate editor of New America Media. He is a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on American Urban Radio Network. He is the host of the weekly Hutchinson Report on KTYM 1460 AM Radio Los Angeles and KPFK-Radio and the Pacifica Network. </em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/war-drugs" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">war on drugs</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/eric-holder" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">eric holder</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obama" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Obama</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/drug-use" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">drug use</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/illegal-drugs" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">illegal drugs</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/drug-addiction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">drug addiction</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/drug-laws" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">drug laws</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Earl Ofari Hutchinson </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Wed, 14 Aug 2013 14:29:52 +0000 tara 3349 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/2704-rethinking-and-reforming-war-drugs#comments Why Trayvon Martin’s Marijuana Use Should Be Irrelavant in the Trial https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/2598-why-trayvon-martin-s-marijuana-use-irrelavant-trial <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Thu, 07/11/2013 - 09:35</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/3mediumtrayvon%20%28WerthMedia%20Flickr%29_0.jpg?itok=OoujiW_q"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/3mediumtrayvon%20%28WerthMedia%20Flickr%29_0.jpg?itok=OoujiW_q" width="480" height="384" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> From <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2013/07/did-marijuana-use-make-travon-martin-violent.php">New America Media</a>:</p> <p>  </p> <p> The instant that Sanford police officials in March, 2012 leaked to the media school records that showed Trayvon Martin had been suspended from school for possessing a trace amount of marijuana, there was little doubt that George Zimmerman’s defense attorneys would jump all over this to prove their point about Martin. The point was, and is the centerpiece of their Zimmerman self-defense claim, that Martin’s marijuana use made him edgy, aggressive, and violent. And since this is supposedly the case, it bolsters two of Zimmerman’s contentions that Martin came under his watch because of his drugged-out, suspicious behavior and more importantly, that Martin attacked him and he had to resort to deadly force to save himself from mortal harm from a doped-out Martin. A toxicological report found a trace amount of marijuana in Martin’s system the night of his slaying.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Zimmerman’s attorneys wasted no time in loudly demanding that this be entered as prime evidence of Martin’s alleged aggressiveness. Prosecutors rightly opposed its admission as being irrelevant since Zimmerman could not have known this and even if he had ESP and did know it, there is absolutely no evidence that marijuana use predisposes anyone to violent behavior. Judge Debra Nelson initially seemed to agree. Her reversal and decision to allow Martin’s alleged marijuana use into the trial is potentially a huge sop to the defense.</p> <p>  </p> <p> But if facts mean anything, it shouldn’t be. The few studies that have tried to link marijuana use to violent behavior have managed to prove only two things. One is that there is no firm connection between the drug’s use and individual violence. The other is that whatever violence an individual who tokes up may exhibit is because that individual has a violent or criminal history. In other words, there’s a predisposition to violence that has absolutely nothing to do with their marijuana use.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The White House, relying heavily on a report from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, takes a hard-nosed stance against marijuana liberalization and any slack off in tough federal enforcement of medical marijuana regulation. But it did not make any case that marijuana increases violence. It focused instead on the need for enforcing the law and continued to insist that marijuana represents a health hazard, and a harmful addiction, but violence due to its use, no. Even if there were no studies on marijuana use and violence or White House concern over marijuana use and its alleged harmful effects, the notion that marijuana use spurs violence is ludicrous.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2009 and 2010, report found that nearly two-thirds of the nation’s adult population aged 21 to 54 has used marijuana at least once. Common sense would tell us that if even a fraction of the tens of millions of people who have tried marijuana rampage in their homes and in the streets, the jails would be bursting at the seams with those arrested for drugged-out marijuana induced violent acts. However, that’s only part of the problem in trying to separate fact from deliberate distortion about marijuana use.</p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/1zimmerman%20%28Chris%20Waldeck%20Flickr%29.jpg" style="width: 331px; height: 415px;" /></p> <p> The other part is the public perception of who uses drugs and their effects. Studies and reports have overwhelmingly found that African-American students are far more likely than white students to be suspended or expelled from school for marijuana use and possession. They are far more likely to be arrested and convicted for drug use than whites. This despite countless studies that show that blacks do not use drugs in any greater incidence than whites, and in some cases, even less than whites. This reinforces the deeply ingrained stereotype that not only is the average drug user and pusher a young black male, but that a young black is the cause of most of the drug related violence in the country.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Zimmerman’s defense attorneys, however, aren’t interested in these facts or the corrosive effects of racial stereotypes and drugs. Their defense game plan is to tar Martin as a violent druggie and further muddle the issue for jurors whether Martin’s behavior was the trigger for his killing. This was crudely and insultingly put by one of the attorneys to Martin’s mother on the witness stand when he flatly asked her whether she thought he had any culpability in his death.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The issue then boils down to whether the Zimmerman jurors can separate his defense attorney’s deliberate muddle of the facts and trashing of Martin and see that there’s absolutely no credible proof that marijuana use in and of itself induces violent behavior in anyone. There is not a scintilla of evidence that Martin was inherently aggressive and violence prone. The prosecution’s job is to make sure that they see this. Anything short of this could bolster the terrifying thought the defense has worked overtime to implant and that’s that marijuana use made Martin a legitimate target.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> <em>Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His new ebook is America on Trial: The Slaying of Trayvon Martin (Amazon). He is an associate editor of New America Media. He is a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on American Urban Radio Network. He is the host of the weekly Hutchinson Report on KTYM 1460 AM Radio Los Angeles and KPFK-Radio and the Pacifica Network.</em></p> <p>  </p> <p> <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2013/07/did-marijuana-use-make-travon-martin-violent.php">New America Media</a></p> <p>  </p> <p> <em><strong>Photos: Werth Media; Chris Waldeck (Flickr, Creative Commons); photo on main page: David Shankbone (Creative Commons).</strong></em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/trayvon-martin" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Trayvon Martin</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/george-zimmerman" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">George Zimmerman</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/don-west" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">don west</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/zimmerman-trial" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">zimmerman trial</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/trayvon-martin-marijuna-use" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">trayvon martin marijuna use</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/marijuana" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">marijuana</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/drug-use" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">drug use</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Earl Ofari Hutchinson </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Werth Media (Flickr)</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Thu, 11 Jul 2013 13:35:43 +0000 tara 3154 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/2598-why-trayvon-martin-s-marijuana-use-irrelavant-trial#comments Recreational Prescription Drug Use Continues to Plague College Campuses https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1949-recreational-prescription-drug-use-continues-plague-college-campuses <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Wed, 01/16/2013 - 09:45</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumpills_0.jpg?itok=JypGuXVQ"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumpills_0.jpg?itok=JypGuXVQ" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p> </p> <p>It’s finals week; you’ve been studying in the library for a good six hours and feel your concentration slipping away. The numerous coffees and Redbulls you’ve consumed haven’t helped either. A friend of yours uses Adderall to help him study, and you’ve taken it before as well. Desperate to focus, you call him up and buy a few tablets that will last you the week.</p> <p> </p> <p>This is a common case of <a href="http://drugabuse.com/library/prescription-drug-abuse/">prescription drug abuse on college campuses</a>. But there are other scenarios as well—taking more than the prescribed dosage, using the various pills to party, and mixing them with alcohol use are all ways that people have abused prescription drugs.</p> <p> </p> <p>According to <a href="http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/prescription/abuse-international-statistics.html">Drug Free World</a>, “In the US alone, more than 15 million people abuse prescription drugs, more than the combined number who reported abusing cocaine, hallucinogens, inhalants and heroin.”</p> <p> </p> <p>On top of that, a 2010 survey from the <a href="http://www.samhsa.gov/data/NSDUH/2k10NSDUH/2k10Results.htm#2.9">Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)</a> reported that 22 percent of college students take part in illicit drug use, and that roughly 6 percent of adults aged 18-25 take prescription drugs for nonmedical uses.</p> <p> </p> <p>While college is meant to be the best four years of a student’s life, it can also be a  stressful time, and there are many pressures placed on students to achieve. Students can get prescription drugs to treat almost any issue: sleeplessness, anxiety, ADHD, panic attacks, and the occasional serious injury (broken bones). The common players are usually big-time drugs: Ambien, Oxyconton, Xanax, Adderall, <a href="http://www.rehabs.com/about/ritalin-rehab/">Ritalin</a> and Vicodin.</p> <p> </p> <p>Chris*, a college graduate, has used prescription drugs recreationally. Having been prescribed both Xanax and Ambien in the past, Chris would take drugs “according to how [he] felt.”</p> <p> </p> <p>“I abused the prescription at times, taking the drugs for fun instead of for as needed,” Chris admits. “Oxycoton was very prominent on campus, and could be bought from athletes, or others who were prescribed the drug by their doctors.  Adderall and Ritalin were probably the easiest to get on campus…people with ADD or ADHD would sell their pills for money, usually five dollars a pill…Many of my friends, as well as myself, would use these drugs to help study, stay up late, or take while drinking to intensify the effects.”</p> <p> </p> <p>While students might take prescription drugs for the “high” feeling, it’s dangerous and lethal. Abusing prescription stimulants can result in death, addiction, respiratory problems, seizures and cardiovascular issues, such as an irregular heartbeat, according to a report by Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. And prescription drugs, including opioids and antidepressants, are responsible for more overdose deaths than street drugs, such as cocaine, heroin and amphetamines, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.</p> <p> </p> <p>So why is it commonplace on campus? An <a href="http://www.abc2news.com/dpp/money/angies_list/health/Copy_of_Prescription-drug-abuse-rises-on-campuses_79474975">article</a> from ABC2news highlights that some students don’t perceive it as abuse, and that there’s not enough data on the trend.</p> <p> </p> <p>The best course of action, it seems, would be to educate students and raise awareness about the dangers of drug abuse. Ambien, for example, has been linked to several sleep-driving incidents since 2006 (an article in women’s magazine <a href="http://www.marieclaire.com/world-reports/while-you-were-sleeping">Marie Claire</a> being the most recent one). But in light of these events, the college drug culture is still big.</p> <p> </p> <p>Says Chris: “Ambien is by far the scariest drug I have ever taken.  I hate how it is joked about in movies and popular culture because Ambien is a very powerful drug….However, I found that Ambien does not simply make you go to sleep, but rather makes it feel like your brain is asleep, and not your body.  If you do not lay in bed and "put your body to sleep" after taking the drug, than you will not fall asleep, but rather have an awake body with an asleep brain.  You feel like a complete zombie, and it is the scariest feeling in the world.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Chris hasn’t abused drugs since he graduated.<br />  </p> <p><br /> <em>*Named changed for safety of student’s identity.</em></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Author Bio:</em></strong></p> <p><em>Gabriella Tutino is a contributing writer at </em>Highbrow Magazine.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/drug-use" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">drug use</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/drugs-campus" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">drugs on campus</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/ambien" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">ambien</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/adderall" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">adderall</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/ritalin" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">ritalin</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/vicodin" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">vicodin</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/prescription-drugs" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">prescription drugs</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Gabriella Tutino</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Wed, 16 Jan 2013 14:45:00 +0000 tara 2205 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1949-recreational-prescription-drug-use-continues-plague-college-campuses#comments