NAACP announces Its "Unconditional Support" for Cali's Marijuana legalization

[topspin]

NAACP Announces Its “Unconditional Support” For California’s Marijuana Legalization Measure
Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:28:53 By: Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director
Share This Article The California NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) today expressed its “unconditional support” for The Regulate, Control & Tax Cannabis Initiative 2010, which will appear on the November statewide ballot.

The measure, also known as Proposition 19, would allow adults 21 years or older to possess and cultivate marijuana for personal use. It would also permit local governments the option to authorize the retail sale and commercial cultivation of cannabis to adults. Personal marijuana cultivation or not-for-profit sales of marijuana would not be taxed under the measure.

The California NAACP announced its endorsement of the measure at a news conference in Sacramento this morning. The press conference coincided with the release of a report finding that African Americans are arrested for marijuana possession offenses in California’s 25 largest counties at more than twice the rates of Caucasians.

“Young blacks use marijuana at lower rates than young whites. Yet from 2004 through 2008, in every one of the 25 largest counties in California, blacks were arrested for marijuana possession at higher rates than whites, typically at double, triple or even quadruple the rate of whites,” the report concluded. “acks were arrested for simple marijuana possession far out of proportion to their percentage in the total population of the counties. In the 25 largest counties as a whole, blacks are 7% of the population but 20% of the people arrested for possessing marijuana.”

Statewide, authors reported that in 2008 African Americans and Latinos combined comprised less than 44% of the state’s population, but together constituted 56% of the people arrested in California for possessing marijuana. An estimated 80 percent of those arrested were age 29 or younger.

Since 1990, annual marijuana possession arrests of youth of color in California have risen from 3,100 to over 16,000 — an increase that is about three times greater than the group’s population growth.

Alice Huffman, President of the California State Conference of the NAACP stated: “We have empirical proof that the application of the marijuana laws has been unfairly applied to young people of color. … We are joining a growing number of medical professionals, labor organizations, law enforcement authorities, local municipalities, and approximately 56% of the public, in saying that it is time to (depenalize) the [adult] use of marijuana.”

In 2008, police in California made over 61,000 arrests for marijuana possession offenses, a criminal misdemeanor. Law enforcement made over 17,000 additional arrests for marijuana felony violations – a category that includes personal cultivation of even a single plant.

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[topspin]

for a state going broke, arresting 61,000 for something less harmful than beer is a disgrace.

 

[Article 15]

I'm with the brothas on this.

 

[Gremlin-USA]

Good for the NAACP

I do not smoke it, but I think Pot is less harmful overall than Alcohol



.

 

[Article 15]

Good for the NAACP

I do not smoke it, but I think Pot is less harmful overall than Alcohol



.

You know what you never read about?

Stoned Man Hospitalizes Wife in Domestic Dispute

 

[topspin]

It's usually stoned man can only find taco bell open after midnight.

 

[rightwinger]

Young blacks use marijuana at lower rates than young whites. Yet from 2004 through 2008, in every one of the 25 largest counties in California, blacks were arrested for marijuana possession at higher rates than whites, typically at double, triple or even quadruple the rate of whites,” the report concluded. “acks were arrested for simple marijuana possession far out of proportion to their percentage in the total population of the counties. In the 25 largest counties as a whole, blacks are 7% of the population but 20% of the people arrested for possessing marijuana.”

It is ridiculous that we fill our prisons with non-violent offenders

Good for the NAACP

 

[Gremlin-USA]

Good for the NAACP

I do not smoke it, but I think Pot is less harmful overall than Alcohol



.

You know what you never read about?

Stoned Man Hospitalizes Wife in Domestic Dispute

I did not say I never smoked it, just have not done so in 25 years!

PS, you can probably find an article about someone drinking alcohol and dying from the first drink, or eating peanuts and dying or eating fish and dying, etc.

The majority of Pot smokers are harmless to themselves and others

nuff said.........

.

 

[editec]

for a state going broke, arresting 61,000 for something less harmful than beer is a disgrace.

It's an application of political discrimination.

<H1 id=firstHeading class=firstHeading stumbleAlreadyHandled="true">National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse

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The National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse was created by Public Law 91-513 to study marijuana abuse in the United States.

While the Controlled Substances Act was being drafted in a House committee in 1970, Assistant Secretary of Health Roger O. Egeberg had recommended that marijuana temporarily be placed in Schedule I, the most restrictive category of drugs, pending the Commission's report.

On March 22, 1972, the Commission's chairman, Raymond P. Shafer, presented a report to Congress and the public entitled "Marijuana, A Signal of Misunderstanding," which favored ending marijuana prohibition and adopting other methods to discourage use.


Specifically, the Commission recommended "a social control policy seeking to discourage marijuana use, while concentrating primarily on the prevention of heavy and very heavy use." The report noted that society can provide incentives for certain behavior without prosecuting the unwilling, citing the example that "the family unit and the institution of marriage are preferred means of group-living and child-rearing in our society. As a society, we are not neutral. We officially encourage matrimony by giving married couples favorable tax treatment; but we do not compel people to get married."

The Commission recommended decriminalization of simple possession, finding:
[T]he criminal law is too harsh a tool to apply to personal possession even in the effort to discourage use. It implies an overwhelming indictment of the behavior which we believe is not appropriate. The actual and potential harm of use of the drug is not great enough to justify intrusion by the criminal law into private behavior, a step which our society takes only 'with the greatest reluctance.The Commission found that the constitutionality of marijuana prohibition was suspect, and that the executive and legislative branches had a responsibility to obey the Constitution, even in the absence of a court ruling to do so:
While the judiciary is the governmental institution most directly concerned with the protection of individual liberties, all policy-makers have a responsibility to consider our constitutional heritage when framing public policy. Regardless of whether or not the courts would overturn a prohibition of possession of marihuana for personal use in the home, we are necessarily influenced by the high place traditionally occupied by the value of privacy in our constitutional scheme.The Commission also recommended that the distinctions between licit and illicit drugs be dropped, finding that "the use of drugs for pleasure or other non-medical purposes is not inherently irresponsible; alcohol is widely used as an acceptable part of social activities"[1].

The Nixon administration did not implement the study's recommendations. However, the report has frequently been cited by individuals supporting removal of cannabis from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act[2].

</H1>

The Nixon Tapes

May 26, 1971, Time: 10:03 am - 11:35 am -- Oval Office
Conversation: 505-4 -- Meeting with Nixon and HR 'Bob' Haldeman

RN: "Now, this is one thing I want. I want a Goddamn strong
statement on marijuana. Can I get that out of this
sonofabitching, uh, Domestic Council?"

HRH: "Sure."

RN: "I mean one on marijuana that just tears the ass out of them.
I see another thing in the news summary this morning about it.
You know it's a funny thing,every one of the bastards that are
out for legalizing marijuana is Jewish.

What the Christ is the
matter with the Jews, Bob, what is the matter with them?

I
suppose it's because most of them are psychiatrists, you know,
there's so many, all the greatest psychiatrists are Jewish. By
God we are going to hit the marijuana thing, and I want to hit it
right square in the puss, I want to find a way of putting more on
that. More [ unintelligible ] work with somebody else with this."

HRH: "Mm hmm, yep."

RN: "I want to hit it, against legalizing and all that sort of
thing."

RN: "You see, the thing that is so terribly important here is
that it not appear that the Commission's frankly just a bunch of
do-gooders, I mean, they say well they're a bunch of old men who
don't understand, that's fine, I wouldn't mind that, but, but if
they get the idea you're just a bunch of do-gooders that are
going to come out with a quote soft on marijuana report, that'll
destroy it, right off the bat. I think there's a need to come out
with a report that is totally, uh, uh, oblivious to some obvious,
uh, differences between marijuana and other drugs, other
dangerous drugs, there are differences. And also that you don't
go into the matter of, uh, penalties and that sort of thing, as
to whether there should be uniformity in penalties, whether in
courts, I'd much rather have uniformity than diversity, but uh,
different approaches. I'd say look, everywhere, hell, in Texas
they put them in jail for six years."

The man sets up a SCIENTIFC commission to study the issue.

And then what happens?

When he doesn't like what SCIENCE has to tell him?

He sets out to insure that they report something other that what the SCIENCE tells him.

Poltically motivated?

You betcha.

And this is, in part at least, one of the reasons that I think my liberal chums are nothing but cowardly tools.

Where is the so called LIBERALS on this issue?

They're not merely hiding in the bushes, they're actively ignoring the science, too.

It might surprise SOME OF you to learn that more people were incarcerated for marijuan under CLINTON than any previous POTUS.

The DEMS?

The Dems aren't worth a shit, either, folks.

Quislings and cowards and hypocrites, all they fucking care about is being in office so they can assist is the RAPE of this nation.

 

[topspin]

And I thought I couldn't think less of Nixon. The birth of the republiklans

 

[Mad Scientist]

You know what you never read about? Stoned Man Hospitalizes Wife in Domestic Dispute

You know what you never read about? "Stoned Man Invents Something".

Yes it should be legalized. Because after Prohibition ended no one ever came to work drunk or drove while intoxicated. If we legalize dope I'm certain no one will go to work stoned or drive while stoned.

Face it dopers, there isn't enough support to legalize it so just enjoy it in states that decriminalize it.

 

[topspin]

56% in Cali mad man, but they lead in everything

 

[WillowTree]

go ahead legalize it. I'll grow something more productive than tomatos next year. Stupid people.

 

[WillowTree]

then the next thing ya know old bullfrog and louie douie will be screaming the white man tried to bring down the black guy with drugs again. dumb people

 

[topspin]

willow GED, another republiklan who skipped college

 

[WillowTree]

willow GED, another republiklan who skipped college

you got yer thumb up yer ass again this morning spinner?

 

[topspin]

don't project willow we are not like you.
Give us a laugh and tell us you went to college?

 

[WillowTree]

don't project willow we are not like you.
Give us a laugh and tell us you went to college?

your string too tight this mawning?

 

[topspin]

just like we all knew, your a dropout

 

[WillowTree]

just like we all knew, your a dropout

somebody pissed in yer pablum?