jct74
06-24-2013, 12:59 PM
Rand Paul: Drug war targets minorities
The justice system is stacked against minorities, even though white people use drugs just as often.
by Rand Paul
1:56 p.m. EDT June 24, 2013
Speaking at Howard University in April, I argued that big government is no friend to black Americans. The New York Times article earlier this month "Blacks Are Singled Out for Marijuana Arrests, Federal Data Suggests" reminded me how true this was.
A report released recently by the American Civil Liberties Union revealed that nationally, blacks were four times as likely as whites to be arrested for marijuana possession. It also indicated that these unfortunate numbers were true despite the fact that marijuana use is about the same for both black and white Americans.
Why is this happening? Why the vast disparity?
I spend so much time battling our gargantuan federal government that I can't possibly manage to keep up with all the damage it does, everywhere, every day and in so many countless ways. As former White House adviser David Axelrod said recently in defending Obama over the IRS scandal: "Part of being president is there's so much beneath you that you can't know because the government is so vast."
Interestingly, neither Axelrod nor Obama have ever shown much interest in taming the federal beast. In fact, virtually every solution they offer involves making government bigger. This often leaves the individual American citizen defenseless against a "vast" system that even its greatest champions can't outline, comprehend or be held accountable for.
Black Americans are being imprisoned far more than white Americans for marijuana possession for one primary reason: the federal government subsidizes it.
...
read more:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/06/24/rand-paul-marijuana-arrests-column/2452259/
The justice system is stacked against minorities, even though white people use drugs just as often.
by Rand Paul
1:56 p.m. EDT June 24, 2013
Speaking at Howard University in April, I argued that big government is no friend to black Americans. The New York Times article earlier this month "Blacks Are Singled Out for Marijuana Arrests, Federal Data Suggests" reminded me how true this was.
A report released recently by the American Civil Liberties Union revealed that nationally, blacks were four times as likely as whites to be arrested for marijuana possession. It also indicated that these unfortunate numbers were true despite the fact that marijuana use is about the same for both black and white Americans.
Why is this happening? Why the vast disparity?
I spend so much time battling our gargantuan federal government that I can't possibly manage to keep up with all the damage it does, everywhere, every day and in so many countless ways. As former White House adviser David Axelrod said recently in defending Obama over the IRS scandal: "Part of being president is there's so much beneath you that you can't know because the government is so vast."
Interestingly, neither Axelrod nor Obama have ever shown much interest in taming the federal beast. In fact, virtually every solution they offer involves making government bigger. This often leaves the individual American citizen defenseless against a "vast" system that even its greatest champions can't outline, comprehend or be held accountable for.
Black Americans are being imprisoned far more than white Americans for marijuana possession for one primary reason: the federal government subsidizes it.
...
read more:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/06/24/rand-paul-marijuana-arrests-column/2452259/