In the US, whether drug possession is charged as a (vote-taking) felony rather than a misdemeanor is partly based on the type of drug, right? Do drugs which are more popular with whites tend to be charged as misdemeanors while drugs more popular with blacks as felonies? How about pot possession by blacks vs whites?
Speak for yourself. I maintain the [admittedly unpopular] opinion that what other adults put into their bodies is absolutely none of my business.
ISTR from watching Ken Burns Prohibition documentary that Prohibition was, by some measures, something of a success. For example, the problem of men blowing the family’s food money on alcohol and abusing the wife and/or kids was much less widespread following Prohibition. Similarly, the number of people - adolescent boys in particular - who guzzled alcohol as part of their daily lives similarly dropped after Prohibition.
Prohibition did shine a light on the problems brought by alcohol, and in some ways it forced to society to take a look at those problems and try to address them. Unfortunately, it tried to address them in the worst way possible.
The page above also states that blacks and latinos make up 37% of the population that is incarcerated for drugs, but make up only 14% of the illegal-drug-taking population as a whole. People with prior drug convictions are not able to be a part of the new legal weed market, so the new legal weed market is a white guy’s game.
I do see that you qualified this with “adults” though. So you would still have a “war on drugs” for minors, yes?
I suppose that would depend largely on how you define “War on Drugs for minors.” I want to see pot, Ecstasy, Special K and other recreational drugs available to adults over 18, with proper ID, at dedicated dispensaries - just like with pot in Colorado. If a minor is caught with such a drug, I’d rather the cops confiscate it and send them on their way rather than locking them in the clink and pushing the offender into the juvenile “justice” system - something that would undoubtedly ruin their lives.
As for crack, meth, and harder shit like that: I’m oft misunderstood when I say that I want such drugs legalized. I certainly don’t want that shit available at every corner pharmacy for anyone who wants it. Rather, I’d like to see a system of clinics where addicts can go to get their fix in a safe, controlled environment. Whether or not such clinics will dispense to minors would have to be up to each clinic.
All of the above, plus the mob.
As for the black v. white question, my sister was addicted to cocaine for ten years and the last thing she thought about was the possibility of a white, middle class woman getting arrested for it. She did eventually spend a month in a dryout center and break the addiction.