Cannabis News Media Awareness Project
  US Drug Laws Are 'Racist'
Posted by FoM on August 23, 2001 at 10:47:48 PT
By Reuters  
Source: Reuters  

justice United Nations - More than 200 activists, civil rights leaders and celebrities urged the United Nations on Wednesday to challenge America's drug laws in an upcoming UN conference on racism, saying they discriminated against African-Americans and Hispanics.

In a petition to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the signatories said the US war on drugs was "not a war on plants and chemicals, but on citizens and other human beings who all too often are members of racial and ethnic minorities."

The petitioners included actor Danny Glover; singer Harry Belafonte; New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson; Julian Bond, chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; former New York City mayor David Dinkins and dozens of legislators, church leaders, scholars and scientists.

UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said Annan had not yet seen the the petition, but he noted that UN member states were writing the conference document, not the secretary-general.

Whites use as many drugs as Latinos and African Americans.

But among those incarcerated for drug offences in the United States, 57 percent are black and 22 percent are Hispanic -- partly because the drugs they use, such as "crack" cocaine carry tougher sentences, the letter said.

"The war on drugs is rooted in racial bias," it charged.

The UN conference against racism is due to be held in Durban, beginning on August 31, but negotiations over the meeting are deadlocked over demands by Arab nations that the conference texts link Zionism with racism.

This has prompted the United States to threaten to boycott the meeting.

TLC - DPF: The Campaign To End Race Discrimination
http://www.drugpolicy.org/lindesmith/news/race_conf_letter2.html

Source: Reuters
Published: Thursday, August 23, 2001
Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited

Related Articles:

America's 'War on Drugs' Looks Unfairly Warped
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10685.shtml

Census: War on Drugs Hit Blacks
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10168.shtml


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Comment #13 posted by Lehder on September 25, 2001 at 05:07:59 PT
more on "Blowback"
"Blowback" page updated with new pictures. if you didn't read it in august, read it now.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blowback_CJohnson/Blowback_CJohnson.html

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #12 posted by Lehder on August 25, 2001 at 16:31:39 PT
you and the police
Actually, political collapse does not much bother me - maybe we will be so lucky. But economic and social collapse - those will be troublesome. Where will the police be if our country should fall into chaos - as may well happen in the event of a deep recession or a depression - where? They will ring DynCorp and protect its property and personnel - national security must come first in a time of crisis. If the police have time to visit your property at all, they will be there only to make sure you don't have any drugs - the root cause of all our problems, as they will "explain" to you themselves. Good luck.

Airplanes used to have numbers on them, on the undersides of their wings and on their tails. Why do I see so many planes marked only with a geometric pattern, like a black dot or a red bar - no numbers? I wish I still had binoculars, but when I lived in the city my vee-hick-uhl was broken into three nights in a row, and now they are gone.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #11 posted by Lehder on August 25, 2001 at 15:59:17 PT
your future: economic and political collapse
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blowback_CJohnson/CostsConsequences_BCJ.html

What can you do about it?
Nada.


[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #10 posted by Lehder on August 24, 2001 at 14:18:00 PT
excerpts from his book "Blowback"

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blowback_CJohnson/Blowback_CJohnson.html

including discussion of a new world court for trial of individuals, not just states, for genocide and other war crimes. the u.s. was one of only seven nations out of 127 refusing to sign.
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blowback_CJohnson/Stealth_BCJ.html


[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #9 posted by Lehder on August 24, 2001 at 13:48:44 PT
interesting interview
author Chalmers Johnson
http://www.alumni.berkeley.edu/Alumni/Cal_Monthly/September_2000/Q&A_-_A_Conversation_with_Chalmers_Johnson.asp


[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #8 posted by Assa on August 24, 2001 at 13:37:22 PT
'quotes' in the 'news'
> US Drug Laws Are 'Racist'

There's those quotes again. From the 'news' 'service' 'known as' 'reuters'.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #7 posted by Lehder on August 24, 2001 at 10:39:31 PT
new dark age
a fascinating link, Sudaca. the names in the article should help me to find more on the same subject. the parallels with the roman empire have interested me for a long time. i have often called our war on drugs a war on culture, and i think that our leaders, present and over the last few decades, could, if we let them, truly lead us into a new dark age.

the roman empire began on 21 april 753 bc! and lasted until the invasion of alaric in 409, nearly 1200 years. its culture was almost exclusively borrowed; its wealth and power grew through the taxation of newly conquered territories. our empire is quite the opposite - our power grew through the selling of our culture. when the romans were halted along the rhine and along a constantly changing border in britain, their growth in power was stymied too. our export of culture is ending fast with what we call "drug-free". are we headed for a corporate sponsored new dark age?

a fascinating link, thanks.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #6 posted by Sudaca on August 24, 2001 at 09:35:37 PT
Article on Mapinc - Imperial America
This sort of nicely ties in to an article which I link below, it appears some folks think the US indeed should embrace its imperialism.

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1542/a03.html?1414



[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #5 posted by kaptinemo on August 23, 2001 at 13:44:51 PT:

Ostriches, yes...and boots
Our Good Doctor Russo has pointed out that the US risks a drift into isolationism regarding drug policies.

But the danger is much greater than that.

For far too long, the US has had an enormous say in the everyday affairs of other nations. It has used 'bully pulpits' like the UN Narcotics Control Board as an extension of US political gravitas in much the same way it uses military muscle.

But, lo and behold! The US is no longer residing in the catbird seat. And other nations are deciding - without Washington's blessing - that they might have a better time going it alone vis-ŕ-vis drug policies.

This kind of thinking is dangerous…for Washington. Because if otherwise allies start thinking that, then what's to keep them from doing something else Washington doesn't like? It is this idea which the wonks of Washington are so pee-their-pants scared will 'infect' the rest of the world.

Our Founders never intended the US to be the planetary policeman. They never wanted us to be de facto imperialists; Ol' George Washington himself made that abundantly clear in his Farewell Message about avoiding 'foreign entanglements'. Don't take my word for it, read it for yourself:

http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/writings/washington.htm

They had the benefits of a classical education, and knew that the Road to Hell was littered with the bones of nations that forgot their basic principles and instead shouldered the mantle of Empire.

Basic principles such as minding your own business. Not being a pest to your neighbors. And not oppressing your own people, lest they do to you what you've done to them.

Our neighbors are fed up. They're justifiably angry at our interfering in their affairs. And if we choose to bury our heads in the sand, we shouldn't be surprised if some of them, in their wrath, kick us where it hurts the most.


[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #4 posted by Haze on August 23, 2001 at 11:49:47 PT
America, the world will go on without you
Very true The U.S. may be a super power but how will it stand up to a united front of UN countries that will simply turn its back on U.S. involvement. The U.S. government is already risking being excluded from the dealing in CO2 shares as layed out by the Kyoto agreement. I think this really outlines the UNs attitude that it will not be held ransom by the U.S' attitude of "if we don't acnowage it theres not a problem". If the US refuses to attend the conferance sanctions could be placed and the relationship with the U.S. could worsten.

Like patric said its time "We the people" got the country back (except that doesn't apply to me cause I'm British :)

PEACE

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #3 posted by TroutMask on August 23, 2001 at 11:32:27 PT
I agree
I agree, Dr. Russo. The American people are pretty blind to what the rest of the world is doing in regards to the War on Drugs. But they can't remain blind forever.

Our victory is inevitable, but far too slow, imho.

-TM

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #2 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on August 23, 2001 at 11:27:15 PT:

Amerika, Poor Sport
Increasingly, Amerika is bowing out. Don't like the commission? Boycott it. Don't like the consensus report? Bury it.

I call this the "Ostrich Strategy." It cannot work forever. Sooner or later it is necessary to come up and look around. When Amerika does, it will realize that the world is passing it by. The choice is clear: maintain the war on drugs at an unsustainable cost, or rejoin the world in forging a meaningful and constructive peace.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #1 posted by Patrick on August 23, 2001 at 11:18:22 PT
US threatens boycott of meeting
I wonder how corporate media will "spin" its way out of this news? I am a US citizen and I will not boycott this meeting but the current Totalitarian regime probably will. What has happened to our country and how can "We the People" get it back?????????

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