Drugs and Politics
Claudewell S. Thomas, MD, MPH, DLFAPA, is an established psychiatrist who is currently retired ,, He received his medical degree in 1956 at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine and specializes in social psychiatry, public health psychiatry, and forensic psychiatry. Dr. Thomas was board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry... more
The Biden administration is being lauded for bringing forward a measure decriminalizing marijuana and freeing a number of people who have been jailed for its possession. It was the same Joe Biden who supported The War on Drugs.
There is little question that opiates are dangerous and drugs like methamphetamine are extremely addictive. Federal intervention is quite necessary in many scenarios. Nevertheless, law and order has been used to keep visible minorities suppressed and has given white majority racists a never ending power sweep. Possession of crack cocaine in mg amounts has sent many inner city blacks to prisons for over 10 and 15 years. Meanwhile, white people with ounces of powdered cocaine only got fines. Crack creation also became a justification for the use of excessive and often deadly force by police. "Why can't we all get along, mama?" These are not the cries of human beings, but the insignificant whimperings of a dangerous population threatening to overthrow and replace via constitutional guarantees that were never intended for them.
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