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this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2023
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Just legalize marijuana at the federal level and admit the "war on drugs" is lost and was lost before it even started. That it really was yet another racist policy and the government is really really sorry for being shitty, again.
Even if they don't admit they were wrong, they can demonstrate it. Legalize mj, at a minimum (maybe let's do psychedelics next so those of us with mental health disorders can get some promising treatment some day soon). Pardon all people convicted of possession of said drugs. Set up a national program for addiction treatment. Hell while I am at it let's socialize mental healthcare. And establish UBI. I could go on...
What gives you that impression? They aren't sorry, they're upset people said "fuck you" just like prohibition.
They're saying the government should walk it back and at least pay the lip service to that effect.
I completely understand but normalizing and downplaying this behavior is how we got where we are now.
You're just describing politics. Monied interests push Y, People say "fuck you" eventually and demand Z as a response to Y. Politicians resist, at varying degrees, until they say, "okay, we'll start to do Z".
Moneyed interests are 100% pushing for marijuana legalization, not the other way around.
Prisons are moneyed interests.
Drugs should all be legalized at the federal level, but I think the damage is already done. There is a defacto narco state from the US southern border to the southern tip of South America and it's largely been created out of US social policy. Now that "state" has actual state levels of funding, and in some cases weaponry, and it isn't a physical state so you can't exactly just go bomb it out of existence.
Americans don't have the wherewithal to address addiction as a health crisis. Just take a look outside in any American city and you'll see what I'm talking about. Addiction, poverty - half the country thinks we can just free market our way out of this, some part thinks we can just make all drugs illegal and the problem goes away. We're doomed.
We should but it's unlikely anytime soon.
Very much so. The war on drugs has done wonders to continue the joys of Jim Crow under yet another name. Even if there was a full stop now it would be generations before those affected were back on level. Unless the government went nuts and actually approved something like reparations but that's a pipe dream.
Is it any wonder that the same people who won't end the relic of Jim Crow that is the filibuster also won't end the racist war on drugs?
They'll save that for another election.