PROHIBITIONISTS SAY LEGALIZATION SETS BACK RACIAL JUSTICE

@learnaboutsam

Kevin Sabet’s anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, in partnership with the Illinois NAACP, argues legalization harms people of color:

“The reality is, marijuana legalization/commercialization exacerbates issues of systemic injustice by creating a predatory addiction-for-profit drug industry…[which is] already targeting communities of color like its predecessors Big Tobacco” and liquor.

• It’s promoting the hashtag #decriminalizedontlegalize.

Elsewhere in equity-related news:

• Sean Worsley, a disabled, Black Iraq War veteran with an Arizona MED prescription, faces five years in prison after he was busted for possession in Alabama and his life unraveled.
  Washington Post
• Business Insider spoke to activists who say legalization is essential to police reform.
• Not everyone’s wild about Colorado’s proposed “franchise’ business model” to support equity entrepreneurs.
  Marijuana Moment
• Broccoli Magazine‘s podcast discussed the history of cannabis in Africa & Mexico undistorted “by colonial perspectives and the erasure of Indigenous and Black voices.” ????WW California has more.
• The head of criminal justice at software non-profit Code for America, advocates for “clean slate” expungement policies for minor criminal offenses.
  The Hill
• Leafly discusses how to stop cannabis taxes from funding police.
• A federal appeals court ruled two men couldn’t be charged with a federal crime for a 2012 raid on their Humboldt property. ????WW California has more.
  San Francisco Chronicle
• The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police called for possession of all drugs to be decriminalized. ????WW Canada’s last issue has more.
  CBC
• In a primary, pot-hating former Attorney General Jeff Sessions (R) lost his bid to reclaim his former Senate seat. The Onion gets it just right.
  CNN