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Despite the hoopla over
the elections for mayor and city council going on until
November 3, the most relevant issue on the ballot is Issue
3, the Marijuana Legalization Initiative.
No disrespect to Mayor
Paula Hicks-Hudson, Councilmen Tyrone Riley and Yvonne
Harper and other mayoral and council candidates, but the
issue, also known as the ResponsibleOhio plan, is the one
that most directly affects the quality of black life.
A social policy designed
by former President Richard Nixon to counter the gains made
during the Civil Rights struggle, the pandemic War on Drugs
has and continues to be the cruelest weapon of mass
destruction used to heap retributive violence against black
and brown Americans.
Despite the fact that
whites and blacks use marijuana at similar rates, blacks are
arrested nearly four times the rate of whites. While only 13
percent of the population is African Americans, a majority
of those arrested, including 60 percent of people in state
prisons for drug felonies and 81 percent of those in federal
institutions are black.
To put it succinctly,
“state and local governments,” says the ACLU, “have targeted
blacks and communities of color by aggressive and selective
enforcement of marijuana laws.” The collateral consequences
of this racial policy of social control has destroyed
families and communities of color, increased child poverty
and made it nearly impossible to educate our youth. Children
with incarcerated parents make them less likely to be
school-ready and have problems with things like staying on
task, paying attention, and keeping their emotions under
control.
Most would agree that the
$1.5 trillion, 50 million arrests for nonviolent drug
offenses and 45-year-long war has not worked.
“The drug war is a
complete failure, and even worse it is a self-perpetuating,
constantly expanding policy disaster,” says retired New
Jersey State Police Lieutenant – Undercover Officer Jack
Cole. “If current drug policy actually worked drug supply
and purity should decrease. Drug use, overdose deaths,
murders and violations should decrease as well, but instead,
they have continued to rise,” he adds.
Most disturbing is the
fact that today nearly 40 percent of murders are going
unsolved compared to nine percent when the war started.
Also, nearly 60 percent of rapes and arsons, 70 percent of
robberies and 90 percent of home burglaries go unsolved
while valuable police work is overwhelmingly allocated to
chasing around low-level nonviolent drug offenders.
What would be a
responsible solution that effectively deals with the
devastation of wasted lives and communities as a result of
the war on drugs or marijuana, in particular?
Cole, the co-founder and
board chairman of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
(LEAP), a 100,000- member international education
organization made up of police, judges, prosecutors and
correction officials in 120 countries and with granted
consulting status to the United Nations, recommends the
legalization and regulation of drugs as more efficient and
ethical solution than prohibition. Legalization of medical
marijuana, he notes, is associated with a nearly nine
percent decrease in traffic fatalities and with sharp
reductions in suicide rates.
Yet, helping LEAP to
communicate its message more effectively could come from a
recent partnership between faith and law enforcement. “We
give hundreds of talks,” he says.
“Afterwards, 80
percent of the Rotary or convention audiences will
wholeheartedly agree with us and our medical partners. The
20 percent who don’t, invariably come up to us afterward and
say: ‘You’re right! If we legalize the drugs then death,
disease, crime and addiction can be solved. But, you know,
its just immoral to allow people to use drugs.’ And when
they say that to me there is nothing, personally, I can say
to convince them.
They listen to law
enforcement and criminal justice professionals but if we are
going to solve this terrible problem, then people also need
to hear from the faith community. Therefore we have
partnered not only with the medical profession (Cops and
Docs), but also with the faith community (Cops and Clergy),”
he continues.
The question is What would
Jesus Do?
He certainly did not
stress condemnation and sending those most hurting off to
jail. Jesus’ teaching primarily centers on our treatment of
others and the need for us to show compassion, while
treating others with respect and dignity. He also stressed
that we should never leave people, such as marginalized
victims of an unjust drug war, wounded and bleeding on the
side of the road. Neither should we condemn them but to heal
them. However, Jesus did drink wine with his disciples and
kept the party “bumping” by turning water into wine after it
had run out at a party even saving the best wine for last.
The Bible clearly speaks
out against all abuse, including that of food. Paul
recommended that Timothy take a drink to calm his nerves but
Ephesians 5:18 commands us “do not be drunk, but be filled
with the Holy Spirit.” It is a focus that condemns abuse and
excess but not use. The greater moral or ethical wrong, for
me, is treating drug use as a crime, rather than a health
problem.
What would I do?
1. Prioritize public
health, public safety and community and separate use
from abuse while using regulation rather than
criminalization as a way forward.
I do not advocate or
promote the use of drugs or alcohol, but like LEAP, I am
deeply concerned about drug abuse and community safety
threatened by the flourishing of gang and cartel violence. A
perpetuation of prohibition policies will not remedy these
problems.
I believe that drug abuse
is a health problem and not a criminal justice problem and
that it is morally wrong to send large numbers of youth of
color to prisons and in essence, mark them for life for mere
low-level nonviolent offenses.
2. Keep It 100:
I believe that we can no
longer afford to remain in denial. The drug war has not
worked because it has nothing to do with drugs but is about
race, power, racial control and money.
3. Not Be Silent Anymore:
The Spirit of the black
community has been broken while the Church has remained
silent on nearly every substantive issue since the Civil
Rights movement. Law enforcement has wasted valuable time,
resources and lives needlessly chasing low-level drug
offenders from corners while millions suffer in silence and
lives are lost to issues such as domestic violence. It is
incumbent upon the Church to educate its members and the
community while simultaneously calling for mercy, healing,
forgiveness and the possibility of second chances. That’s
our work.
4. Work on changing
draconian drug laws so that churches, community, social
service organizations, and relatives can focus on keeping
people away from drugs and teaching people to make good
decisions.
One way we can carry out
this moral imperative is for churches to offer a resolution
like the following of the New England Assembly of the United
Methodist Church, representing over 600 congregations in six
U.S. states. This resolution, which calls for an end to the
drug war, passed 597 to three and should also be adopted by
churches that are tired of the war on drugs that is in
reality, a war on people. LET THE CHURCH SAY AMEN!
A Resolution Regarding the “War on Drugs”
Our United Methodist Book
of Discipline charges us to seek restorative, not punitive,
justice. Specifically, it states,
In the love of Christ, who came to save those who are lost
and vulnerable, we urge the creation of a genuinely new
system for the care and restoration of victims, offenders,
criminal justice officials, and the community as a whole.
Restorative justice grows out of biblical authority, which
emphasizes a right relationship with God, self and
community. When such relationships are violated or broken
through crime, opportunities are created to make things
right. (BOD PP164, H)
To that end, we offer the
following resolution as an appeal to end the so-called “War
on Drugs.”
Whereas: The public policy of prohibition of certain
narcotics and psychoactive substances, sometimes called the
“War on Drugs,” has failed to achieve the goal of
eliminating, or even reducing, substance abuse and;
Whereas: There have been a large number of unintentional
negative consequences as a result of this failed public
policy and;
Whereas: One of those consequences is a huge and violent
criminal enterprise that has sprung up surrounding the
Underground Market dealing in these prohibited substances
and;
Whereas: Many lives have been lost as a result of the
violence surrounding this criminal enterprise, including
innocent citizens and police officers and;
Whereas: Many more lives have been lost to overdose because
there is no regulation of potency, purity or adulteration in
the production of illicit drugs and;
Whereas: Our court system has been severely degraded due to
the overload caused by prohibition cases and;
Whereas: Our prisons are overcrowded with persons, many of
whom are non-violent, convicted of violation of the
prohibition laws and;
Whereas: Many of our citizens now suffer from serious
diseases, contracted through the use of unsanitary needles,
which now threaten our population at large and;
Whereas: To people of color, the “War on Drugs” has arguably
been the single most devastating, dysfunctional social
policy since slavery and;
Whereas: Huge sums of our national treasury are wasted on
this failed public policy and;
Whereas: Other countries, such as Portugal and Switzerland,
have dramatically reduced the incidence of death, disease,
crime, and addiction by utilizing means other than
prohibition to address the problem of substance abuse and;
Whereas: The primary mission of our criminal justice system
is to prevent violence to our citizens and their property,
and to ensure their safety, therefore;
Be it Resolved: That the New England Annual Conference
supports seeking means other than prohibition to address the
problem of substance abuse; and is further resolved to
support the mission of the international educational
organization Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) to
reduce the multitude of unintended harmful consequences
resulting from fighting the war on drugs and to lessen the
incidence of death, disease, crime, and addiction by ending
drug prohibition.
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org
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