I’m in favor of legalizing marijuana because it has been used as a way to keep black men at slave wages. I’ve read that more young white men use drugs than any other group. Yet, do you ever read about a drug raid in Wellesley or Dover? The raids generate prisoners who shovel snow for what – 80 cents/hour? One evening, I was walking down the Commonwealth Avenue esplanade when I caught up to three white men in business suits sharing a joint. They lit it up like they had nothing to worry about. They were so obvious! Where were the police? Discriminating, as usual.
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Yes on 4!
I support legalization for the same reasons you cite: its disproportionate impact on people of color and the overly harsh lifetime-long impact of a criminal charge on one’s record. I have a disabled young adult child and I have been shocked at how many public benefits become unavailable to someone if they have a criminal record of any sort, including availability of public housing and eligibility for certain college loans.
I really had not considered your “cynical” view about physicians’ decrying marijuana use, although some of the new research tying marijuana use in teens and young adults to higher rates of psychosis is troubling as we consider this question. You are right to question why there is so much protest over this when there was none over opioids.
Like any major new societal freedom there will be unexpected problems, but I agree with you that the time has come and that less damage will be done overall by legalizing marijuana.