Help Blacks By Attacking Crime, Legalizing Drugs - Tell Us What You Think

[Honeykiss1974]

Posted on Wed, Aug. 14, 2002

STANLEY CROUCH: HELP BLACKS BY ATTACKING CRIME, LEGALIZING DRUGS

During a recent visit to New Orleans, I began testing a theory I have about what has to be done to get black people up from the impoverished, crime-ridden and poorly educated extension of slavery into our moment.

I laid it out for Bob Hubbard, who was one of the central figures in the civil-rights movement in New Orleans. He also was in Mississippi during that tragic Freedom Summer of 1964, when James Chaney, Mickey Schwerner and Andrew Goodman were murdered by local bigots. Hubbard had driven the car from New York that the three had been in the night they disappeared.

Hubbard is now a businessman interested in real estate and providing bed-and-breakfast lodging for visitors and tourists at his Hubbard Mansion on St. Charles Street in New Orleans.

I told Hubbard that the things I considered essential to black uplift were basic: high-quality public education; removing the burden of heavy crime from communities dominated by it; and legalizing drugs.

There needs to be a national rebuilding of public schools, so that black kids at the bottom will not be left out of the Internet age. Poorly educated, they are destined to become burdens on our society, one way or another.

For people at the bottom to live in civilized neighborhoods, the anarchic criminals who dominate the streets have to go, either behind bars or in honest directions. The civil-rights establishment and local leadership need to work on developing an alliance between the community and police. Such an alliance could result in hot lines that residents could use to report criminals, cops on foot patrols, and support of strong policing by community people.

Hubbard agreed with those ideas but questioned the idea of legalizing drugs. Legalizing drugs, he said, would lead to more chaos, unless all drug addicts were registered and supplied with their drugs through programs provided by the state.

I would argue, however, that we cannot fight a crime business that brings in so many billions of dollars and is responsible for so many of the violent deaths in the streets as well as the presence of so many young black men in penal institutions. Legalized and taken over by our pharmaceutical industry, those illegal plants and substances would bring mountains of tax dollars into the national coffers.

It would not be without costs. There would be those lost to drugs, just as there are those lost to alcohol. But we were able to handle the legalization of alcohol following Prohibition, and we could handle the legalization of drugs.


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Stanley Crouch is a columnist for the New York Daily News.



What are y'alls thoughts on this? I am not sure what my opinion is as of yet.....

[librasoul22]

Legalize weed!! Um...not for me, but for the smokers out there!

[Steeltrap]

I am vehemently anti-illegal drug on a personal level.

But if people are going to use them, perhaps we should tax the isht out of them. I'm not seeing any slowing of demand for drugs.

[miss priss]

Think about this say selling drugs becomes legal...would there still be illegal drug selling going on ?

Theoretically, through the legalization of drug selling,would make a thug an honest working businessman. But there is still the question of the effect it would have on crime. Instead of John Doe being able to sell it on the street, he could sell it in a store or by mail even but if the govt. taxes and mandates the law in regards to drugs, John Doe will still be out on the street selling because he will not be able to afford or even may feel it is more profitable to solicit from the streets which would still be considered illegal..so where is the logic?

Take alcohol for example, it is heavily regulated by the govt. as well as the selling of cigarettes... ....However, this does not keep underage kids from getting these legal "drugs". Although cigarettes is considered to have no "real" affect on crime, alcohol, on the other hand, has lead to many other substance abuses and is linked with DUI and other felonious crimes....IF ABUSED...

Drugs and alcohol ARE abusive substances and its link to crime is obvious. Drug use and selling are facts and for some a way of life. But it does not excuse the mere fact of its infliction that has been imposed on society as a whole. Crack babies, broken homes, and murder are just a few incidences that are social ills still waiting to be rectified.

What exactly what is he saying? Encourage our children to be glorified street pharmacists? And how in the HE** is that helping Black folks?!!! Is he incinuating that drugs would "help a brotha out"? As far as rebuilding schools, the foundation starts at HOME. If anything Blacks and anyone else for that matter should target rebuilding the FAMILY! IMO kids are poorly educated when the family does not take part in the role of raising that child. If he seriously believes that Corporate America as we now know it will allow a young male age 7 or up to monopolize the drug ,pharmaceutical sales, health insuance industry or whatever you want to call it then this "brotha" need to sit down and face a reality check!

[thesweetestone]

There was an ABC special about this topic a couple weeks ago. They gave alot of good reasons why drugs should be legalize. John Stossel did the report. His reports are always so interresting.

[Ideal08]

Legalizing would not encourage our kids to be glorified street pharmacists no more than legalizing alcohol made them glorified bootleggers. I doubt that if this were to ever happen people would still be selling drugs on the street. THAT is the purpose of legalization. The THUG would not be selling the drug, the STORES would be selling it. Now, the THUG may 'scalp' the drugs, if you will, and that would be illegal. But you'd have to think, who's gonna by it from the Thug (who will most likely up the price) when they can get it at the store for cheaper? There would be a State Drug Store just like there is a State Liquor Store. Would it be illegal if I bought a bottle of Hennesey and sold it to someone else? I don't know. I don't think this would create any more crackheads than we have now, though. I know I wouldn't be like, "Ooh, Crack's legal now, I'ma get me some!!" Nah. Weed, on the other hand...

While I understand his reasoning behind legalizing drugs and agree with his reasoning, he's forgotten some important stuff. I do think that there would be a reduction in SELLING crimes, but not without consequences. In the beginning, there would be a lot of robberies, I think. Don't really know. I don't think legalizing is the answer. DECRIMINALIZING SOME drugs would be better (lung chewing PCP would not be one of them, lol). Decriminalizing meaning that there would be no charge for possession. Now, intent to sell would still remain the same with decriminalization, as would selling and trafficking.

Just last week, one of my friends was pulled over and had LESS THAN THE MINIMUM AMOUNT OF MARIJUANA to be charged with possession. BUT since the little bit of weed was in two separate bags, they are trying to get him on intent to sell. EVEN THOUGH he had LESS than the minimum amount for a charge. Now, chit like that is why I tend to agree with decriminalizing it. And then for one cop to say to the other cop, "Do you want this for your personal stash?" That's BS. And a lawyer friend of mine also told me that most times, the drugs don't even get marked for evidence. So, people are being arrested, getting records, only for someone IN the system to take advantage of the drug (use or sell). So, where did the crime stop with that arrest? It didn't, and it doesn't. Yeah, everyone has free will, but DO AS I SAY NOT AS I DO is not a proper way to encourage our citizens to steer away from illegal activity. So, our people are going to jail for the same crimes that the cops who pull them over commit. The same crimes that the government makes possible in the first place. So, where is the JUSTICE in that if JUST-US are going to prison?

I think that the government is making too much money to legalize drugs. Taxes would not give them the buck that they are getting now. Just my speculation.

I do know, however, that smokers should beware of this type of thing. If drugs are legalized, they will go straight downhill. Look at the crap they put into cigarettes. They would put the same thing in joints/blunts. The purity (if you will) of the plant would be gone, and the highs would not be the same. Not to mention, the prices would skyrocket.

I think that they should research drug abuse in Amsterdam before making any decisions on this. Hell, over there, you can go into a Canibus Cafe. Menus and everything.

I always wondered if lifting prohibition was like this, with all the debates and everything. And what made them make the final decision to do it?

Are the people who are adamantly against drugs like that because they are illegal? If they had always been legal, would it still be a moral/ethical issue? We don't have Mothers Against Drinking, just MADD. Food for thought...

[miss priss]

I think the stores would be owned by the businessmen who were "former" thugs....by doing this would only legitimize what they are doing. However,the question remains if we legalize the selling of drugs would it really decriminalize it?

Groups like MADD and SADD, pretty much criminalizes the use of alcohol while driving which can endanger lives...not the act of drinking controllably. So it would stand to reason that the selling of drugs and drug use (uncontrollable substances that are highly addictive)endangers lives, driving or otherwise would merit a ban on the sale of it. Weed, that's a diferent topic in itself because it is a prescribable drug with medicinal qualities. This I could see being legal. I was in Toronto 2 weeks ago for Caribbifest (da bomb!) and they were protesting to legalize weed....they even played the reggae anthem "Legalize It"....

I could see it now at Wal-mart....Could you tell me the price of a box of All Choked Up? Weed dept., you have a price check on eisle 3...a price check on eisle 3....

[Steeltrap]

Originally posted by miss priss
I could see it now at Wal-mart....Could you tell me the price of a box of All Choked Up? Weed dept., you have a price check on eisle 3...a price check on eisle 3....

Laaawwd....

[Ideal08]

Originally posted by miss priss
I think the stores would be owned by the businessmen who were "former" thugs....by doing this would only legitimize what they are doing.

I don't think this would be the case. If they were legalized, I am willing to bet that not a single thug would own ANY of the stores. They would be STATE drug agencies, just like the STATE liquor agencies. I just don't see how they could be privately owned. Now THAT would some mess right there. Pookie's Drug Carryout.

However,the question remains if we legalize the selling of drugs would it really decriminalize it?

Groups like MADD and SADD, pretty much criminalizes the use of alcohol while driving which can endanger lives...not the act of drinking controllably. So it would stand to reason that the selling of drugs and drug use (uncontrollable substances that are highly addictive)endangers lives, driving or otherwise would merit a ban on the sale of it.

I think you missed my point on MADD and SADD. And your analogy doesn't match up. MADD & SADD are against drinking and driving, not just drinking. My question was, has it always been that way, that people are only against DRIVING while drinking? And if that's the case, then why aren't people against ONLY using drugs while driving? As far as endangerment, both substances endanger lives, whether driving or not. So, according to your analogy, that should merit a ban on the sale of alcohol as well.

Weed, that's a diferent topic in itself because it is a prescribable drug with medicinal qualities. This I could see being legal.

But what about people that would use it just to get high, who didn't need it for medicinal purposes? Because of them, some people would be completely against the legalizing of it, fully. People would only want to legalize it for medicinal purposes. You think?

I was in Toronto 2 weeks ago for Caribbifest (da bomb!) and they were protesting to legalize weed....they even played the reggae anthem "Legalize It"....

This I will send you a PM about, cuz I have ALWAYS wanted to hear some stories and stuh. It looks SO fun on TV!!! yeah, you gon' hafta give me the scoop on this one! Is it legal in Canada???

[thesweetestone]

Originally posted by miss priss
I could see it now at Wal-mart....Could you tell me the price of a box of All Choked Up? Weed dept., you have a price check on eisle 3...a price check on eisle 3....

True. Wal-mart would sale it. They sale every damn thing even guns. Wal-mart is convenient but can they let somebody else make a little money?