COP Field Work: DC (MLK March/Rally)
Summer of 2013
WHEREAS, as a result of the “War on Drugs” and mandatory
minimum sentences imposed largely at the federal level, the prison population
has exploded in the past few decades; and
WHEREAS, one crucial result of these misguided and misplaced policies
has been the disproportionate over-confinement of racial and ethnic minorities:
more than 60% of the people in prison are now racial and ethnic minorities;
and
WHEREAS, two-thirds of all persons in prison today for drug offenses
are people of color; and
WHEREAS, more than 700,000 people annually are arrested in the United
States for the possession of marijuana; and
WHEREAS, even though numerous studies demonstrate that whites and
African Americans use and sell marijuana at relatively the same rates,
studies also demonstrate that African Americans are, on average, almost
4 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession, and in some
jurisdictions Blacks are 30 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana
possession than whites; and
WHEREAS, there are also extreme economic consequences to the present
day enforcement of marijuana laws; nationally, states spent an estimated
$3.61 billion enforcing marijuana possession laws in 2010 alone; money
that could be spent on education, job training, and other valuable services;
and
WHEREAS, several states throughout the U.S. have departed from current
federal law to develop more well-tailored and effective guidelines and
sentencing ranges for small, low-level marijuana use which are moderating
some of the more extreme federal policies and their repercussions; and
WHEREAS, these state laws are at times at odds with federal laws;
and
WHEREAS, legislation has been introduced in the 113th Congress,
H.R. 1523, with strong bipartisan support, which would prohibit the federal
enforcement of marijuana laws in states which have lesser penalties.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the NAACP supports H.R. 1523 and
encourages its swift enactment; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the NAACP Washington Bureau shall contact
Members of the Congress and urge the swift enactment of H.R. 1523.
--Howard
COP Field Work: Colorado - Fall of
2012 |
COP Field Work: California Fall of 2010
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Detective/Officer Howard 'cowboy' Wooldridge (retired)
Co-Founder of LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
www.leap.cc
817-975-1110 Cell
howardwooldridge0@gmail.com
Modern Prohibition/The War on Drugs is the most destructive, dysfunctional
& immoral domestic policy since slavery & Jim
Crow.
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