40 Year Anniversary of The War On Drugs But Who’s Celebrating????

NEW YORK TIMES OPED40 Year Anniversary of The War On Drugs

But Who’s Celebrating????

  

JOIN US IN DEMANDING FREEDOM FROM AMERICA’S LONGEST WAR

WHEN: FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2011

WHERE: STEPS OF STATE COURTHOUSE

121 ELM STREET, NEW HAVEN

TIME: 5:00 PM

For over 40 years people in this country have allowed injustice to fester. 40 year old American drug policy has destroyed the lives millions here and abroad. Prior to 1970 drug abuse was viewed as a social disease. On June 17, 1971, then President Richard Nixon, sent a 5300 word message to Congress “to consolidate at the highest level a full scale attack on the problem of drug abuse in America. No longer seeking treatment, law enforcement addressed drug abuse with aggressive criminal justice policy with DEA as designated “foot soldiers” The “war on drugs” has destroyed the lives of millions of citizens in a nation that claims to be the “land of the free”. Over 50% of those in state and federal prisons are non- violent drug offenders. Has this war truly been about ending drug use? If so without a doubt it has been a complete failure. It’s time to declare it a dismal failure and demand our lives back.

Sponsors include My Brother’s Keeper, New Haven Against Police Brutality, Conn Citizens For Marijuana Reform, Efficacy, Copwatch,

(Editor's Note:  And no group has been more targeted and suffered more damage than the black community. As the A.C.L.U. pointed out last week, “The racial disparities are staggering: despite the fact that whites engage in drug offenses at a higher rate than African-Americans, African-Americans are incarcerated for drug offenses at a rate that is 10 times greater than that of whites.”