David Brooks smoked weed when he was young, now he regrets it, thinks no one else should [View all]

[MrScorpio]

I've never smoked weed, ever, I don't regret not ever smoking, but I don't think that people should be prohibited from doing so.

We're both 52, two months difference, so it's not like it's that big of one. He went to school in Canada and now he's some right wing demagogue. I went to school in Michigan and spent most of my adult life in the military, where it was part of my job to process the separations of troops who were caught smoking weed and yet, I came out about as a pretty lefty guy as one could be.

What the fuck has Brooks done to slather his hands with the blood of weed smokers? Has he ever looked into their eyes as he was part of the process that ruined their lives? I don't think so.

I don't regret that at all either, I didn't think that weed smoking had its place for people who were in uniform.

He's white and I'm black, but it's been my observation that white guys can pretty much smoke weed at will, without any fear of being hassled by the cops. Black guys tend to get targeted by the cops as suspected weed smokers, even when a lot of them have not smoked or possessed weed at all.

In that, we're living in two different worlds.

Brooks couldn't be bothered to acknowledge that fact.

By the way, the way that Brooks is acting, with his dope smoking past and all, his "regrets" seem awfully hypocritical, as he could still be smoking it today (secretly), and being the white, middle class, right wing demagogue that he is, no one would even care.

Me, I have to live in this world of weed prohibition, where my rights and the rights of others could be violated at the drop of a hat on mere suspicion. Where poor people are suspected of smoking dope merely because they use the social safety net. Where jails are filled with their black and brown bodies merely because they're too poor to afford bail.

Brooks wants that all to stay the same… Hell, he's already had his unpunished thrills. I want it to change because it's unjust and unfair. Yet, he's all for ruining the lives of people for weed and would stay detached from the process as much as possible.

I've never smoked weed and chances are that I never will… But unlike Brooks, my own position isn't one of hypocrisy and isn't either self-serving or dripping with demagoguery.

It's about making world that has more freedom and fairness and less prejudice and fear.