U.S. Marshal says drug war, as he saw it, was like ethnic cleansing.

[Xicano]

He's another COP who's out there calling for legalization. He further goes on in this video clip saying he had proposed going into middle and upper class neighborhoods to jail people. He says he was pulled aside and told they'd get shut down if they did that and he'd lose his overtime.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0PX1bh4WBw

[Uncle Joe]

1. Now this, is class war.

Thanks for the thread, Xicano.

[Xicano]

3. Thanks Uncle Joe.

I believe we are at a cusp of change with regards to this issue. A window has opened up and I strongly believe to win this race to need to sprint for all we got toward that finish line.

Take care,

[polichick]

2. Exactly - that's why I couldn't sit on a jury for a federal court this year...

Told the judge that I didn't believe in America's War on Drugs because it targets poor people in the inner city but not rich people out in the burbs; weed smokers but not prescription drug users; crack pushers but not doctors and pharmacists who over-prescribe ~ and he dismissed me.

[Xicano]

4. Good job Polichick. +1000

I myself firmly believe in what Thomas Jefferson had to say:

“I consider trial by jury as the only anchor yet imagined by man by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution." --Thomas Jefferson

In other words: The right to jury nullification of arbitrary/unconstitutional laws.

[polichick]

9. Nullifcation is interesting - I've read some about it, but I'm still not sure...

...if you can use it because you disagree with the way a law is prosecuted in general or if you have to disagree with the way it is prosecuted with regard to an individual.

[Better Today]

5. I can't agree with your tactic. By putting your desire to opine ahead of the willingness

to appear fair and able to consider things case by case, you may have shorted an innocent (comparatively of course) person the right to a fair and reasonable outcome.

That being said, I've only been called to duty once and it was canceled as the case was bargained at the last minute.

[polichick]

7. It wasn't a "tactic" or a "desire to opine" - the judge asked if...

...anyone had an issue that may interfere with rendering a verdict based on the evidence. I had an issue.

[d_b]

6. I think I read that in a chomsky book

written 20 years ago.

[paulsby]

8. not at all surprising. as a c op, i oppose the drug war

and i know many cops who do

i think the war on drugs is just like gun control - racist in effect, as well as intent, in many respects.

fwiw, when i worked the drug unit, i never arrested a single black person for a drug crime.

why?

because my concentration was crystal meth. for whatever reason, i have never even seen an african american in a drug lab, and those were my targets.

the racial stratification of drugs is interesting. and it is true that certain groups (ethnic/racial) choose certain drugs disproportionately

for example, pharmaceuticals (vicodin, viagra, adderall) are very popular amongst rich kids, and drugs that APPEAR like pharmaceuticals (ecstacy - which comes in pill form).

emphasizing on crack disproportionately affects blacks. as do longer sentences for crack vs. powder cocaine.

emphasis on crystal meth disproportionately affects whites.

etc.