MARIJUANA JUSTICE ACT INTRODUCED
MARIJUANA JUSTICE ACT INTRODUCED
By Christopher Shuttlesworth Senator Cory Booker recently
introduced the Marijuana Justice Act to call for the legalization of marijuana at the federal level and to help combat the failed War on Drugs.
Booker said in an Aug. 1, 2017 Facebook Live video that “the failed War on
Drugs has locked up millions of nonviolent drug offenders, especially for marijuana-related offenses—at an incredible cost of lost human potential, torn apart families and communities of color and taxpayer dollars.”
Booker stated the United States Federal Prison population has gone up 800 percent and has had a 500 percent increase in incarceration of poor and people of color, the mentally ill, addicted people and veterans since the 1980’s.
He also highlighted that African Americans are almost four times more likely to be arrested for using drugs than whites in the US.
During the Facebook Live, Booker quoted Attorney Bryan Stevenson, executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, who said, “We have a justice system that treats you better if you’re rich and guilty than poor and innocent.”
Booker added as a college graduate, he grew up in a privileged town for 20 years in Newark, New Jersey.
He said he could attests to the inequalities and policies that have failed concerning drug possessions in the U.S. criminal justice system.
“You don’t see kids coming home from frat parties being stopped and frisked or the
enforcement of marijuana laws,” Booker said. “In fact, in so many privileged circles I have been blessed to be in, you hear people bragging about using pot and making jokes. But if you go to communities that are poor and with people of color, then clearly this isn’t a laughing matter.”
He added, “You will see that these are the communities where people are getting
arrested at rates tragically higher than other communities.”
Booker explained that an ACLU study showed that out of eight million arrests,
88 percent of the people were arrested for possession of marijuana between 2001 through 2010.
“If you’re African American, there is no difference with you using or
selling drugs than white people,” he said. “But tragically, I have seen people tagged
with charges of nonviolent drug usage for using marijuana in a nation where our lawmakers and our legislators are using drugs.”
If passed into law, the Marijuana Justice Act would immediately have a positive impact on the criminal justice system, on policing, on communities and even the economy, Bookersaid in a MoveOn.org press release.
“The bill would incentivize states to change their marijuana laws if those laws are
shown to disproportionately affect low-income individuals and/or people of color,” Booker said.
“The Marijuana Justice Act would be applied retroactively for those already serving time for marijuana-related offenses, providing for a judge’s review of marijuana sentences, which would reduce the prison population.”
To find out more information on the bill, you can listen to Booker’s Facebook Live
at https://www.facebook.com/corybooker/ videos/10157111094132228
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