In light of the injustice of this modern day Jim Crow law, I would expect that the sole African American presidential candidate might be interested in reforming the drug laws. I am in for a huge disappointment. While it is true that all the Democratic candidates are on record stating that they will end the raids on the medical marijuana gardens, there is no sign that serious drug policy reform is on the Democratic agenda. The only candidate that has the voting record to back up his opposition to the drug war is Ron Paul, the pro-life baby doctor*. Luckily he has no chance of getting elected. At any rate, Obama is on record wavering on the infamous crack-cocaine sentencing disparity. Here's the prize money quote from the Boston Globe:
"Even if we fix this, if it was a 1-to-1 ratio, it's still a problem that folks are selling crack. It's still a problem that our young men are in a situation where they believe the only recourse for them is the drug trade. So there is a balancing act that has to be done in terms of, do we want to spend all our political capital on a very difficult issue that doesn't get at some of the underlying issues; whether we want to spend more of that political capital getting early childhood education in place, getting after-school programs in place, getting summer school programs in place."
I guess he doesn't realize that increased enforcement has had little to no impact on rates of drug use. Very disappointing. First a pro-life baby doctor, now a black man who doesn't oppose the racist drug laws? WTF? The only reason he made it in politics was his ability to stay out of jail. 60% of black male high-school students aren't so lucky.
* A pro-life baby doctor! What's next? A Christian feminist?
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