Many activists have pointed out over the years that the war on drugs is a war on minorities. That’s why black people are almost four times as likely to be arrested for marijuana compared to white people, even though consumption rates are about the same for both races. In many parts of America that ratio is even worse. An ex-DEA agent (named Matthew Fogg) recently did an interview in which he explained that he was told to only do drug enforcement in urban areas, and to avoid suburbs. Below is an excerpt of what he had to say, per Reader Supported News:
So when I would go into the war room, where we were setting up all of our drug and gun and addiction task force determining what cities we were going to hit, I would notice that most of the time it always appeared to be urban areas.
That’s when I asked the question, well, don’t they sell drugs out in Potomac and Springfield, and places like that? Maybe you all think they don’t, but statistics show they use more drugs out in those areas than anywhere. The special agent in charge, he says ‘You know, if we go out there and start messing with those folks, they know judges, they know lawyers, they know politicians. You start locking their kids up; somebody’s going to jerk our chain.’ He said, ‘they’re going to call us on it, and before you know it, they’re going to shut us down, and there goes your overtime.'”
The war on drugs is a blight on American history, and future generations will look back and think ‘what the heck were you guys doing?’ The war on drugs has ruined the lives of too many people, which is why we all fight so hard for reform. Below is video footage from the interview:
