Reason Magazine has the story:
A group representing black government employees, including a former DEA agent and member of the U.S. Marshals, has released a petition calling for an end to the drug war. Authored by Matthew F. Fogg, a retired DEA agent, the Blacks In Goverment (BIG) petition calls for a “Federal investigation for solutions to eliminate the pretense and continued arrest and incarceration of African-Americans at extraordinarily disparate rates for drug-related charges,” as well as for Attorney General Eric Holder and President Barack Obama to immediately end “racial bias drug enforcement operations, provide retroactive reduction in sentences for victims and suggest alternatives to incarceration that may in part, include a model to regulate and control the distribution of some drugs.”
Fogg covered D.C. for the DEA during the late 80s and 90s. In a statement from Law Enforcement Again Prohibition, Fogg says, “I personally witnessed racially biased enforcement procedures when I ran a joint DEA task force…When I requested equal enforcement of upscale suburban areas, I met internal resistance.” So Fogg never busted down doors in Chevy Chase, McLean, or Bethesda? Shocking.
I (a white guy) have covered the racism of the drug war extensively here in articles like The New Jim Crow. Nice to see more Blacks getting on board. Because even though I hate to say it, it is true. The Drug War IS racist.
Cross Posted at Power and Control
Comments
4 responses to “Blacks In Government: End Drug Prohibition”
Your ‘New Jim Crow’ article’s end is consistent with some other insider article I read- the gist being, a new DEA agent asked why they weren’t busting down doors and arresting folks in white suburbia as well.
The answer was that if we do that, in a month or two, they’ll get a phone call telling them to stop, and all their over time, and their fancy toys, and their fun little stakeouts, goes away.
Racism certainly played a part in garnering support for drug prohibition.
Opium was suspect because it was Oriental in origin. Cannibis was suspect because it was consumed by blacks and Mexican farm workers. It just wouldn’t do to have good white folk using drugs used by inferior races.
[…] Anslinger’s lies have stood for 74 years. With Black complicity I might add. Until now. […]
Legalize it. No half measures. No prohibition. No power and control from above.