Did you know that the War on Drugs began long ago as a racist ploy to keep certain people in their place, and to guard the priceless purity of white ladies? It sounds antiquated and politically incorrect, and it is. Men have been worrying about our womanly virtue since the first one clubbed a woman over the head and dragged her into a cave. When you see what they have done in the name of protecting the ladies, I think you’ll agree when I say, methinks they protect too much.
This interesting and thought provoking video shows the seeds of the War on Drugs. Our great-grandparents lived with access to opiates. No one judged the drugs as bad or good, nor did they restrict them. No one great-granny a junkie who needed to spend time in federal prison.
It may surprise you to learn that drugs aren’t restricted now because of their relative danger. They are restricted because people of color used them. Posters and publications from the time, show the fear and racism which prompted lawmakers to criminalize marijuana, opium and cocaine. Posters depict black cocaine “fiends” and ‘dangerous’ Mexican pot smokers. Chinese men who smoked Opium after a day of work were deemed a menace to decent society – although they only encountered those people when “society” sought out their company – and their Opium. For some reason, we helpless women didn’t require ‘protection’ from drunken white men -a much more present danger, allowed by law to hit their wives, as they were.
Ethan Nadlemann Executive Director for the Drug Policy Alliance, argues that the prohibition of countless drugs have consistently had racist underpinnings.