January 15, 1999

I think that Martin Luther King, Jr. was the greatest American of the 20^th century.

Today, he is naturally remembered as a "civil rights leader" – which, of course, he was. In the future, I think that he will be most remembered as an advocate of non-violence.

Paradoxically, many of those who speak in his name today are advocates of the leading cause of violence – especially violence against African Americans -- in America, the so-called "Drug War."

As Professor Ernest Drucker says in his article on "Prohibition And Public Health" in the Journal of the U.S. Public Health Service (Oxford University Press, January/February 1999), African Americans are almost four times as likely as white Americans to be arrested for drug offenses. "The data show that the most negative health consequences of drug use are not evenly distributed—they fall most heavily on those who experience the highest rates of drug enforcement, African Americans."

See
Public Health Reports Journal Says Prohibition Increases Harm Done By Drugs;
Burden Falls Disproportionately On Blacks - "The cure has only worsened the disease."
and
The full text of Drucker’s article at www.of-course.com/drugrealities .

And yet these policies are supported by most African American leaders.

Dr. King’s message was that violence begets violence, and that we must call upon the people of America to be true to their principles of justice -- by and through non-violence.

In short, violence is counterproductive. The counterproductive nature of the "Drug War" itself is proof of this.

Consider the following quote from Drucker: "the greater the intensity of criminal penalties, the greater the public health danger of drugs."

In other words, the greater the state violence, the worse the drug problems become.

The suppression of marijuana is the heart of the Drug War, and Drucker points out that "Cocaine use rose most sharply exactly as marijuana use was declining, peaking at 4.6% of the adult (greater than 12 years) population in 1988 but declining to the 0.7% to 1% range for 1990-1998."

In short, the narcs really did create the crack cocaine epidemic by increasing state violence, which was directed at the suppression of marijuana.
See
HOW THE NARCS CREATED CRACK by Richard C. Cowan

Marijuana prohibition has its roots in racism, and it continues to bear a fruit that is being used to justify state violence against Blacks. It is unbearably ironic that this fruit is being served to African Americans by their own leaders, and by whites who claim to favor "civil rights."