Summary

Gateway to the War on Drugs – Marijuana, 1975. The author argues in this chapter that one of the several points of origin for hard-faceted black views of black crime was the debate in Washington D.C., in 1975, over the easing of criminal consequences for the possession of small amounts of marijuana. He describes the arguments and legal proposals made by white civil rights activist and politician David Clarke, who suggested, among other things, that the punishment for possession of marijuana for personal use be lessened. This argument, the author says, emerged from the belief that heavy criminalization for such types of possession led to long-standing consequences for those convicted, with similarly heavy tolls on both the individual and the community. He also suggests that even then, there was an awareness that both the laws and their consequences would have a particularly damaging effect...