NAACP calls for an end to the war on drugs

[kpete]

Source: Raw Story

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is officially calling on the U.S. government to end the war on drugs.

A majority of NAACP delegates at their annual convention in Los Angeles Tuesday voted to pass a resolution titled: "A Call to End the War on Drugs, Allocate Funding to Investigate Substance Abuse Treatment, Education, and Opportunities in Communities of Color for A Better Tomorrow."

"Today the NAACP has taken a major step towards equity, justice and effective law enforcement," NAACP president and CEO Benjamin Jealous said in a press advisory. "These flawed drug policies that have been mostly enforced in African American communities must be stopped and replaced with evidenced-based practices that address the root causes of drug use and abuse in America."

The resolution noted that African Americans are 13 times more likely to be sentenced to jail than whites facing the same drug charges.

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/07/26/naacp-calls-for-an-end-to-the-war-on-drugs/

[iwishiwas]

1. About time. Now make some NOICE!!

[ChrisBorg]

5. Put down the bong, the bubbling is making too much NOICE!!

[MellowDem]

2. The war on drugs...

is perhaps one of the biggest causes for continued disparities between white and Asian communities and Hispanic and black communities. It is mostly aimed at the inner city minorities, as can be seen by the disproportionate jail race populations. And it is often used to appease whites on the right as a sort of new "Jim Crow". It has helped label minorities as automatically "criminal".

[Jefferson23]

3. I agree completely, but good luck with that. They know how to address these issue appropriately but

they don't care.

New York Set to Close School for Troubled Teens After Simple Clerical Error in Budget Request


As Congress considers spending cuts to reduce the deficit, critics warn that reduced education, healthcare and other social services will disproportionally impact low-income communities of color. This is the case in New York City, where a high school that provides drug treatment to former gang members is being closed as part of an effort to trim the state budget — all because of a simple data entry error that made it appear the school served 39 students instead of more than 140 troubled youth. Democracy Now!’s Jaisal Noor filed this report.

JAISAL NOOR: For the past 41 years, the Alpha School has built a reputation for turning around the most troubled kids from Brooklyn’s toughest neighborhoods. Based in East New York, the school’s one-of-a-kind approach combines a drug and alcohol abuse prevention and treatment facility with GED classes and job training and placement. Its CEO, Barry Addison, or Mr. B, as he’s known by students, says he takes the kids everyone else has given up on.

BARRY ADDISON: A lot of them come from broken homes. A lot of them, you know, they live in the projects. They live in environments where it’s gang-infested. And, you know, they’re at-risk young people. And everybody that lives in these communities, a young person, could be at risk. You know what I mean? So, the door is open for almost every young person that need these type of services. I needed them. I graduated from here in 1975. So, you know—and here I am, you know, many years later, still servicing the same kind of people, young people, that I was, you know, running with the gangs and robbing and using drugs and dealing drugs. And this is what we do.

JAISAL NOOR: After 41 years of helping troubled youth, budget cuts may force the school to close, leaving its students with few options. Just a few weeks ago, Mr. B got a notice from the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. Due to a simple clerical error on its budget request form, the school lost all of its funding. The school reported it served 39 students. In fact, the school had served between 140 and 170. The error made it appear the school was underperforming, making it a target for budget cuts. Mr. B says he was informed he could not appeal the decision.

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2011/7/22/new_york_set_to_close_school_for_troubled_youth_after_administrative_error_in_budget_request

[bloomington-lib]

4. Plus it would save a little (a lot) of money too. Win/Win

[bread_and_roses]

6. Good for them! yes!

this reminds me to renew my membership, which I'd let lapse just out of busyness and procrastination combined. Will include a letter of support.