California NAACP backs marijuana ballot measure (223 hits)
The California NAACP has endorsed a November ballot measure to legalize adult recreational use of marijuana, calling the measure a civil rights issue because blacks have a disproportionate number of arrests for marijuana possession compared with whites.
Accompanied by other African American leaders in California, the president of the state NAACP, Alice Huffman, said the current prohibition on marijuana has led to the criminalizing of young people and consequently has hampered the ability of many African Americans to prosper.
The organization is the most mainstream statewide entity to endorse the marijuana measure, Proposition 19, to date.
"This is not a war on the drug lords, this is a war against young men and women of color," Huffman said, adding later that, "Once a young person is arrested and brought under the justice system, he or she is more likely to get caught in the criminal justice system again, further wasting tax dollars."
