The political winds are changing when it comes to legalizing marijuana in America.
Now that voters in Colorado and Washington have decided to legalize marijuana, it’s clear the political winds are changing in the War on Drugs. Politicians have traditionally run scared of anything that could label them “soft on crime.” But Americans are catching onto the fact that criminalizing people is neither a humane nor a cost-effective response to drug use.
Indeed, some of the very law enforcement officials that have prosecuted the War on Drugs want to put a stop to it. SafeKeepers is a new video series profiling cops, judges, prosecutors, and others who realized they were part of a failed system and are now pushing for change. Their stories from the front lines are sometimes heartbreaking and sometimes infuriating.
John Amabile, for instance, a former prosecutor, points out that drug policy is responsible for more deaths than the drugs themselves are:
Amabile’s point that the War on Drugs has failed is not lost on Americans. According to a new Rasmussen poll, just 7% of adults think the United States is winning the war while 82% say it’s losing.
Nevertheless, there’s still much work to do if reformers want the issue to climb to the top of the public agenda. The same Rasmussen survey reveals that while just 23% of Americans think the country should spend more on the drug war, only 34% think it should spend less. So there’s no consensus on what to do about the problem even though virtually everyone recognizes the problem is there.
That’s why the brave testimonies of law enforcement officials are so important. They’re essential to building on the momentum of election day and increasing the sense of public urgency for change. Surely, messengers like this are crucial to driving home fundamental reality that we’ve spent over a trillion dollars on a policy that just doesn’t work.
Check out the rest of the videos at WeAreSafeKeepers.org.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
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There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
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