Racists Marijuana Laws

I was looking through different state laws on NORML's website, and when I got to Louisiana, I almost shit my pants when I saw how racist their marijuana laws are written. If you look at the "Possession" section on this page, you can see that first offenders possessing any amount of marijuana are given a misdemeanor charge... except if you are within 1000 feet of schools, churches, or public housing; in which case you are given a felony charge and a mandatory minimum sentence of 1/2 the jail time that a normal possession charge could give you.

Am I reading this wrong, or does it seem kinda fucked up to you? Especially seeing, after Katrina, that most residents in public housing were black (at least in NO).

Well thats how the laws are in my state dude. That doesnt sounds racist, its sounds like they want to keep there school zones and places of good ethics "clean" and drug free. Didnt you ever learn about D.A.R.E in school??

lol, funny shit - it doesn't sound racist, more classist..but funny shit none the less.

I wasn't talking about schools, just the public housing. Of course I went through DARE, but what does DARE have to do with this? I think it would be more classist than racist if it weren't in a Deep South state. I was raised in a very segregated city in another southern state, and have lived in and been to other southern cities, and public housing always has been associated with uneducated black people. It seems like the inclusion of public housing into the same category as churches and schools is unfair.

Look at it like this - You don't have to bring your herb to school, or to church, but if you live in public housing, where are you supposed to keep it to not be in danger of a felony?

godsbestgift said:

Well thats how the laws are in my state dude. That doesnt sounds racist, its sounds like they want to keep there school zones and places of good ethics "clean" and drug free. Didnt you ever learn about D.A.R.E in school??

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Since when is public housing (The projects) a place of good ethics? Maybe you read the OP wrong.

I remember seeing on the news awhile ago that the projects in louisiana are real bad,there probably trying to do every little thing to clean them up.

...... said:

I remember seeing on the news awhile ago that the projects in louisiana are real bad,there probably trying to do every little thing to clean them up.

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nobody really gives a shit about the projects around here..... he's right, its a fucked law... not directly racist, but more poverty based. I guarantee that if you are in a sketchy part of town, it's GONNA fall into this category somehow....
it used to just be school zones, but it was changed to encompass churches and public housing to, yes, "clean up" the projects that the cops just were too scared to go into.... or at least that's how it was pitched.

*edit*
and for the record, even the "bad" projects arent that bad.... white people are just scared of em because they operate within their own little laws

its like that out here in sc too.. its racist cuz they figure if your smokin it you gotta be doin something else..

and aint nothin but one race in our project buildings.. the trailer parks is a different story

but it is public housing ran by the city(even tho they dun give a fuck bout us) so they have the right to do it. i guess its kinda like havin it on the gov's front porch