California Lt. Gov. calls for end to drug war

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California’s Lieutenant Governor called for an end to marijuana prohibition over the weekend, pointing out that the war on drugs is a failure that merely fuels the disproportionate rate at which minorities are arrested in this country.
That’s encouraging news, especially considering Newsom is said to be one of the top contenders for the governor position in 2014.


“In 2011 alone in this country, three quarters of a million people in the United States were arrested for marijuana law violations, 87% of them for simple possession,” said California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom to a crowd of supporters at the California Democratic Party Convention. “And listen to me closely on this — African-American children are ten times more likely to get arrested for drug crimes than their white counterparts even though white children are more likely to abuse drugs.”
Newsom says he favors decriminalizing, taxing and regulating cannabis.
“After 42 years of failure, I think it’s time we concede that if we continue to do what we’ve done, we’ll continue to get what we’ve got. I think you and we deserve better. It’s about standing up on principle, having the courage of our convictions, about saying publicly all too often what we say privately.”
Watch Newsom’s entire speech in the video below.

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