Indopedia All Things Marijuana
In the most recent narcotic-focused concession from atop Capitol Hill, Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman introduced a measure offering an official apology to victims of America’s War on Drugs, admitting racial bias and ignorance of the science behind addiction across decades of U.S. drug enforcement.
According to Marijuana Moment, Rep. Coleman’s amendment, added to the end of a wide-ranging opioid treatment bill, was rejected by the House Rules Committee this week, but nevertheless signifies a larger trend in the federal legislature to seek both symbolic and law-altering rebukes to America’s failing drug policies.
“It is the sense of Congress that the War on Drugs is a racially charged policy that has led to the mass incarceration of millions of Americans, disproportionately affecting communities of color, stigmatized these communities as the cause of the drug problem, and has economically, politically, and socially crippled these communities for decades,” Rep. Coleman’s now-defeated bill reads.
With language that admits fault and could potentially be used as part of an argument to challenge federal narcotics prohibition across the board, it is not a surprise that House Republicans rejected the apology measure, and yet still, the fact that the bill was introduced at all is a step in the right direction.
