by Veronica Castillo
the Substance Probably Wasn’t Cannabis Anyway
Part 1 of 3 because, we need the whole truth
The truth is, many turn their nose up at those that have been convicted of Cannabis related crimes. Noses are usually not turned up at the jacked-up system that wrongfully framed many. Many can’t fathom the idea that the government can and would do this, but documentaries like “How to make a murderer” wouldn’t exist.
The truth is, our government uses jail as one form of modern-day slavery and to keep the jails loaded, they make things go their way behind the scenes. There are thousands of people that can prove their innocence if money wasn’t a factor. Our government is the biggest mafia with some of the richest resources.
Do people really think that they are angels?
Netflix gives us chances to see it with multiple documentaries focused on the sham called our government. I watched one recently that inspired me to write this series (more on the docu-series later). Thing is, people are arrested for powder, grass, and liquid like substances that resemble some form of illegal substance, and many times, those substances are never even tested.
Yes. Many times, people are arrested and charged with some crime related to some illegal substance. And though our government should test, many many many times, this never happens.
My goal in this series; to help us all collectively stop judging the man and/or woman that were arrested for Cannabis related offenses. Because, the truth is, and many must acknowledge this instead of defending the government, our government targets certain people, groups, and communities to keep jails filled.
Here is some evidence:
- In an article titled: Marijuana Legalization Is a Racial Justice Issue, the opening sentence reads:
“Marijuana has been a key driver of mass criminalization in this country and hundreds of thousands of people, the majority of whom are Black or Latinx, have their lives impacted by a marijuana arrest each year.”
- The number of people incarcerated in the U.S., in 2016 was the highest incarceration rate in the world, 2,205,300.
- One-fifth of the incarcerated population (456K), which is the highest in the world, is serving time for a drug related offense.
- Close to 80% of people serving time for a federal drug offense are black or Latino.
(fact check for these 3: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/criminal-justice/reports/2018/06/27/452819/ending-war-drugs-numbers/)
Certain people, groups, and communities are targeted for the governments gain. We should not turn our noses up at people that have fallen victim to the government. In my next piece, I’ll discuss testing, how it should happen, and how sometimes- it doesn’t even happen.
