Shaka Senghor: uncertainty

Transcript context

…Some people argue that if we either legalized or decriminalized drugs, this would make for a better nation and also improve our prison problems. Do you have an opinion? Absolutely. I think that the choice to use drugs are personal choices and that adults should be able to choose what they do with their bodies. When I personally think about inner city life and conflicts that happened, most of the conflicts happened as a result of using alcohol as opposed to using drugs. I don’t know many weed smokers that want to do anything other than eat good food and watch comedy and laugh or do something creative. Whereas alcohol, on the other hand, oftentimes can be very volatile. So I just think we overlegislate people’s lives in a way that’s not healthy, and we see that now with places where marijuana has been legalized. You haven’t seen an increase in crime. If anything, you’ve seen a decrease. The unfortunate part of that is that the people who in the past have been sentenced for drug-related offenses are finding it really hard to enter that industry and make money off that. The same people who, at one time, was creating laws to incarcerate people are now creating laws that are creating opportunities for their friends to financially benefit. I think we need to change that model and make it easier for people who were at one time incarcerated to engage in that industry. Should we all just stop drinking alcohol, voluntarily, but stop altogether?…

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