“I was a pastor on crack cocaine, sir,” said Mr. Allen, who says he has been sober for 11 years and now identifies himself as the bishop of the International Faith Based Coalition here. “Drugs have no religious preference.”
And while crack cocaine laid him low, Mr. Allen says his first drug of choice was marijuana. So it is that Mr. Allen and a cadre of other black pastors, priests and other religious leaders have bonded together in recent weeks to fight what they see as a potentially devastating blow to their communities: Proposition 19, the California ballot measure that would tax and regulate marijuana.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/us/20pot.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp
Yeah I don't understand why someone's past history as a drug addict can serve as a badge of expertise for anything, including drugs. I am less inclined to listen to a former drug addict about drugs then I am just about anyone.
how would it be a devastating blow to their communities??
I drank milk first then became an Alcoholic, I suppose that means milk is a gateway substance also.
(sarcasms, never was an Alcoholic lol)
I'm a little frustrated the NY times didn't decide to simply write a peace on proposition 19, but instead they chose to write a peace about how it would affect blacks. Not to say that blacks wouldn't be substantially affected by the law.
Yeah, it's not as if the black community has a drug problem. Legalizing dope would be just what the doctor ordered.
It's sad to say, but clergy has pretty much lost credibility in the eyes of the masses, (zealots notwithstanding.)
How come it's always the snake-oil saleman preachers that make it to the top of the airwaves only to be eventually exposed for what they are and religion, as a whole, takes a shot to the gut.
The faithful, obedient, silent workers of Christ barely go mentioned.
I'm not even religious. But I can see the injustice of it all.
Black preachers deal with the day to day consequences of insobriety; the bruises, cut lips, broken bones, bullet wounds and the wasted lives. So, no, they're not going to be easily persuaded that ending any form of prohibition benefits their parishioners and communities. Especially when every corner store offers 20 varieties of totally legal, high alcohol content beer but not one piece of fresh fruit. Prop 19 isn't going to help that ratio one bit.
If you are going to win over church going people you're going to have to explain the consequences of prohibition and how that does more harm than good. It's a tough sale, though. Be prepared to lose 8 out of 10 God-fearing people who see prohibition preventing a bad situation from being even worse.
I just fail to see how the Church's opinion is even remotely relevant here.
Because a lot of people are either too blind, too dumb to see the fact the so called preacher is nothing more than a snake-oil salesmen or a combination of both. The reason the faithful, obedient silent workers of Christ go unnoticed is because most likely they read Mathew chapter 6:1-8 and abide by it.
“The arrest statistics are disproportionate with respect to African-Americans and disproportionate with respect to use,” said Mr. MacCoun. “And that’s very hard to justify in any way.”
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