doug@terak.UUCP (05/09/86)
> Alcohol, caffeine, and tobacco are legal > because they are older drugs that people were taking long before anyone got > the idea to outlaw certain substances. An almost more believable story is that those drugs are legal because many good clean white folks use them. Marijuana, cocaine, etc. were once the nearly exclusive domain of people whose skin color made them the object of wide-spread persecution (especially in "The South"). By passing laws making use of such drugs illegal, "legitimate" grounds were provided for persecution by the local constabulary. I have also heard that the police departments around the country all switched from .32's to .38's following a widely-circulated rumor/report that "a .32 bullet won't kill a cocaine-crazed [black man]." -- Doug Pardee -- CalComp -- {elrond,seismo,decvax,ihnp4}!terak!doug