Something's in the Air Race, Crime, and the Legalization of Marijuana [Paperback]

Americas drug laws have always exerted an unequal and unfair toll on Blacks and Latinos, who are arrested more often than Whites for the possession of illegal drugs and given harsher sentences. In this volume, contributors ask how would marijuana legalization affect communities of color? Is legalization of marijuana necessary to safeguard minority families from a lifetime of hardship and inequality? Who in minority communities favors legalization and why, and do these minority opinions differ from the opinions held by White Americans? This volume also includes analyses of the policy debate by a range of scholars addressing economic, health, and empowerment issues. Comparative lessons from other countries are also analyzed.

Introduction: Ending a War or Just California Dreamin?; Katherine Tate, James Lance Taylor, and Mark Q. Sawyer1. Criminal Justice Costs of Prohibiting Marijuana in California; Jonathan P. Caulkins and Beau Kilmer2. Public Health Considerations in the Legalization Debate; Chyvette T. Williams and Thomas Lyons3. The Paths Not (Yet) Taken: Lower Risk Alternatives to Full Market Legalization of Cannabis; Robert J. MacCoun4. Why Did Proposition 19 Fail?; J. Andrew Sinclair, Jaclyn R. Kimble and R. Michael Alvarez5. Winds of Change: Black Opinion on Legalizing Marijuana; Katherine Tate6. The Highs and Lows of Support for Marijuana Legalization among White Americans; Paul Musgrave and Clyde Wilcox7. Building Minority Community Power through Legalization; James Lance Taylor8. The Latino Politics of Proposition 19: Criminal Justice and Immigration; Melissa R. Michelson and Joe Tafoya9. No Half-Measures: Mexicos Quixotic Policy on Californias Proposition 19; NathanJones10. The Chronic and Coercion: Exploring how Legalizing Marijuana Might Get the U.S. Gol³.