For a generation now, we've had a long-winded national conversation about the human toll exacted by the prohibition on marijuana, particularly as it pertains to communities of color. After decades of debate, the consensus has been that maintaining this prohibition has come with far more drawbacks than advantages, and we’ve seen a steady progression toward legality in increasing numbers of jurisdictions. With that in mind, it’s jaw-dropping to contrast the endless discussion pertaining to legalized marijuana with an inverse proposal, freshly rubber-stamped by the FDA, to turn more than 10 million (mostly Black) American menthol cigarette smokers into criminals following a muted debate that’s gone on entirely behind closed doors with effectively zero public conversation about the consequences of trying to reinvent the prohibitionist wheel.
Somehow, the same racial justice advocates who persuasively made the case for legalizing marijuana (and in some cases, decriminalizing hard drugs) in the name of fighting racism were likewise at the forefront of the calls to outlaw menthol cigarettes, also in the name of fighting racism. The cognitive dissonance is so brazen that any person who applies a nanosecond of critical thinking to the dueling debates can only ask....are they that cynical or are they that stupid?
Prohibitions waged by the ruling class to teach a lesson to those they deem to be their moral inferiors are always odious, but this particular prohibition will impose even more wreckage than most given its direct impact on the Black community. A black market vacuum will inevitably fill the void left behind by the disparity between supply and demand, and like all black markets, it will be a lucrative draw for young people of color in socioeconomically vulnerable communities. Meanwhile, stores whose commerce is regulated will take a big hit. Many convenience stores say they're only able to keep their doors open based on the profit they make by selling cigarettes. In Black communities, many of those stores will close if the cigarettes preferred by most Black consumers are outlawed, putting the delicate ecosystem of their neighborhood economies in further peril. People of color who own and/or work in those stores will lose their livelihoods. Consumers who need those stores for everything from gas to produce will one day find themselves approaching a shuttered storefront door on their way to pick up groceries. Is it really worth this kind of hardship just for the thrill of wagging a scolding finger in the faces of smokers? Biden's FDA certainly seems to think so.
Tobacco has been a common denominator in many of the most high-profile encounters between police and nonviolent people of color that have ended in death, ranging from Eric Garner to Sandra Bland to George Floyd. Expect many, many more such encounters with Biden's FDA exploding the ranks of people of color reclassified as criminals for using or selling menthol cigarettes or flavored cigars. Large numbers of young Black people will go to prison because of what Biden's FDA is doing. Additional young Black people will be killed by police as a consequence of what Biden's FDA is doing. And the hands of Biden’s FDA will almost assuredly be covered in blood because of it.
The ruthless lack of intellectual integrity is stunning, and goes to prove that arguments about legalizing marijuana as a means of lessening criminal penalties on Blacks were always a gimmick and were never made in good faith. Anybody who was serious about reducing the law enforcement footprint on the Black community would never choose to hand over the menthol cigarette marketplace to the criminal underworld as these hypocrites are about to do.
Are they that cynical or are they that stupid? Apparently both.