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! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! The Council of the District of Columbia Must immediately End the Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing of the Failed Sham "War on Drugs" in the Nation's Capital ! !

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#DecriminalizeLegalizeRegulateTAX Controlled Substances

Thursday 24 October 2013 Testimony before the Council of the District of Columbia Room 500, John A Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC 20004 Bill 20-409, the "Simple Possession of Marijuana Decriminalization Act of 2013" Martin Moulton Shaw a Resident and Member of the ANC6E Public Safety Committee!

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Thursday 24 October 2013 Testimony before the Council of the District of Columbia Room 500, John A Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC 20004

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Bill 20-409, the "Simple Possession of Marijuana Decriminalization Act of 2013" Good morning Councilmembers: Thank you for the opportunity to give a statement. I'm Martin Moulton, and Im a member of Shaws ANC6E public safety committee, but I'm speaking on my own behalf today. Your legislation today is a first step in a process that is long overdue. Since the current democrat and former republican President of the the United States are both admitted substance abusers, its time legislators end drug policies that destroy the precious lives of our children and neighbors. Controlled substances should be decriminalized, regulated, legalized and taxed. Conservatives and liberals agree that the war on all drugs not just a war on marijuana has been a disastrous failure. You should get this done while we still have an Executive with integrity in the White House who should be empathetic given his own history and experience. Many, if not most, of our nations top athletes have abused illegal drugs. And as far as public health is concerned, Americans abuse of cheeseburgers and soda has life threatening consequences; yet, criminalizing junk food is silly. After touring a liberated South Africa in the 1990s (before increased industry regulation), I'll never forget the redundant sight of 5 to 10 year old children who abused household glue products lying in the gutters of communities, with modern infrastructure, as if they were garbage; the failure of their parents, religious groups, schools and government agencies to intervene and provide them with better guidance toward other opportunities to find joy and fulfillment in life meant that these glue sniffers were usually dead, due to organ failure, before ever reaching puberty. Parents, religious groups and government agencies in the District have also miserably failed to guide young people away from substance abuse. But as Presidents Clinton and Carter have clearly stated, incarceration should not be the default to these failures; we must focus on prevention and treatment and stop wasting time and inordinate amounts of money in what has become the Districts own version of Apartheid. When the tragic Navy Yard shooting occurred weeks ago, local elected officials claimed they were concerned about reducing gun violence. Yet, as Bloomberg news reported last month, such premeditated shootings, by deranged suicidal gunmen, account for only 1/10 of 1% of shootings in the United States over the last three decades. The greater threat of gun violence is rooted in drug-related gang turf wars. In ANC 6E weve had three mass shootings this year (with 4 or more shooting victims) and yet elected officials show no interest in addressing ways to rout out the root cause of these tragedies under their jurisdiction. As far as the news media and politicians are concerned, when white children and adults are shot, its a national tragedy, but when poor black young people are victims of gun and drug related violence, theyre just collateral damage in the establishment's urban extermination scheme. Decriminalizing the use of of marijuana alone is a recipe for failure in addressing exorbitant and out of control drug incarceration and the Districts gang violence. The bogus claim that decriminalization will assist those seriously looking for future employment glosses over facts that few serious drug users or their advocates seem to realize or acknowledge: Hiring for employment is based on competition Some of the best jobs in America require random drug testing which would exclude those who choose to be occasional users as much as abusers and addicts Those who get hired for employment are usually the smartest, most educated and/or skilled, most healthy, attractive, well spoken, and professional candidates these are the types of people who stay in school and take care of themselves and engage in more constructive activities than drug use No employer wants an employee who has a tendency or history of abusing drugs which might impede their work productivity or attendance All employers have a right not to be surprised about an employees drug addiction before entrusting that person with critical duties Those who are so careless, reckless and indiscreet as to be caught and incarcerated for using illegal drugs, arent the brightest people to begin with; so, we arent really talking about helping people with a genuine interest helping themselves Councilman Barry has spoken repeatedly about #theNewJimCrow embodied in current drug laws, but #BlackMenAndBoys who choose to shun education, kill each other, push and sell drugs, and destroy their own families and communities with violence are the manifestation, embodiment and face of JimCrow's dream.

Even after eliminating drug related crime, well still have individuals who choose not to take advantage of education and training opportunities and instead choose to take shortcuts in life and seek to take advantage of others and throw away their own lives.

Furthermore, decriminalizing marijuana alone does nothing to decrease the supply. Indeed, it might multiply the illegal market for pot, reward the illegal behavior of drug pushers, expand the numbers of young children they lure and recruit as drug runners, and give gangs more incentive to increase their violent territorial behavior which makes communities like mine less safe. If people can legally posses and use drugs, they will still need to buy these drugs from illegal and disreputable dealers. Legalizing all drugs is the only mechanism that will allow government to end the failed prohibition espoused by the government officials since the Nixon/Reagan/Bush eras. Thoroughly regulating and taxing drugs, as we do with other poisons like alcohol and tobacco will allow us to provide the education, warning labels, prevention and rehabilitation services needed to address drug abuse. Creating a regulated industry will provide its own safe guards: Unregulated street drugs have more dangerous impurities, adulterants, and dilutants Licensed retailers wont need to rely on cash sales which would make them easy robbery targets Licensed retailers will have a vested interest in eliminating competition from a black market Competition among licensed vendors will keep prices low so addicts will be less likely to resort to criminal or self destructive behavior to support their habits and/or become victims of extortion and exploitation Taxing a legalized trade will increase revenue which can be used in part for social services for addicts and regulatory inspection Although you might fear political backlash from religious groups, politicians and religious leaders, must remember that according to Creation stories of three major faiths, the Diety granted Man the liberty to make his own choices and simply educated and advised Man about the dangers of consuming certain fruit from the Garden. Our government must follow this example because it should appease religious leaders while abiding by our Nations founding principals of providing for individual liberty and freedom. It is also the only practical way forward. Having police attempt to regulate personal private non violent behavior has proven to be a disastrous waste of time, money and government resources which are better used on social services. Data from MPD studies in 2001 (the only one which seemed to be available online) seem to show that a majority of homicides in the District over a two-year period could easily be linked to territorial drug gang disputes, while only a small percentage were identified as simple robberies. The same study showed that the majority, more than 90% of victims, were African Americans. Continued failure and neglect by elected officials to tackle this problem demonstrates collaboration with this genocide, just as the recent property tax scandal gave light to the Councils ethnic cleansing policies in the Nations Capital. Decriminalization, legalization, regulation and taxation is the only way to move forward. Again, you must get this done while we still have an Executive in the White House who should be empathetic given his own history and experience. Thank you for your time.

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Source: 2001 Murder Analysis survey, www.MPDC.dc.gov

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Conservative pundit Grover Norquist: [Modern technology makes it] easier to spend a few dollars a day, managing you at your home, where you can spend time with your family, where you can work, instead of hundreds of dollars a day keeping you in a cell. ... Our number one goal is to reduce crime, do it in such a way that costs less, leaves a smaller government footprint on people and in peoples lives, and minimize the destruction and damage done to society while maximizing liberty and protection... The abuses in the judicial system need to be fixed and remedied. Grover Norquist, June 21, 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqkLP4id0HE

Conservative Texas-based Right on Crime: Incarceration can cost anywhere from $16,000 per year per offender (the average in Texas) to $50,000 per year per offender (the average in California). Recidivism rates are high in American prisons, and there is little evidence that drug abusers who enter prison leave having conquered their addiction. http://www.rightoncrime.com/priority-issues/substance-abuse/

Bloomberg news: In the 30 years through March 2013, 78 public mass shootings occurred in the U.S. -- incidents in which four or more people were killed at random by a gunman killing indiscriminately, according to a report issued that month by the Congressional Research Service. These crimes dont include gang-related killings or domestic disputes where a person slays relatives or other people linked to the assailant.

The mass slaughters listed in the report caused the deaths of 547 people. Over the same three decades through 2012, thats less than a tenth of 1 percent of the 559,347 people the Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates were murdered in America. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-17/mass-shootings-fuel-fear-account-for-fraction-ofmurders.html, Sep 17, 2013 12:02 AM ET President Clinton in Breaking the Taboo film: If all you do is try to find a police or military solution to the problem, a lot of people die and it doesnt solve the problem. President Bill Clinton www.breakingthetaboo.info

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