We invite Kassandra Frederique, the Executive Director at Drug Policy Alliance and Tracie Gardner, Vice President of Policy Advocacy at Legal Action Center to help us explore the war on drugs through the lens of racial justice. We learn about the beginnings of drug policy, which started out punishing only the mode of opium use that was popular among Asian immigrants, the progression to the politics of Nixon changing his stance from one of therapeutic interventions to one of tough on crime during his run for presidency, the devastation the Rockefeller Drug Laws had on communities, and how the modern day war on drugs has seeped into every government system, as a form of controlling minorities. Kassandra and Tracie excellently explain how each governmental system has it's own version of the war on drugs, how professional health care has abandoned helping persons with mental health, and how the system continues to exclude people of color. The conversation further goes into how the systems that started out as discriminatory toward race, have further taken on discriminatory attitudes toward class, only leaving the wealthy in our society not impacted by it. In celebration of Black History Month, we acknowledge the impact these systems have had on the vulnerable minority population, and celebrate how amazing humans such as Kassandra and Tracie are leading the charge of policy reform to create a better landscape so that future generations won't have to be negatively impacted in the same ways and so we can create a safe and healing environment for all. Join the conversation by leaving a message, emailing us at [email protected],  or find us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, or find us on our website at www.recoverysortof.com.

To learn more about Drug Policy Alliance, go here: https://drugpolicy.org/

To learn more about Legal Action Center, go here: https://www.lac.org/