Community | August 31, 2009 | 11 comments

Drug Warriors Return To Racist Roots

source: http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/node/19571

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copperdragon
This one is hard to believe: The US Forest Service issued a federal warning last week to beware of campers in national forests who eat tortillas, play Spanish music, and drink 'Tecate' beer because they might be armed and dangerous marijuana growers.

MSNBC reports:

Michael Skinner, a law enforcement officer with the U.S. Forest Service in Colorado, said warning signs of possible drug trafficking include "tortilla packaging, beer cans, Spam, Tuna, Tecate beer cans," and campers who play Spanish music. He said the warning includes people speaking Spanish.

The warning signs were included in a slide presentation put together for drug agents in Colorado and the public.

Skinner said this may or may not represent criminal activity, but are indicators and he urged any campers who encounter long-term campers meeting the profile to "hike out quickly" and call police.

Though we rarely see such blatant racism coming from today's public-relations-savvy government bodies, the prohibition of marijuana has long been used an an excuse to round up Mexicans and other visible minorities. One needs only to look at prison population statistics in the US to see that the VAST majority of people put in jail for drugs are African-American and Mexican.

The Forest service quickly retracted the statement after the media picked up the story, but these kinds of slip-ups help to expose the racist mentality of many prohibitionists in government.

Marvink Correa, a spokesman for the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, half-jokingly pointed out how absurd the warning was by showing how easy it would be for growers to avoid.

"When I go camping, I'll be sure to play nothing but Bruce Springsteen," he said
  1. groups:
    Community,   United States of America,   sahuaro
  2. tags:
    US,  Law,  Marijuana,  Mexico,  3 more
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11 comments // Drug Warriors Return To Racist Roots

  • delas78
  • delas78
    • 0
      delas78  

    • Because ya know... The best way to keep your garden super-secret is by blasting mexican music and leaving junk everywhere.

    • 2 years ago
  • bailey78
  • Tyr
    • 0
      Tyr  

    • I always wondered if it wasn't pot and not tobacco that was in those native American " peace pipes" ..it always seemed to me that the smoking of some good old ganja would have done more to calm people down that a Lucky strike or a Camel.

    • 2 years ago
  • ProjectBat
    • 0
      ProjectBat  

    • This just highlights the complete racist roots of the prohibition of marijuana. After all, it was originally banned because they didn't want people turning out like those "crazy mexicans".

    • 2 years ago
  • biggranny
    • 0
      biggranny  

    • the forest service needs to stick to the forest and leave the microphone to others. by the way tecate is great beer.guess i won't be able to bring any camping nextime.to anyone that is surprised at the absurdity of this statement,what planet do you spend most of your time on

    • 2 years ago
  • masterzip
    • 0
      masterzip  

    • in California, it is a serious problem where mexican drug cartels set up pot forests on public lands, in national parks. Now,..if they occasionally found a person from any other ethnic background guarding these illegal forests, then it would seem reasonable to think there was racial profiling. What quacks like a duck is still a duck, keep your eyes open for what looks like duck,...it seems pretty reasonable as long as this does not end up in harassing people just for the fun of it...police do that......

    • 2 years ago
  • choosybegger
  • lilmammal
  • hunzedog
  • endovenoso
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