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sacredblasphemies t1_itx66p9 wrote

Reply to comment by DualDs in Our View: LePage’s repeated use of ‘crack pipe’ irresponsible at best - Portland Press Herald by OriginalGordol

It's not racist to recognize that the history of crack is intertwined with black people because systemic racism relegated black people to poverty, living in ghettos, and other vulnerable situations. So that when the drug lords (with the help of the CIA) flooded the ghettos with cheap crack cocaine, desperate people in desperate situations got addicted.

Then you had a big racist moral panic about "crack babies" in the media.

But again, the much more significant issue in Maine is opioids, so why is LePage bringing up crack?

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DualDs t1_itxa9qe wrote

He apparently has a problem with taxpayer funded crack pipes. What does race have to do with anything? Unless your the kind of person who racially stereotypes

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sacredblasphemies t1_itxts43 wrote

Taxpayer-funded crack pipes (which I don't think anyone is promoting currently) is a better solution to addiction than criminalizing the problem.

Needs to go along with free addiction treatment, though, to be effective.

If there's anything we should have taken away from the crack epidemic (and the opioid epidemic), it's that criminalization of drug use only causes more problems and doesn't solve any.

As far as race, it's easy to say that race has nothing to do with anything...if your race is considered the "default" by society and you have never faced any systemic issues due to your race. Other people have different experiences.

LePage is a bigot and was not a good governor for Maine. I hope he loses.

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DualDs t1_itxxeq2 wrote

Not supplying taxpayer funded crack pipes would be considered free drug treatment

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Shh-NotUntilMyCoffee t1_iu03e7z wrote

No, because them not having crack pipes doesn't stop them from smoking crack - which leads to exacerbated health problems which costs the government money.

All incredibly basic things that we've known for decades when you can learn about once you grasp basic literacy.

All of which is irrelevant because of how poor Maine's drug addiction social services are thanks to - you guessed it - people like you and LePage.

Also Maine mostly fucks overwhelmingly with opiates. And Mainers mostly mess with meth over cocaine, and rarely use crack.

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DualDs t1_iu234pq wrote

I'm to blame for the drug addicts? Lmao It's not like I'm going around giving out free crack pipes or something

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