Presidents since Ronald Reagan have withheld freedoms from our country's poorest in the name of freedom itself, argued investigative journalist Eric Schlosser Monday as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series. He said the prison culture spawned by the drug war devastates certain racial and economic groups while more serious threats are ignored.
Schlosser, author of bestsellers \Fast Food Nation"" and ""Reefer Madness,"" told a capacity crowd at the Wisconsin Union Theater that while the government argues for free markets and free enterprise, it quietly crushes freedoms of those outside the mainstream.
""Marijuana was brought to this country by migrant Mexicans; hatred of them was passed on to their drug,"" Schlosser said, adding that black musicians, poor whites and hippies were all associated with the drug, causing the government to ban it.
Cautioning he is not encouraging anyone to smoke pot, Schlosser said research places it among the most therapeutic, least toxic substances known to man. To overdose, a person would have to smoke 100 pounds a minute for 15 minutes. Yet alcohol, which leads to violence and crime, and Merck's painkiller Vioxx, linked to premature death, are so accepted in the name of free markets that they appear in Super Bowl ads.
Outlawing pot transformed prison culture, Schlosser said, estimating only a quarter of prisoners are behind bars for violent crimes. Of the rest, about 70 percent are substance abusers, most of whom are illiterate and whose annual income before prison was $10,000.
""This is our form of low-income housing,"" he said. Schlosser noted two-thirds of inmates are black and more black men are in prison than in college.
When a student asked what could be done, Schlosser pointed to the religious right, largely credited with delivering President Bush's re-election.
""They started at the local levels and created change, and they're the minority. Why can't we create change as the majority? Not just by electing a different president-we have to work at the local level,"" Schlosser said.
UW-Madison sophomore Kala Kluender called the talk thought-provoking. ""It's inspiring to hear him say he's optimistic for our generation,"" she said.
But graduate student John Phillips said he thought most of the problems discussed were common knowledge.
""I wanted to hear more about solving problems, in a somewhat nonviolent way,"" he said.
