For our 400th episode, Radley Balko returns to the show to discuss how the distinction between cop and soldier has been blurred in the last 40 years.Radley Balko argues that over the last several decades, America’s cops have increasingly come to resemble ground troops. The consequences have been dire: the home is no longer a place of sanctuary, the Fourth Amendment has been gutted, and police today have been conditioned to see the citizens they serve as an other—an enemy.
Since 1971, America has spent over a trillion dollars enforcing its drug policies.
The White House initially announced that past cannabis use wouldn’t disqualify people from being employed in the federal government. Then, they broke that promise and forced out several staffers for past cannabis use — even if they used it in states where adult-use cannabis has been legalized! We need you and tens of thousands of other grassroots advocates to sign our petition calling on the Biden administration to keep their promise! Will you read our petition and add your name ASAP?
Yet the vice president and a top cabinet official will not lose their jobs, face demotion, or be reassigned as a result of their past drug use. If the Biden administration believes that past marijuana use is disqualifying for low-level positions in the federal government, surely it must be considered disqualifying for high-ranking cabinet members and the woman a heartbeat away from becoming president.
