SACRAMENTO—
"It will be a dark day in the state of California if marijuana is legalized."Shock and dismay from a church leader, over one of the oldest civil rights organizations endorsing the legal use of marijuana.
'"The NAACP do not speak for the Afro-American community when it comes to legalizing marijuana," said Bishop Ron Allen, of the International Faith-Based Coalition.
The state chapter of the NAACP is endorsing a November ballot, to legalize recreational marijuana use, calling the war on drugs, a war on young men and women of color.
"The people who are putting our kids, incarcerating our kids for drugs, they're the ones who should be locked up and not our kids," said Alice Huffman, NAACP State Chapter President.
"Once you take it off the black market, the underground market, you regulate it through the stores, it'll be just like alcohol," Huffman said.
Bishop Allen says that's nonsense. He believes legalizing marijuana will do the exact opposite.
"We will see the increase in crime, and we will see the increase of black males going to prison," the bishop said. "Let's not think by legalizing marijuana that's going to change. If that's the case, then why don't we legalize crack cocaine? Why don't we legalize burglary?"
