April 24, 2013 1:55 PM

What is going on in Wisconsin?

A new study from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee that looked at the prison population there found that the state has the highest percentage of incarcerated black men in the country. About 1 in 8 black men of working age (13 percent) are in state prisons or jails. The national average is 6.7 percent.

According to census figures, African-Americans make up 6.5 percent of the state's population.

Wisconsin also leads the nation in the percentage of Native men behind bars; 1 in 13 Indian men are incarcerated there.

Wisconsin, though? Really?

And Wisconsin's lead on this count is pretty big: It beats the state with the next-highest rate of imprisoned black men by nearly 3 percentage points — a gap bigger than the total distance between the second- and 10th-place states.

A big chunk of the state's black male prison population comes from Milwaukee, Wisconsin's biggest city. According to the researchers, more than half of all black men in their 30s and 40s had been incarcerated at some point. That means there's a large population of men in the state's biggest city who are essentially unemployable, which puts a huge drag on the economy — and a big reason Milwaukee is one of the poorest big cities in the country. (Milwaukee's metro area also boasts one of the biggest gaps in incomes between blacks and whites.)

Source: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

And Milwaukee's poor felons are concentrated in the same neighborhoods: The study also found that almost two-thirds of Milwaukee County's incarcerated black men come from the city's six poorest ZIP codes.

"I do think that a lot of it has to do with sentencing policy," said Jeanne Geraci, who runs the Benedict Center, a Milwaukee-based organization that advocates for community-based responses to criminal justice. Geraci said that the state has a much more aggressive stance to incarceration; Minnesota, which has similar demographics and crime rates, has a prison population half the size of Wisconsin's prison population.

UPDATE: A commenter wondered if it might be helpful to know what kinds of crimes the people in Milwaukee County were being incarcerated for committing the breakdown of incarceration in Wisconsin between various racial groups. These are good points, so we're adding some of that contextualizing info from the study.

Here's some of it, which looks back at Milwaukee County's recent history.

"8,287, or one-third, of the African American men incarcerated since 1990 showed only non-violent offenses."

and:

"Forty percent(N=10,497) of the African American males from Milwaukee County incarcerated since 1990 were drug offenders. In the early 1990s African Americans had 4 times as many annual admissions for drug-related offenses as white men. As drug offenses soared in the 2002 to 2005 years African American men had 11 to 12 times as many drug-related prison admissions as white men."

You can also take a look at the bar graph from the study showing the relative rates of incarceration of men by race both in Wisconsin and nationally. The rate of black male incarceration in Wisconsin is 12.8 percent and 6.7 percent nationally; the rate of Native male incarceration is 7.6 percent in Wisconsin and 3.1 percent nationally; 1.7 percent for Latino men in Wisconsin and 2.0 percent nationally, and 1.2 for white men in Wisconsin and 1.3 nationally.

4/20/2013 Cosmic RR at Rt. 20 Outhouse

This place is the best venue, with the best sound and lighting in the area...and because of this we will be doing a very rare 2 full set performance. Heres the cool thing...The first set will be all acoustic and the second set will be all electric. We have never done this before so mark those calendars and come out for what will surely be a night of great night of music and good times.

Here are the details:
Route 20 Outhouse
14001 Washington Ave
Racine, WI 53177

Box Office Phone:
262-732-4079

website: http://www.route20outhouse.com/

This show is 21+

Last time we played this venue it SOLD OUT...Get tickets online, or by box office phone...or...get there early

"The administration has not done a particularly good job of, one, talking about marijuana as a public health issue, and number two, talking about what can be done and where we should be headed on our drug policy," he told the magazine. "There are significant health concerns around marijuana from all the science, not ideology. I don’t see the legalization of drugs and making them widely available as a good thing, and I don’t think locking everyone up is a good thing either." ~Huffington Post

United States Director of National Drug Policy Gil Kerlikowske

Kerlikowske, who has said the nation is "in the midst of a serious national conversation about marijuana," also spoke out against legalization efforts on a state-by-state basic, arguing that a "patchwork of policies" was not the best approach. State legalization efforts passed in Colorado and Washington last November.

As the ONDCP puts it, the drug czar's department is tasked with using "community-based prevention programs, early intervention programs in healthcare settings, aligning criminal justice policies and public health systems to divert non-violent drug offenders into treatment instead of jail, funding scientific research on drug use, and, through the Affordable Care Act, expanding access to substance abuse treatment."

Kerilikowske brings up his third option policy and treating abuse as a health issue, however he dodges every question regarding re-scheduling Cannabis or the fact that legalization, regulation and taxation would help end the violence and curb profits to cartels and gangs. While admitting the social damages caused by alcohol, legal alcohol, and then regard Cannabis as a more harmful substance that hasn't been studied enough to be FDA approved. Yet, will not have a discussion in regards to re/de-scheduling Cannabis that would allow the FDA and other testing facilities that would declare once and for all the medicinal effects of Cannabis and all of the Cannabidiols not just the THC and/or CBD that the pharmaceutical companies are claiming to be their fix to the problem so they can profit from an all natural healing herb.

Milwaukee City, Chief of Police Edward A. Flynn brings up Alcohol and compares the traumatic social expense it takes on society with domestic abuse, drunk driving accidents; innocent deaths in these accidents, the cost put on the public from alcohol related health issues. Then asks why would we want to open another flood gate for problems by legalizing another "drug".

While doing nothing about an admitted social burden in alcohol he blames Cannabis for being the worst drug they have problems with? Then jokes about me questioning the real reason the "drug houses" get home invasions. Because they can't call the police and report it like they could if it were legalized and regulated. "You'd be surprised, they do call..." IGNORANCE! As long as these people are in a position to make these policies and further tarnish the reputation of a plant that is doing wonders when allowed, it even works when not allowed but might cause you some legal trouble, we still have a fight to win.

So when they try and tell you they are no longer fighting a "War on Drugs" and they "can't arrest their way out of this drug problem." The ignorance towards Cannabis and it's health benefits still scare me. Their is more to this Cannabis prohibition than them worrying about our health and safety. It's a plant for goodness sake!

I fear that our fight against the bigger beast, the corruption behind prohibition, may be Wisconsin's biggest hurdle yet. Let's not forget we have Kimberly-Clark fighting silently from the north woods also. Not to mention our lack of ability to have an initiative placed on the ballot for the PEOPLE to vote on. If Wisconsin isn't legal in a few years we can't say it was for lack of trying.

Keep fightin' this good fight with me!
~Jay Kemp

Breaking The Taboo

SE Wisconsin N.O.R.M.L (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws)

Contact:
Jay Kemp
Executive Director
SE Wisconsin NORML
Admins@SEWisconsinNORML.org
____________________________________________________________
South Eastern Wisconsin N.O.R.M.L. is proud to present "Breaking the Taboo" a documentary Narrated by Morgan Freeman. Find out why several world leaders - including two former US Presidents - are calling to end the War on Drugs.

SE Wisconsin NORML
Breakin' The Taboo

The Miramar Theatre
2844 N. Oakland Ave.
Milwaukee WI

Friday, March 22nd

**Only $5 at the door**

8p - 9:30p Smooth Operators
9:30p - 10p First half of Breaking the Taboo
10p - 11:30p Mark Hubing & The Band of Lights
11:30p - 12p Second half of Breaking the Taboo
12a - 1a Mister E (DJ)
1a - 2a Alfonz Delamota (DJ) M.I.A. (Chicago) and MC Questionmark M.I.A. (U.K.)

Presented by Southeastern Wisconsin NORML:
https://www.facebook.com/SouthEasternWINORML

With support from Fresh Batch:
https://www.facebook.com/freshbatchproductions

The route will be as follows:
East across Locust Ave.
South down Oakland Ave.
West across North Ave.
North up Humboldt Blvd. back to the park

The route is approximately 3 miles long, and will probably take between an hour and an hour and a half.

We are also hoping to have other activities before and/or after the march, so stay tuned for more details

- including two former U.S. Presidents -

are calling to 

End the War on Drugs

We have been busy with a project called "Breaking the Taboo", it has been going great. We have mailed copies of the DVD all over the USA and Canada as well.

In March we are looking forward to Five Weekends, Five Counties, Five free screening of "Breaking the Taboo". Each weekend at a different public library we plan to hold a free screening of the wonderfully done documentary of "Breaking the Taboo" narrated by the great Morgan Freeman.

Details to come on times and locations. Stay tuned.

7th Annual, I think

Cosmic Railroad

Masquerade Ball

There will be vendors with cool things to buy, great music to dance to, amazing people to get to know and dance with!

Saturday, March 2nd $10 Admission, ALL AGES SHOW, 21 And Older To Drink, Doors Open At 7pm. Anyone who has been here before knows what a great time it is. You can be yourself, or be your freaky self. Help us spread the word by inviting all your friends. There is a huge parking lot so get there early!

Local 72 UAW
3615 Washington Rd.
Kenosha WI

March 22nd 2013

at 

Miramar Theatre

Details to be announced!

February 5, 2013

They center around getting people to watch the powerful documentary, Breaking the Taboo. We will explain why we feel this particular documentary is so important at the end of this post.

The first project is having free public showings of Breaking the Taboo. We were thinking of doing this the last 4 Saturdays of March at the Milwaukee, Waukesha, Jefferson, and Racine public libraries. After the showing we could have time for a public discussion regarding the film and it's message, and a short presentation on how legalizing and regulating marijuana in Wisconsin would benefit our state (lower crime, tax revenue, jobs, etc). I want to get feedback from our members before contacting the libraries and setting something up. If anyone knows of other venues that would allow us to do this free of charge, please let us know.

The second project is to spread the film to as many people as possible, particularly those who still need to be convinced of the problems of prohibition, and the benefits of legalization and regulation. We have already burned hundreds of DVD copies of Breaking the Taboo, many of which were directly given to state legislators and Governor Walker last week, but we could use lots of help in purchasing blank DVDs, burning more copies, and distributing the DVDs. The DVDs cost about 30 cents each including labels and soft-sleeves, so any donations to offset that cost, or direct donations of burnable DVDs, would be greatly appreciated. Also, burning the DVDs is a very time consuming process, so we are willing to provide blank DVDs and an ISO image to burn the DVD from to anyone who is willing to take the time to burn them.

We can use all the help we can get in distributing the DVDs of Breaking the Taboo. If you would like copies to distribute, please contact us and we can make arrangements to provide you with free copies, although a donation to offset our costs and continue the project would be greatly appreciated. We will be distributing DVDs at local events in the near future (starting Friday at the Miramar), but we could really use volunteers to help with distribution so we can reach more events. Direct support from event promoters and coordinators would be awesome!

Thirdly, we want to provide copies of Breaking the Taboo, along with information on the benefits of legalizing marijuana and our contact information, to people influential in the community. This includes religious leaders, community groups, judges, District Attornies, mayors, police chiefs, etc. We need this to be a coordinated effort so we can reach as many of these people as possible without duplicating effort. We also would like feedback on which specific groups would be most effective for us to target, as we only have limited resources. The idea of this project is as much to reduce vocal opponents as it is to gain supporters. Police chiefs and judges may not come out in support of legalization, but if we can convince them not to come out against any legalization bill, that's just as much of a gain in my eyes.

To sum up, we would like volunteers for the following:
-- Burning DVD copies of Breaking the Taboo
-- Distributing copies of Breaking the Taboo to friends, family, coworkers, anyone you know
-- Distributing copies of Breaking the Taboo at events
-- Working with us to send copies of Breaking the Taboo to influential community members, or even better, giving it to them in person and having a personal discussion with them.
-- Donating blank DVDs to make copies of Breaking the Taboo
-- Finding places to have free showings of Breaking the Taboo, and/or public discussions about the drug war and legalizing marijuana

We would also like feedback on the following:
-- Where we should have showings of Breaking the Taboo, and ideas for our presentation and discussion with the public
-- Which groups of influential community members would be most effective to send copies of Breaking the Taboo to
-- The proposed projects in general
-- Any other ideas for getting public discussion and support for legalization

Please contact us if you would like to volunteer or with feedback, or reply to this post with feeback to foster some discussion among members.

We feel that Breaking the Taboo is particularly powerful because it is narrated by Morgan Freeman and features distingushed individuals (Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, a former US drug czar, several other world leaders) explicitly calling the war on drugs a failure and presenting strong evidence in support of alernate approaches, including the legalization of marijuana. Due to the evidence presented, and the people presenting it, the message of this film is impossible to dismiss. A lot of people think that legalization is just an issue important to "pot heads who just want to get high", but this film goes incredibly far at legitimizing the issue in the eyes of the general public. After viewing this film, people may still debate the issue, but they can no longer simply write it off as a fringe issue.

We support the freedom to grow and distribute medical cannabis and industrial hemp as well as the  responsible adult use of Cannabis. We work hard to repeal Cannabis Prohibition. We are working to reform current Wisconsin laws in all areas, however we could use some help from the citizens of Wisconsin. Despite our State Motto being Forward, we are falling behind legislatively compared to our neighboring States. Join us or join www.wiscan.org or any other NORML Chapter or other Cannabis Reform Organization in the State close to you and get involved with making a Bill Pass for Wisconsin! If you need help or can volunteer, yet don’t know how, just contact us anytime at admins@SEWisconsinNORML.org

Wisconsin has been fighting for medicinal cannabis use for a long time now with the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act (JRMMA). It seems Wisconsinites everywhere are fed up with the unjust laws creating criminals rather than helping patients. Yesterday, January 16th, Cannabis patients and recreational consumers flocked to the Capitol in Madison to voice their thoughts about Cannabis in Wisconsin to their representatives and senators.

Having constituents speaking with legislators and confirming the need for safe access to medical Cannabis is the best lobbying technique and that is what we did. Not to mention the Communications Director for SE Wisconsin NORML, Eric Marsch was thoughtful enough to make copies of the "Breaking the Taboo" documentary and dropped off 50 copies with legislators through out the capitol.

With the revised version of the JRMMA as well as the Full Legalization Initiative for Wisconsin in the hands of our legislators now, we can only wait for a follow up to see what they have in store for us here in Wisconsin, so we hurry up and wait!

We here at SE Wisconsin NORML will try to keep you updated with any news regarding Cannabis legalization in Wisconsin. And thank you to all who showed up to lobby with us. We plan on doing more active lobbying from here on out.

Thursday, 03 January 2013