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I encourage everyone to watch this talk given by @drcarlhart at last year's @HorizonsConf. He expertly describes the connection between racist policing and drug prohibition.
The only words spoken by Chauvin as he murdered George Floyd were, "Relax. What are you on?" Thao jokes as Floyd is being murdered, "This is why you don't do drugs kids....Don't do drugs guys." Later, a Cup Foods employee explains that Floyd––now unconscious––has, "Probably OD'd"
Floyd's intoxication is used to justify keeping him prone and restrained with the knee-to-neck maneuver, it's used to undermine the seriousness of what's happening in Floyd's final moments, and it will almost certainly be used post-mortem by Chauvin's defense in his murder trial.
Chauvin explained his behavior to other officers who were worried about "excited delirium", a drug-associated condition that can be used as a pseudomedical catch-all to justify excessive force.
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7608386
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7608386
If Floyd's murder hadn't been recorded, it's likely that Chauvin would have gotten off by claiming the deadly force was warranted by Floyd's intoxication, the detection of methamphetamine and fentanyl in Floyd's autopsy will still be used as evidence to support this claim.
This has happened countless times: The trace quantities of THC in Travon Martin's blood, Ramarley Graham being shot as he flushed a small bag of Cannabis down the toilet, Rumain Brisbon's bottle of oxycodone being mistaken for a gun, Philando Castile's jar of Cannabis.
You can't fight "racism" as a monolithic entity, you have to identify the mechanisms through which these tragedies occur. Prohibition transforms medical problems into criminal ones, providing a pretext for unnecessary intervention and a justification for excessive force.
These laws ensure mutual fear between citizens and law enforcement and are discriminatory and unjust even when they are enforced without prejudice. They are a cornerstone of institutionalized racism in the US and something you can fight to change.
