“Too much paperwork for the police to arrest and process? Or, maybe too big a risk of getting shot at?”
Here’s my theory. The cops think that as long as the drugs and mayhem stay in the black community it’s not worth dealing with. To get a conviction they’d generally need blacks to testify against blacks and that won’t happen. Also, as a rule, blacks don’t vote. Putting a few in jail does not move the needle as far as the cops are concerned one way or the other. It’s the same reason that so many shootings happen in Chicago. They’re only affecting the black community and the black community will not ask for or accept any help in reducing violence. It’s just part of the way things are. I watched an interview with a black Chicago mother who had lost four of her five sons in drive-by shootings. She was angry, but it apparently never occurred to her to move. She was living in the same apartment complex as a host of black dealers. That’s the very definition of “I should get out of here.” Nope. Just anger with no logic about what she should do about the situation.
Keeping them stoned is a form of control.