--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Until 1988, one year of imprisonment had…" description: "\"“Until 1988, one year of imprisonment had been the maximum for possession of any amount of any drug.”\" — Michelle Alexander" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/768/michelle-alexander-750_drugs_until-1988-one-year-of-imprisonment-had_1602230.png" --- # Until 1988, one year of imprisonment had been the maximum… ![“Until 1988, one year of imprisonment had been the maximum for possession of any amount of any drug.” quote by Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/768/michelle-alexander-750_drugs_until-1988-one-year-of-imprisonment-had_1602230.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/768/michelle-alexander-750_drugs_until-1988-one-year-of-imprisonment-had_1602230.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/768/michelle-alexander-750_drugs_until-1988-one-year-of-imprisonment-had_1602230.png) > ““Until 1988, one year of imprisonment had been the maximum for possession of any amount of any drug.”” [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Drug laws historically imposed harsh penalties, shaping systemic injustice. **In simple terms:** Drug laws were once extremely harsh. Key Takeaway Recognize and challenge unfair legal systems. Themes justice law inequality Mood determined hopeful Type activist educational When to use this quote - criminal justice reform - activism - education - advocacy Key Concepts sociology policy reform Questions to Reflect On - What reforms could reduce drug sentencing disparities? - How can individuals support policy change? A Different Perspective Legal change is slow and faces strong opposition. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Drugs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drugs/) [Imprisonment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imprisonment/) [Imprisonment Maximum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imprisonment-maximum-6095339/) [Incarceration](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/incarceration/) [Maximum Possession](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/maximum-possession-640193/) [Possession Drug](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/possession-drug-409334/) [Prosecution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prosecution/) [War on drugs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war-on-drugs/) [Year Imprisonment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/year-imprisonment-6095340/) ## Related quotes > [In the 1990s - the period of the greatest escalation of the drug war - nearly 80 percent of the increase in drug arrests…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/in-the-1990s-the-period-of-the-greatest-escalation-of-the-drug-war/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [At Tottenham, I'm asked to take a lot of risks to keep maximum possession of the ball and build from the back.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugo-lloris/at-tottenham-i-m-asked-to-take-a-lot-of-risks-to-keep-maximum/) [Hugo Lloris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugo-lloris/) > [The severest prosecutions have never been followed by revelations changing a divine law, obedience to which brought imprisonment or martyrdom. 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Paying back all these fees, fines, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/in-a-growing-number-of-states-you-re-actually-expected-to-pay-back/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [Most people seem to assume that this dramatic surge in imprisonment was due to a corresponding surge in crime, particularly violent crime.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/most-people-seem-to-assume-that-this-dramatic-surge-in-imprisonment/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [Let me have my tax money go for my protection and not for my prosecution. Let my tax money go for the protection of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harvey-milk/let-me-have-my-tax-money-go-for-my-protection-and-not-for-my/) [Harvey Milk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harvey-milk/) > [Major international interventions are doomed unless the US is directly or indirectly involved. 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If you ask for jobs or economic investment, you won't get that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/if-you-ask-for-good-schools-you-aren-t-likely-to-get-them-if-you-ask/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [The uncomfortable reality we must face is that California, like the nation as a whole, has treated generations of African Americans and Latinos as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/the-uncomfortable-reality-we-must-face-is-that-california-like-the/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [“Seeing race is not the problem. Refusing to care for the people we see is the problem. The fact that the meaning of race…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/seeing-race-is-not-the-problem-refusing-to-care-for-the-people-we-see/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [Since the nations founding, African Americans repeatedly have been controlled through institutions such as slavery and Jim Crow, which appear to die but then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/since-the-nations-founding-african-americans-repeatedly-have-been/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [“Felon disenfranchisement laws have been more effective in eliminating black voters in the age of mass incarceration than they were under Jim Crow…These figures…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/felon-disenfranchisement-laws-have-been-more-effective-in-eliminating/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [“That was King’s dream—a society that is capable of seeing each of us, as we are, with love. That is a goal worth fighting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/that-was-king-s-dream-a-society-that-is-capable-of-seeing-each-of-us/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [Activists take the risks, while advocates are professional tinkerers with the system. What's necessary is for those who are advocates to support those who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/activists-take-the-risks-while-advocates-are-professional-tinkerers/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [“Civil rights protests were frequently depicted as criminal rather than political in nature, and federal courts were accused of excessive “lenience” toward lawlessness, thereby…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/civil-rights-protests-were-frequently-depicted-as-criminal-rather/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [We cannot 'fix' the police without a revolution of values and radical change to the basic structure of our society.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/we-cannot-fix-the-police-without-a-revolution-of-values-and-radical/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [If we continue to tell ourselves the popular myths about racial progress or, worse yet, if we say to ourselves that the problem of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/if-we-continue-to-tell-ourselves-the-popular-myths-about-racial/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [The mass incarceration of poor people of color, particularly black men, has emerged as a new caste system, one specifically designed to address the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/the-mass-incarceration-of-poor-people-of-color-particularly-black-men/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [ “\[T\]he slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery. —W.E.B Du Bois, Black Reconstruction in America… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/t-he-slave-went-free-stood-a-brief-moment-in-the-sun-then-moved-back/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [If you take into account prisoners, a large majority of African American men in some urban areas, like Chicago, have been labeled felons for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/if-you-take-into-account-prisoners-a-large-majority-of-african/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [“A new civil rights movement cannot be organized around the relics of the earlier system of control if it is to address meaningfully the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/a-new-civil-rights-movement-cannot-be-organized-around-the-relics-of/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [The rules and reasons the political system employs to enforce status relations of any kind, including racial hierarchy, evolve and change as they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/the-rules-and-reasons-the-political-system-employs-to-enforce-status/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Explore all 381 Michelle Alexander quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) ## More Drugs quotes > [You find out so many interesting things when you're not on drugs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boy-george/you-find-out-so-many-interesting-things-when-you-re-not-on-drugs/) [Boy George](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boy-george/) > [Who said we take drugs? we're just lacking fate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cath-chatto/who-said-we-take-drugs-we-re-just-lacking-fate/) [Cath Chatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cath-chatto/) > [We have drugs to make women speak, but none to keep them silent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatole-france/we-have-drugs-to-make-women-speak-but-none-to-keep-them-silent/) [Anatole France](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-france/) > [not all drugs are good.. some of them are great](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-hicks/not-all-drugs-are-good-some-of-them-are-great/) [Bill Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-hicks/) > [A pill to make you numb, a pill to you make you dumb, a pill to make you anybody else, but all the drugs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-manson/a-pill-to-make-you-numb-a-pill-to-you-make-you-dumb-a-pill-to-make/) [Marilyn Manson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-manson/) > [“People aren't crazy, they’re just reacting normally to an abnormally crazy world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-s-b-morse/people-aren-t-crazy-they-re-just-reacting-normally-to-an-abnormally/) [J.S.B. Morse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-s-b-morse/) > [Raves when it was safe to be free & wave your hands in the air, like you didn't even care! Not scared to break…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/progrezza/raves-when-it-was-safe-to-be-free-wave-your-hands-in-the-air-like-you/) [Progrezza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/progrezza/) > [Rock n roll is about drugs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-manson/rock-n-roll-is-about-drugs/) [Marilyn Manson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-manson/) > [If you don't think drugs have done good things for us, then take all of your records, tapes and CD's and burn them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-hicks/if-you-don-t-think-drugs-have-done-good-things-for-us-then-take-all/) [Bill Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-hicks/) > [I don't like drug, but drug like me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ammar-farini/i-don-t-like-drug-but-drug-like-me/) [Ammar Farini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ammar-farini/) > [“If Barack Obama had come up in a time when the drug war was being waged as intensely as it is now, we probably…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-hart/if-barack-obama-had-come-up-in-a-time-when-the-drug-war-was-being/) [Carl Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-hart/) > [“Whenever the wife wants to do drugs, she thinks about Sartre. One bad trip and then a giant lobster followed him around for the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-offill/whenever-the-wife-wants-to-do-drugs-she-thinks-about-sartre-one-bad/) [Jenny Offill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-offill/) > [“The W. M. Keck Observatory is the only employer that has surprised me during my employment with urine tests for illegal drugs.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-magee/the-w-m-keck-observatory-is-the-only-employer-that-has-surprised-me/) [Steven Magee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-magee/) > [I think religion is bad and drugs are good.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-maher/i-think-religion-is-bad-and-drugs-are-good/) [Bill Maher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-maher/) > [You're my drugs because you help me see the beauty of life upside down and you help me escape the ugliness of life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-re-my-drugs-because-you-help-me-see-the-beauty-of-life-upside/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 1,085 Drugs quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drugs/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Until 1988, one year of imprisonment had been the maximum for possession of any amount of any drug.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michelle Alexander" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/until-1988-one-year-of-imprisonment-had-been-the-maximum-for/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Drugs" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/until-1988-one-year-of-imprisonment-had-been-the-maximum-for/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/768/michelle-alexander-750_drugs_until-1988-one-year-of-imprisonment-had_1602230.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/768/michelle-alexander-750_drugs_until-1988-one-year-of-imprisonment-had_1602230.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/768/michelle-alexander-750_drugs_until-1988-one-year-of-imprisonment-had_1602230.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Until 1988, one year of imprisonment had been the maximum for possession of any amount of any drug.” — Michelle Alexander", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Michelle Alexander", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Until 1988, one year of imprisonment...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/until-1988-one-year-of-imprisonment-had-been-the-maximum-for/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/until-1988-one-year-of-imprisonment-had-been-the-maximum-for/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```