See the article in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/28/nyregion/legalization-marijuana-new-jersey.html

The people pushing expungement say that African-American and Latino communities have been convicted of drug charges at a higher rate than other races.  One researcher claims that a black person has a 50% higher chance of being arrested and convicted of possessing marijuana than a white person for the same crime.

So, to legalize marijuana in New Jersey, do they have to reward criminals?

The movement in the legislature is not a free “get out of jail” card.  For instance, the person who wants an expungement must prove they have not been arrested and/or convicted of a drug charge for at least ten years prior.

And many states which have passed laws to legalize marijuana also recognize the race-based higher rates of convictions for Blacks and Latinos.  But have not tied the legalization of pot to those statistical facts.

I worked for over 40 years as both a prosecutor and defense lawyer. I handled thousands of drug cases.  Politicians and groups who have pushed for harsher sentencing for drug offenders claim the purpose is to catch the kingpins. That will stop the sales on the street.  In my experience, that’s the opposite of what actually happens.  The people pulled into the system are the lowest-level users. They sell a little in order to pay for their own use.  Rarely, are the big shots caught.

Since the 70’s, the “war on drugs” has given us jails bursting with low-level drug offenders.  The majority of them are men of color.  Some argue that segments of the communities of color commit more crimes.  Others argue that the entire system is, obviously, racist and unfair.

Whichever side you may agree with the fact remains that too many people are in prison for possession of drugs. There are other ways to handle these cases.  If you have a felony on your record  it’s almost impossible to get a decent job.  That forces many felons to go back into the drug trade to support families.

Should we legalize marijuana and include the expungement of the records of prior felons?

New Jersey has not passed the law yet.  It’ll be interesting to see if they do and what the outcome will be.  It seems like the expanding effort in the U.S. to consider the wisdom of making many drugs illegal may need to be re-thought.

What do you think?

The post Legalize Marijuana—and Reward Criminals? appeared first on Colin T. Nelson.

There are two reasons for this surge in prison population and the resulting surge in costs to the government for housing all these people.

1. Politicians, in response to rising crime levels in the 80’s (Once they peaked in those years, they’ve been falling ever since according to FBI statistics), all “got tough” on crime. The way they chose to do so was to pass more laws criminalizing more behaviors and increasing sentences. With every new politician who came into office, vowing to get tough on crime, the only way they could follow-up was to keep raising the penalties. This resulted in a huge increase in prisoners who now stay much longer than ever before.

2. The “War on Drugs” started under President Nixon sought to get the dealers and top people who were selling drugs in the U.S. Of course, some of these kingpins were caught, convicted, and sentenced. In my 30+ years of experience as both a defense lawyer and prosecutor, the reality is that most drug offenders are low-level users. Why? They’re easier to catch and convict. Even though these people fill up our prisons, they’re not the ones we really want to lock-up. Most are not dealers;–they’re users.

Consider that as the prison population ages, they will become “senior citizens” who will all need extensive medical care–can you imagine what that’ll cost us as taxpayers?

So, what to do about this?

There are two ideas:

1. Decriminalize some of the drug offenses. London tried an experimental program that offered hard-core heroin addicts free drugs. Sound crazy? They identified hard-core users, measured and controlled the dosages, and administered them by medical personnel. There was a corresponding drop in crime. How about decriminalizing marijuana? If we were to treat it like alcohol, control the purity and quantity, sell it only in licensed stores, and tax it heavily, that one drug alone may be able to pay for all the prisoners in custody today.

2. Establish diversion programs in the courts. A less radical idea than the first is to divert low-level drug offenders out of the criminal justice system. They would be monitored by probation officers, report regularly, and stay out of criminal trouble. This model is being used by many jurisdictions already with good results. Instead of sending these people to prison, they remain in the community under supervision unless they re-offend. It certainly eliminates a great percentage of the present prison population.

I can already hear the opposition to these ideas.

What do you think? Will this bring about the downfall of America? Let me know.

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