Pubdate: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 Source: East Valley Tribune (AZ) Copyright: 2005 East Valley Tribune. Contact: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2708 Author: Jason Ziedenburg Note: Jason Ziedenberg is executive director of the Justice Policy Institute. ANTI-POT SPENDING JUST GOES UP IN SMOKE While marijuana may be getting the short shrift in the media due to the heightened concern around methamphetamines, marijuana arrests -- numbering 755,000 in 2003 -- still represent the largest part of our criminal justice response to drug use. Harvard economist Jeffrey A. Miron has estimated law enforcement, judicial and corrections costs associated with marijuana accounts for $5.1 billion in spending. Despite billions in new spending and hundreds of thousands of new arrests, marijuana use across the country seems to be unaffected by the huge criminal justice response to this drug. At a time when communities need more funds for meth treatment -- and the federal government is only able to pledge $16 million in new funding, as it did last week -- we need to review if our marijuana enforcement dollars are really making a difference. From 1991 to 2003, as marijuana arrest rate nationwide increased by 127 percent, use rates for all Americans remained relatively level, climbing 22 percent in the last few years. The dragnet isn't doing much to curb youth drug use, either. While there was some decline in the last three years, the massive rise in marijuana arrests corresponded with a 13-year trend toward increased youth marijuana use. The percentage of 12th graders who said it was "fairly easy, or very easy" to get marijuana barely changed over the 1990s, and remains above 85 percent. It is not surprising that the National Research Council, a congressionally chartered institution, would report that there is "little apparent relationship between severity of sanctions prescribed for drug use and prevalence or frequency of use." While the growth in arrests has had little effect in deterring people from using this drug, the impact of marijuana convictions and imprisonment is devastating on the lives of many individuals. Nationally, there are 41,000 people convicted of marijuana felony offenses, and these individuals will face various barriers to re-entry ranging from the denial of public housing to the inability to drive. In most states, employers can ask about arrests that never led to a conviction and refuse to hire an individual based upon their criminal record -- even if that person is exceptionally qualified for the job. So, even if people charged with marijuana offenses are not sent to prison, these "collateral consequences" of a felony conviction can hamstring their ability to work, take care of their families and contribute to their community (including, their communities taxbase). The combined effect can cause enough chaos in a person's life to take them out of the community entirely, increasing their likelihood of recidivism. As the National Research Council said, "It is unconscionable for this country to continue to carry out a public policy of this magnitude and cost without any way of knowing whether it is having the desired effect." Instead of repeating our past mistakes this country should follow the recent lead of Canada and the United Kingdom, and do what we once did under President Nixon. We should be convening a body of experts, including researchers, law enforcement, local government, community organizations and others to review the efficacy and impact of all our current drug policies, and recommend other policy choices that might spend our scarce criminal justice and treatment dollars more effectively. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek