Pubdate: Thu, 20 Jan 2011 Source: Daily Press (Newport News, VA) Copyright: 2011 The Daily Press Contact: http://www.dailypress.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/585 Referenced: HB 1443 http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?111+sum+HB1443 Bookmark: http://www.drugsense.org/cms/geoview/n-us-va (Virginia) THREAT ASSESSMENT Criminalizing Marijuana (Real or Synthetic) Is a Waste of Law Enforcement Resources In the state legislature's short sessions -- just 45 days to take care of a year's worth of business -- some good bills meet an untimely death. One of this year's early casualties was a sensible bill that would have decriminalized marijuana. Its demise wasn't unexpected. What is unexpected is who was behind it: not a liberal but a Virginia gentleman of the Republican persuasion, Del. Harvey Morgan of Gloucester. When conservative Virginians advocate for a more rational approach to marijuana, it's a sign that this is an issue the state needs to deal with. Morgan's bill would not have legalized marijuana, but would have stopped treating possession as a crime. Possession would still be against the law, but it would be a civil matter, punished by a fine, not a fine plus a possible jail sentence, as is now the case. The amount of the proposed fine -- $500 -- is evidence that the bill didn't take the matter lightly; so is the requirement that minors who violated the law forfeit their drivers licenses and take part in drug screening and education. The bill would have changed none of the penalties for manufacture or distribution of marijuana. Morgan recognizes that there can be social costs to marijuana use. But he wants to correct the dysfunctional approach that prevails today, where the cost of punishing marijuana use far exceeds the cost of its use. In 2009, there were 19,739 arrests in Virginia for violations of marijuana laws. That's more than three times the number of arrests involving cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin -- combined. It represents the expenditure of a larger share of criminal justice resources -- police, prosecutors, judges, court staff, jail operations -- than the effects of this drug justify. When local and state budgets are tight and money is needed for better uses -- schools, serious crimes, drainage, water quality-- it doesn't make sense to spend so much money making criminals out of people who use marijuana. It also doesn't make sense to saddle thousands of people with criminal records just for using a substance that, surveys tell us, a large share of the public has at least sampled. Unfortunately, the full legislature didn't have a chance to discuss the issue. A subcommittee killed Harvey's bill -- on the legislative fast track. The drug issue that lawmakers are eager to take up is outlawing what's called "spice" or K2. More than a dozen bills have been introduced to make it a crime to manufacture, sell, distribute or possess this plant material laced with chemicals that produce a high when smoked. Most would make possession of more than half an ounce a felony and impose a prison sentence of at least five year for manufacture. If it doesn't make sense to make possession of real marijuana a crime, it doesn't make sense if it's a synthetic version, either. Instead of ad hoc, hurry-up efforts to ban the newest way to get high, the legislature -- and the public -- needs to have a thoughtful discussion of how much of a threat marijuana (real or synthetic) poses to society, what kind of punishments that threat justifies and how much of society's resources it should claim. We need to discuss whether, if the goal is to reduce substance abuse, this is the place to concentrate. Alcohol takes a far higher toll on lives and families, on the highways and in the health care system, yet the state makes a tidy profit providing it to citizens. Cigarettes can kill and add billions of dollars to our health care costs, but Virginia cultivates cigarette makers and refuses to impose the cigarette taxes that might deter young people from developing a hard-to-kick addiction. Next year is a longer session, and Harvey's proposal might get the attention it deserves. Its day is overdue. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake