Pubdate: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 Source: Houston Chronicle (TX) Copyright: 2013 Houston Chronicle Publishing Company Division Contact: http://www.chron.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/198 Author: Nathan Jones Note: Jones is the Alfred C. Glassell Postdoctoral Fellow in Drug Policy at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. Page: B7 RETHINKING THE WAR ON DRUGS U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder should be applauded for his speech last week to the American Bar Association calling for a reduction of federal mandatory minimum sentences in drug cases. Incarcerating nonviolent drug offenders is a waste of taxpayer money. These new policies will increase government coffers without reducing safety. Under Holder's proposal, prosecutors will omit the amounts of drugs from their indictments when the defendant is charged with a nonviolent drug offense that is unconnected to organized crime. Omitting the amount avoids triggering mandatory minimum sentences. The policies also expand compassionate release programs, leave more drug cases under the purview of the states and increase drug-treatment programs for nonviolent offenders in lieu of incarceration. They are also morally just. Harsh drug sentencing disproportionately harms minorities. According to a June report from the American Civil Liberties Union, blacks and whites use marijuana at comparable rates, but blacks are 3.7 times more likely to be arrested. While Holder pointed to Texas investments in drug treatment programs and parole policy changes as examples of cost-effective drug reform policies, there is still more to be done in Texas. As William Martin, the Drug Policy Program director at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, has pointed out, "trace cases" are still being prosecuted in Texas. These are cases where only trace amounts of drugs are found on individuals resulting in felonies instead of misdemeanors. Texas could easily pass legislation changing sentencing for possession and delivery of small amounts of drugs from a felony to a class A or even class C misdemeanor. A step further would be for Texas to consider what 20 states and the District of Columbia have already done: legalize medical marijuana. Polls show the vast majority of Texans support legalizing marijuana for medical purposes. America's most famous doctor and CNN's chief medical correspondent, Sanjay Gupta, last week came out in favor of medical marijuana. In a CNN special first aired on April 11, Gupta pointed out that U.S. research on medical marijuana is a restrictive process, with the result that the only real science is being done abroad. Looking elsewhere, with a focus on Israel, he found research pointing to the legitimacy of medical marijuana. If Texas really wanted to skip ahead, it could do what Colorado and Washington have done and legalize marijuana for recreational purposes. Based on its size and geographic proximity to Mexico, legalized marijuana in Texas could take a significant chunk of profits away from Mexican cartels that have killed more than 100,000 people in drug-related violence in the last decade. Most analysts think that marijuana accounts for at least 20-30 percent of Mexican cartel profits. Marijuana legalization won't destroy the cartels, but it will weaken their ability to corrupt U.S. and Mexican authorities. Finally, Texas is one of the few states without a needle exchange program for drug users. By giving injecting drug users access to clean needles, we could reduce the spread of HIV, hepatitis and other illnesses that kill our children and burden our health care system. These are the most cost-effective and beneficial drug reform policies Texas could make. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt