Get Active Subscribe Support Us

ARGUMENTS FOR LEGALIZATION OF POT

Last Tuesday, the Maryland General Assembly held hearings on SB 658, the Marijuana Taxation and Regulation Act of 2014.  If enacted, most forms of possession or sale of small amounts of marijuana would be decriminalized.

The bill's provisions state that adults at least 21 years old may cultivate up to six plants for personal use.  Personal possession of up to one ounce and smoking paraphernalia would also be made legal.

Each county would be allowed at least two retail outlets for pot.  The bill sets regulations for cultivation, safety and manufacturing facilities, and no marijuana business would be allowed within 1,000 feet of any schools.  There would be a tax of $50 per ounce, plus sales taxes, and it mandates a $5 million set-aside for treating drug, alcohol or tobacco abuse.

The bill disallows sales to minors, driving under the influence, public consumption or possession in jails.

Landlords would be able to prohibit cultivation or smoking on their premises, and all cultivation would have to be indoors or behind locked fences; cultivators would be required to keep all plants secured and to bar anyone under 21 years of age from having access to growing plants.  Essentially marijuana would be taxed and regulated the same way as alcohol is.  Estimates are that annual tax revenues from the sale of marijuana products would exceed $100 million.

Based on recent reports of revenues from Colorado, that estimate may not be high enough.

Revenues from taxing pot could certainly ease the tax burden and free the state to improve many other services.

Half of all Marylanders support legalization, and a 3 to 1 majority favors its decriminalization, but political support is divided.

I don't wish to discuss medical marijuana or the morality of consuming pot, but rather the economic and social consequences of legalization.  The U.S.  keeps more of its citizens in jail than any other country, about 2.3 million at present, and many of them are in jail for drug-related crimes, either possession or sale of controlled substances.  Department of Justice statistics show that about half of all drug-related arrests are for pot.  NORML, the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws, estimates that it costs more than $1 billion per year to keep potheads in jail.  Just from a dollars-and-cents point of view, there is no justification for keeping the present criminal model for marijuana.

As it happens, there's a striking racial component to marijuana arrests.  The New York Times reported that even though black Americans use pot at very nearly the same rate as white Americans, they are almost four times as likely to be arrested for possession or use.  This pattern is a significant contributor to social stratification by race.  If a person is busted for marijuana possession, his or her future is permanently affected.  The American Bar Association lists more than 38,000 punitive provisions affecting a person arrested for, let alone convicted of, a crime.  Being adjudicated as a criminal affects employment, eligibility for public benefits, professional licensing and welfare.

It also affects eligibility to vote, and given the racial imbalance in convictions, it's fair to say that the democratic process itself is hostage to drug laws.

We have historical evidence that shows the effects of making certain drugs illegal.

The foolish 18th Amendment created a large class of criminals, ordinary people who wanted no more than their occasional highball.  Courts throughout the land were burdened with cases lacking in merit.  More consequentially, prohibition created the perfect environment for the explosive growth of organized crime and extensive corruption at all levels of government.

The remnants of the 18th Amendment still exist today.

But instead of bootleg booze, mobsters now control drug distribution.  Legalizing marijuana would reduce street crime and free law enforcement dollars and personnel to focus on more serious criminal behavior and cut the costs of keeping prisoners in jail.  The illegal drug business is the cornerstone of organized crime, and pot is the core of illegal drug trade.  While decriminalization in Maryland won't eliminate drug violence in Mexico, it will help reduce it closer to home.