Pubdate: Thu, 03 Apr 2014
Source: Providence Journal, The (RI)
Copyright: 2014 The Providence Journal Company
Contact:  http://www.projo.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/352
Author: Beth Comery
Note: Beth Comery was a Providence police officer from 1976 to 1982 and
advocates drug legalization with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.
She is a member of the Rhode Island bar.

DRUG WAR HAS FAILED, SO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

In the late 1970s and early '80s, just as this
country's war on drugs was ramping up, I joined the Providence Police
Department, serving five years as a uniformed police officer in the
patrol division. Even then, with the lion's share of our federal drug
enforcement budget devoted to treatment, I had doubts about the
efficacy of a "war on drugs." The criminal justice system seemed
ill-suited for addressing public health problems, and it appeared that
the issue was being manipulated and exploited for political reasons.
But I could never have imagined the damage this new prohibition would
inflict on the fabric of our cities and on our national identity.

It was obvious that arresting users and dealers had virtually no
impact on the supply of illegal marijuana and other drugs. And it also
became clear that the undercover drug enforcement units spent most of
their time targeting poor young people from minority communities,
while the students and young adults on College Hill were largely left
alone. Right from the start, the big push was ineffective and unjust.

Things have only gotten worse in the ensuing decades. The United
States imprisons one out of every four prisoners in the world, despite
having only 5 percent of the world's total population. This trend of
mass incarceration has largely been driven by the destructive war on
drugs. More than half of all arrests for drugs are for marijuana.

Legislation being sponsored this session by Sen. Josh Miller
(D-Cranston) and Rep. Edith Ajello (D-Providence) would let us
regulate marijuana as we do alcohol, as is happening in Colorado and
Washington. The varying responses to this proposal serve to illustrate
how differently marijuana prohibition has been experienced by the
wealthy, white population as compared with minority
communities.

For instance, the evidently all-white editorial board of The Journal
opposes this legislation ("Get off pot," March 2) saying, "We know the
arguments. The war on drugs has bad side effects. Alcohol, overall,
does much greater harm. Yes, yes."

Not surprisingly the NAACP has a somewhat different perspective ("New
England NAACP backs Rhode Island legislators call for legalizing
marijuana," March 5) citing an American Civil Liberties Union report
that black Americans are 3.5 times more likely to be arrested for
marijuana than whites, despite the fact that usage rates are roughly
the same for both groups.

In its opposition, The Journal's editorial expressed concern about
"encouraging a vast new industry promoting the use of another
potentially dangerous drug." But how much worse could this "vast new
industry" be, when compared with the vast existing industry now being
managed by the Sinaloa and Los Zetas cartels?

I would rather contend with Madison Avenue and some Washington
lobbyists than the murderous death squads on the Mexican border. Since
2006, more than 60,000 people have been murdered in Mexico as a result
of the war on drugs. Texas border towns have been transformed, with
many ranchers sending their families away to live elsewhere. Some of
the cartels are avoiding border hassles altogether by setting up
enormous grow farms - protected by heavily armed guards - inside our
national parks.

A 2010 report from the Department of Health and Human Services found
that over 106 million Americans admit to having tried marijuana, over
17.4 million in the last month. Americans are driving this illegal
marijuana market; those deaths in Mexico should weigh on our
conscience. Insisting that we continue this failed policy simply
because we are afraid to regulate a legal industry is ludicrous. The
tobacco lobby was one of the most powerful corporate interests in
America a few decades ago, but we have succeeded in severely
restricting its marketing practices and teen tobacco use is now at
historic lows.

The Journal's editorial board asks that we "pause for a minute" and
watch how things play out in Colorado and Washington. We've done
enough waiting. The reports coming out of Colorado are almost
universally positive: fewer pointless arrests for marijuana, new jobs
and businesses, and millions of dollars in tax revenue.

More importantly, we've spent decades watching things play out here in
North America and the current policy of marijuana prohibition is a
total failure by every measure. We cannot afford to keep delaying
reform. Perhaps if The Journal's editorial board was not so
economically secure, it would be more aware of how serious this is as
a social justice issue, and it would feel a greater sense of urgency
about getting this legislation passed.

Beth Comery was a Providence police officer from 1976 to 1982 and
advocates drug legalization with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.
She is a member of the Rhode Island bar.

Editor's note: As stated in the editorial, while The Journal opposes
outright legalization, it supports decriminalization of marijuana and
legalized medical marijuana.  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D