Pubdate: Tue, 15 Apr 2014
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2014 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

A STEP TOWARD SANITY

Maryland Is Right to Be Cautious About Legalizing Pot, but 
Decriminalization Addresses Some of the Worst Problems of the War on Drugs

In 2010, Baltimore police made 64,525 arrests, and more than 7,000 of 
them - 11 percent of the total - were for simple possession of 
marijuana. That represents thousands of hours by Baltimore police, 
Central Booking officials, prosecutors, public defenders, judges and 
others, all of whom had better things to do. That year, Baltimore 
recorded 224 homicides, ranking it among the five deadliest cities in 
the nation.

And the enforcement of laws against possession of marijuana isn't 
just an issue in Baltimore; overall, the state logged more than 
22,000 marijuana possession arrests in 2010, the third-most per 
capita of any state in the nation.

On Monday, Gov. Martin O'Malley signed legislation that will make 
possession of a small amount of marijuana (10 grams, or about a third 
of an ounce) a civil offense, not a criminal one. Effectively, it 
will be treated like a traffic violation, with a fine of $100 for a 
first or second offense and the possibility after the third or 
subsequent offenses that the violator will be ordered to undergo drug 
abuse treatment.

Under the previous law, the offense was a misdemeanor, punishable by 
up to 90 days in jail - though before 2012, the penalty was up to a 
year in jail.

It's difficult to determine exactly how often prosecutors took the 
time to try those arrested for simple possession of such a small 
amount of pot or how often those arrested were convicted and 
sentenced to jail. But this is a clear case of the process becoming 
the punishment. The record of the arrest itself can make it difficult 
for offenders to get a job, and that can create a devastating set of 
social consequences, particularly because of one other pertinent fact 
about Maryland's marijuana laws: They are enforced at massively 
disproportionate rates against African-Americans, who are three times 
more likely to be arrested for possession than whites statewide and 
more than five times as likely to be arrested for that offense in 
Baltimore. Among the most crucial elements of the new law, which goes 
into effect Oct. 1, is that civil citations for marijuana possession 
will not show up in the Maryland judiciary's online database.

Critics of the national movement to liberalize marijuana laws 
question whether these steps will lead to unintended consequences, 
such as an increase in marijuana use, particularly by minors.

While that is certainly a valid concern, it falls short for two 
reasons. First, we would never set out to reduce marijuana use by 
creating a system that is, in its effect if not intention, racially 
discriminatory. And second, there is no clear evidence that the step 
Maryland is taking will lead to higher rates of use.

Much remains to be learned about the full legalization of marijuana 
that has taken place in Colorado and Washington. But decriminalizing 
marijuana is actually an old policy idea that has been tried in a 
handful of states for the last 30 years.

The Marijuana Policy Project lists 11 states that have had 
decriminalization policies in place since the 1970s. Some of them are 
places you might expect, like California, Oregon and Alaska, and some 
are places you might not, like Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio and 
Nebraska. After a generation of experience under these laws, there is 
no obvious correlation between them and rates of marijuana use. The 
federal government's Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 
Administration uses surveys to track state-level statistics on the 
use of marijuana, and a few of the decriminalization states are the 
top tier for use, one (Mississippi) is in the bottom tier, and most 
are somewhere in the middle.

Ultimately, it seems inevitable that this will not be the last step 
in changing Maryland's marijuana laws. (For starters, lawmakers 
should address the fact that possessing small amounts of marijuana is 
not a crime but possessing a bong is.) Decriminalization may solve 
some problems caused by the war on drugs, but it still leaves in 
place a massive underground and criminal economy that feeds huge 
profits to violent street gangs and drug cartels.

It also puts those who use marijuana in contact with criminals who 
frequently also sell more addictive and more dangerous drugs.

But Maryland does not need to be in the vanguard among states seeking 
to address those issues.

For now, we can be content with a policy that eliminates a manifest 
racial injustice in our law enforcement system, removes barriers to 
gainful employment and allows police and prosecutors to focus their 
efforts where they are most needed.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom