BBSNews - 2003-02-07 -- By Derek Snider, February 7th, 2003 -- While it may be a rare case these days that a person is put in prison for nothing more than smoking a joint, there is fairly solid evidence to conclude that at least 2.4% of total prison inmates are in for marijuana possession.

The fact that annually at least 50,000 Americans have had years of their lives taken away for merely possessing marijuana is quite appalling – a plant that at least one third of all Americans have at one time used.

Since 1985, an average of about 50% high school seniors have consistently reported marijuana use. Fully half of the entire preceding American generation has used marijuana. Does the ONDCP label half of "America's future" criminals simply because they have consumed marijuana?

Doing hard time is no laughing matter. It destroys lives. It exposes you to aggressive, violent criminals, abuse, diseases, and leaves you permanently changed.

Incarceration is completely ineffective in controlling drug use. Drugs are more available as well as more appealing inside of prison. In fact, a marijuana using prisoner will likely turn to a harder drug because the drug test for marijuana use is much harder to beat. Even former ONDCP head Barry McCaffrey has said that we cannot incarcerate ourselves out of the drug problem in America.

It costs three to four times as much to house a prisoner as it does to enroll them into a treatment program. The RAND Corporation has found that drug treatment is much more effective and far less costly than longer sentences or conventional enforcement.

Mr. Burns neglects to mention that there are well over 720,000 marijuana arrests per year. Of these, the vast majority (88%) are for possession alone.

Not only are there a very high number of marijuana arrests, it is quite evident that law enforcement officers will specifically target marijuana users over crack users because pot smokers are much more passive and far less likely to be carrying a weapon.

Being arrested is no small thing. You are handcuffed, taken into custody, fingerprinted, mug shots taken, held until you can post bail, and pretty well guaranteed to receive a criminal record, jail time or not.

There have been over ten million arrests for marijuana possession since 1970.

Roughly 600,000 Canadians have a criminal record for marijuana possession. For Americans it may well be ten times that figure.

Besides the personal, professional and family disgrace, a criminal record alone can put a permanent damper on your already limited freedom. This includes restrictions on the jobs you can work at, qualifying for subsidized housing, student loans, public benefits and travel.

Even a minor marijuana misdemeanor on your record can come back to haunt you years later, causing embarassing and aggravating situations when crossing the border.

Due to "Zero Tolerance" polices in schools, a marijuana conviction will most likely result in a year’s suspension and a criminal record for most of their life. Many of those who receive such a suspension never end up going back to school. Policies like these have driven drug use further underground so that students are afraid to ask for help if they need it.

Aside from the personal costs and loss of freedom, taxpayers pay a high price as well. It has been estimated that the U.S. spends over $14 billion dollars per year on marijuana prohibition alone.

The American prison industry is truly massive, and shows no signs of slowing. Former Oklahoma State Reformatory Warden Jack Cowley put it quite well when he said, "The war on drugs is a miserable failure because it has not stopped drug use in this country. It’s a great success [for prisons] because it’s the best economic boom we’ve ever seen."

Interestingly enough, a recent study in the UK has shown that marijuana smokers actually make a significant financial contribution to the British economy – about 11£ billion in snack food and home entertainment alone. If marijuana was legal, regulated and taxed like alcohol, rather than spending $14 billion per year fighting marijuana, the US government could be earning just as much, if not more in taxes.

References:

Current Felony Marijuana Inmates in the US Tops 135,000

"The BJS reported in a 1998 Bulletin, Felony Sentences in State Courts, "A total of 927,717 persons were convicted of a felony in State courts in 1998, including 164,600 (or 17.8% of the total) for a violent felony; 283,000 (30.5%) for the property offenses of burglary, larceny, fraud, and forgery; 314,600 (33.9%) for drug offenses; and 31,900 (3.4%) for weapon offenses. The remaining 133,600 (14.4%) consisted of persons convicted of nonviolent offenses such as receiving stolen property and escaping custody. (Chart-5)

Marijuana trafficking convictions were 2.5% of the conviction total, and marijuana possession convictions were 3.6% of the total." (Chart-6)

Meaning 23,192 for marijuana trafficking (which often translates as gardening) and 33,397 felony convictions for marijuana possession for a total of 56,589 total felony marijuana convictions in state courts in 1998. 44% of drug offenders are sentenced to state prison meaning about 24,899 total marijuana offenders likely go to prison each year." http://bbsnews.net/bw2002-11-20.html

NORML Report on Sixty Years of Marijuana Prohibition in the U.S.

"Annual federal government expenditures on the "war on drugs" average $15.7 billion annually. In addition, state and local governments also spend $16 billion per year enforcing drug laws. In 1995, nearly 600,000 of the total 1.5 million drug arrests in America were for marijuana offences. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that between 25 and 40 percent of the total $31 billion annual costs are related to marijuana prohibition. Using this basic calculation, marijuana prohibition costs the American taxpayers between $7.5 and $10 billion annually in enforcement alone."   http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=4433

How Much Do Federal Agencies Really Spend Combating Drug Use? http://www.rand.org/multi/dprc/pubs/CP201.00.pdf

Derek Snider is a drug law reform activist from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Michael Hess is the Editor of BBSNews in Charlotte, NC. Write to the editor here. Not all submissions are published. Or visit the completely new BBSNews Blog and Forum on our front page - Please Participate in BBSNews!