Poll: Marijuana Law Reform

[caojyn]

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/legal...not-arrested-marijuana-millions-dollars-saved

According to the Colorado Center on Law and Policy, by removing criminal penalties the state has saved anywhere from $12 million to $40 million dollars over the last year. (Others have estimated the state spends over $60 million enforcing marijuana prohibition at the levels now legal, so the CCLP estimate is probably on the conservative side.) Over the last decade, the state has averaged over 10,000 arrests and citations per year for minor marijuana possession at the levels now legal in the state.
Because of Amendment 64 and the simple decriminalization of marijuana in the state over the last year, 10,000 primarily young adults will likely not be hindered by the collateral consequences of a drug charge.

 

[Raoul Duke]

"Get some... sour cream and onion chips... with some dip, man. Some beef jerky. Some peanut butter. Get some Haagen Dazs ice cream bars. A whole lot. Make sure chocolate. Gotta have chocolate, man. Some popcorn. Bread. Popcorn. Graham crackers. Graham crackers with the marshmallows, the little marshmallows. And little chocolate bars. We'll make some smores, man. Also celery, grape jelly, Captain Crunch with the little crunch berries. Pizzas. We need two big pizzas, man. Everything on 'em. With water, whole lot of water. And... Funyuns."

I see what you did there. Well played, sir. Well played.

[video=youtube_share;dzIJNG5__8s]http://youtu.be/dzIJNG5__8s[/video]

 

[_CY_]

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/legal...not-arrested-marijuana-millions-dollars-saved

Nationally we average over 750,000 marijuana arrests each year -- something like one every 37 seconds -- nearly half of all drug arrests in the country. Almost 90 percent of these arrests are for simple possession for personal use, not sale or manufacture. Police make far more arrests for marijuana possession each year than for all violent crimes combined. Colorado has removed itself from this immense waste of resources, and life altering criminal justice consequences, that persistently defines marijuana prohibition.

 

[Raoul Duke]

Interesting perspective on 2A rights & marijuana law reform:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-feldman/gun-rights-marijuana-refo_b_1014802.html

Gun rights activists are generally perceived as coming from the political right while marijuana reformers are typically thought of as belonging to the political left . Ironically, if they can get past their reflexive distrust of each other, the two groups would discover that their pursuit of civil liberties is quite similar. The violence associated with the black markets created by Prohibition of marijuana provides political cover and motivation to those seeking to permanently curtail our 2nd Amendment rights in the name of law and order. Gun owners should understand that much of the impulse to over-regulate and ban firearms would evaporate overnight--along with much of the crime--by joining forces with the anti-Prohibition forces to take away the lucrative black market for both drugs and guns by legalizing marijuana.

To begin with, right/left-wing activists should understand that the expansion of federal power to curtail their favored liberties--to keep and bear arms on one side and to consume whatever substance consenting adult (or their physicians) desire on the other--began at roughly the same time. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) was organized in response to the 1968 Gun Control Act. While its stated mission has been to support the nation's gun laws to prevent criminals and mentally incompetent people from acquiring firearms, the BATF has a history of what might kindly be termed "overzealousness." The completely avoidable carnage in Waco, TX and the recent revelations that the ATF has been one of the primary suppliers of weapons to Mexican drug cartels via ill-conceived operations that have resulted in mayhem and death, e.g. Fast and Furious, are among many examples of the BATF's dysfunctional approach to law enforcement.

The second movement enacted at the time that illustrates the view of Americans as children in need of federal supervision was the War on Drugs announced by Richard Nixon in 1971. Whatever inappropriate zest the BATF may be accused of pales in comparison to the victimization of our citizens by the War on Drugs; which is really a War on Drug Users, AKA Americans. The direct cost (51 billion annually) to our court and prison systems is well known. Less understood is the indirect cost in ruined lives, sundered families and the pervasive violence that surrounds the drug trade as it does any highly profitable black market.

By ending drug prohibition we have a merging of the right and left down the pro-freedom, independent center of the road. What a powerful alliance these two movements could become. Gun rights activists could negate the emotional rhetoric for gun control while marijuana reformers would find powerful political and grass roots support to end the insanity of marijuana prohibition. Our nation is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy; let's stop digging our financial grave any deeper, let's learn from our own history for a change: end marijuana prohibition; stop wasting 100's of billions of dollars every year in policing, prosecuting, and incarcerating our citizens; stop funding drug gangs, ruining civil society and corrupting our law enforcement agencies on both sides of the southern border. This is a clear case where government doing less will mean doing more to lower crime, save money and help protect and preserve our civil liberties.

 

[vvvvvvv]

Locking up nonviolent drug users and perpetuating the 42-year-old War on Drugs has become a profitable and political tool used by Oklahoma’s elected officials and the for-profit prison industry.

Many of those offenders have a recognized need for treatment or a halfway house setting instead of incarceration, said state Rep. Gus Blackwell (R-Laverne), an advocate for reforming Oklahoma’s criminal justice system.

“We need to look at who we are locking up and why we are locking them up,” he said.

Nonviolent offenders make up 51.6 percent of the 25,580 inmates housed in state-run and for-profit prisons. In addition, 2,683 inmates (10 percent) are serving time in Oklahoma prisons for drug possession.

http://www.okgazette.com/oklahoma/article-20013-lockdown.html

 

[RickN]

This thread still going? Kill it with fire!!!!

Never mind, you guys would just stand around trying to inhale it.

 

[MrShooter]

Or we could just call it a no-no and ban it since a few irresponsible people among us can't handle their ****.

 

[vvvvvvv]

Or we could just call it a no-no and ban it since a few irresponsible people among us can't handle their ****.

The irony is the irresponsible ones who can't handle their stuff are the ones that call it a no-no the loudest.

Take, for example, John Trebilcock's authoring of a DUI law only to get busted for DUI (and questioning the validity of the breathalyzer test that is pretty much the foundation of his pet interlock devices).

 

[Raoul Duke]

http://www.okgazette.com/oklahoma/article-20013-lockdown.html

Thanks for the link! I'm looking forward to the rest of this series.

Nonviolent offenders make up 51.6 percent of the 25,580 inmates housed in state-run and for-profit prisons. In addition, 2,683 inmates (10 percent) are serving time in Oklahoma prisons for drug possession.

Nationally, more than 1.5 million people were arrested last year on nonviolent drug complaints and more than half of those arrests (749,825) were connected to marijuana, and 88 percent of those people were booked on possession-only complaints. Marijuana possession-only arrest figures are not available in Oklahoma City or statewide, but one defense lawyer suggests local and state figures mirror the national trend.

“Pot, you might say, is law enforcement’s top cash crop. They don’t want to see it go away,” said OKC defense attorney Chad Moody, who bills himself as the “Drug Lawyer.” “The last thing our criminal justice system wants is for people to stop getting drunk or high,” he said. “It’s a revenue stream with all the fines and fees people pay. Municipal courts, as much as state and federal courts, are revenue courts.”

The strict drug laws and maintaining marijuana as an illegal substance is a recipe for big profits. For instance, Oklahoma contracts with private prison giants Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and The GEO Group, Inc., to operate three corrections facilities that warehouse 7,540 inmates. Both companies are proponents of the rigid drug laws for one reason: more inmates equate to a larger bottom line.

CCA officials did not return emails or telephone calls requesting comment for this story.

The newspaper reported in May that private prison interests have given nearly $200,000 to 79 of the 149 Oklahoma legislators since 2004. House Speaker T.W. Shannon (R-Lawton) was the No. 1 recipient of private prison-related donations totaling $34,950. That figure includes $22,500 contributed by three private prison companies to fund the 2013 Speaker’s Ball.

Lawton is the site of a private prison operated by The GEO Group, Inc., one of the firms that contributed to lawmakers’ campaign coffers.

Meanwhile, Gov. Mary Fallin has enjoyed private prison support, which includes $33,608 in gifts and campaign contributions from employees, political action committees and lobbyists employed by those companies, the newspaper’s investigation showed.

As the private prison industry gives to Oklahoma’s elected officials, it also receives plenty in return. Spending on private prisons increased from $57 million in 2004 to $73 million last fiscal year, said Department of Corrections spokesman Jerry Massie.

Really startling facts and figures, there, btw.

 

[caojyn]

CCA officials did not return emails or telephone calls requesting comment for this story.

Salinas v. Texas
Innocent people don't remain silent