Seattle, WA: The enforcement of criminal penalties against marijuana possession is not associated with a reduction in cannabis use, availability, or potency, according to a new report by the University of Washington and commissioned by the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington.
“Increasing marijuana arrests does not achieve the stated goals of marijuana prohibition,” the study found. “Despite recent increases in marijuana arrests, the price of marijuana has dropped; its average potency has increased; it has become more readily available; and marijuana use rates have often increased during the decade of increasing arrests.”
The authors reported that marijuana arrests comprise nearly 50 percent of all of the drug-related arrests in the United States since 1992. Of those arrested, African Americans are over-represented compared to the marijuana-using population.
“[T]he enforcement of marijuana laws entails many social costs. …These include the use of controversial policing tactics, the erosion of civil liberties, court over-crowding, the diversion of treatment dollars (when recreational marijuana smokers are required to participate in mandatory drug treatment programs), racial inequity in the application of the law, [and] … a loss of faith in the judicial system” among those charged with pot-related offenses.
By contrast, authors reported that eliminating criminal penalties for minor marijuana possession offenses does not lead to an increase in cannabis use or other drug-related problems.
“There is no evidence that the decriminalization of marijuana by certain states or the deprioritization of marijuana enforcement in … municipalities caused an increase in marijuana use or related problems,” the study concluded. “This conclusion is consistent with the findings of numerous studies indicating that the increasing enforcement of marijuana laws has little impact on marijuana use rates and that the decriminalization of marijuana in US states and elsewhere did not increase marijuana use.”
A Washington state proposal, Senate Bill 5615, which seeks decrease marijuana possession penalties from a criminal misdemeanor to a civil infraction, is now before the Senate Rules Committee.
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500. Full text of the report, “The Consequences and Costs of Marijuana Prohibition” is available online at: http://www.aclu-wa.org/.