In 1913 California would be forever changed with the introduction of a new stream of criminals for the currently, for profit prison system, it was the beginning of the criminalization of cannabis users. Having a prison system that is in business to make a profit must consequently give officials and incentive to keep the prison population at record levels. Prompting a restructure and a reintroduction of prisoners back into the county jail system. So why the end of the prohibition of marijuana?
- Number of those charged with marijuana law violations who were arrested for possession only: 609,423 (88 percent), 609 thousand people charged with a crime and put through the court system, prompting many millions of Americans to take weeks off of work to sit on a jury. These are many millions of hours lost in income for these jurors and a massive loss to their employers in terms of productivity. The consequences of which cannot be overstated. Imagine not getting paid for two weeks, and what that does to most of us. The burden of not making an income, along with the expenses of sitting on a jury can be crushing for some families. Most courts in large cities require you to pay for parking and that’s after you pay for gas and bridge tolls, lunch and the other expenses that come with it.
- Along with that comes the expenses for those who, for whatever reason, simply can’t make it to jury duty. It is a crime to miss your jury duty deadlines, and can result in a massive financial burden for the juror.
- Another factor that comes into play is the payment of fines and fees. Most courts have outsourced their fine collecting service, and as such have given the reins of power to a company that typically collects the interest only on the fines and fees, and leaves the citizen with a bill that never ends. This has in many cases led to a complete unraveling of the lives of some people who just can’t afford to pay off the fees and are dragged down into a pit of hopelessness and poverty.
- So with the lawyers and prosecutors choosing a jury from 40 or 50 people per panel, a lot of peoples lives get disrupted real fast. And for what? Remember these are citizens that have been arrested and charged with possession of marijuana only. Six hundred and nine thousand of them.
One hundred and three years later it will be time to lay this failed policy to rest in our state. We can ill afford to spend untold billions to incarcerate our citizens. But beyond the cost of incarceration comes the cost to the families that are left behind.
Sons being raised fatherless and daughters being raised motherless as the cannabis user rots in a cell somewhere.
And society has cast them out, in a jail for with books that are nonsense. The sort of books that translate into a silly soap opera. While at other prisons there are viable resources for education.
The United States incarcerates more people than any other nation in the developed world. These people are cut off from the world and meaningful access to information is vital. Research shows a correlation between education and reduced recidivism, and libraries play in an important role in supporting education. In fact, in some states, prisoners are sentenced to a literature discussion group in lieu of prison time.
In 1991 the first CLTL group in Massachusetts saw a 19 percent recidivism rate as compared to 42 percent in a control group. Education allows inmates to obtain the skills they need to transition back into society once they are released and libraries can play in an important role in helping inmates learn these skills. Some programs prison libraries offer include, GED instruction, literacy classes, life skills classes, typing instruction, and classes on how to use a library. These libraries are vital to the future of not only the prisoners, but the very communities that they are released back into.
And what do we tell these young people when they are released after serving part of their time in prison and the laws of prohibition have been repealed? How do we quench the anger and humiliation of a life spent in prison for cannabis possession. People have been charged and found guilty of a felony possession of marijuana and all the police found to charge them with was a few cannabis seeds in their car. Imagine having a felony around your neck as you try to raise a family and it was all about a few silly seeds.
The time for prohibition to end is now, in our lifetime. We can ill afford this fifty one billion dollar (per year) experiment in social engineering. Lets imagine that fifty one billion annually being put to a different use, things like improved education for our children, mentor programs for our at risk youth. Infrastructure improvements to our communities like parks and improved traffic controls around schools. The list of places where this money is better spent is endless. But it all starts with an end of the prohibition of marijuana in our lifetime.
The cost to society of the war on weed is just to high. And the results have all been negative. After watching this war rage for decades can we say the results are promising? The only good I see coming out of it is increased funding for law enforcement. Yes there have been many jobs created over the years for marijuana eradication efforts. And many police stations have purchased very expensive equipment like new helicopters and night vision sights. But that’s not all good either. Just look at the images of police riding on top of MRAPs, dressed in full military armor and pointing sniper rifles at protesters. This in not the America we should be presenting to the world.
And someday soon, prohibition will end. And we can only hope that most of the negativity associated with trying to legislate cannabis will end with prohibition.