Negotiating a Peaceful Settlement in the War on Drugs

I’ve based my campaign on the premise that you can do politics without selling yourself for money.  There’s another area which I think could benefit from the removal of the profit motive, and that is the problem of illegal drugs.

I don’t care much for the “medical marijuana” movement, although I am sure marijuana has some medical benefits.  In my opinion, medical marijuana laws just make liars out of people and corrupt the medical system.  We need a more straightforward approach, and one that takes the profit out of marijuana sales.

Marijuana can’t be legalized by a state, as long as there’s a federal law classifying it as illegal.  To try to legalize it on a state level is a waste of time.  What can be done on a state level is to decriminalize it.  But as long as gangs and cartels can use marijuana as a cash cow, decriminalizing it would just bring more of the addictive drugs like cocaine and heroin, along with it.

We need to begin taking the profit out of the drug trade, rather than trying to throw everyone involved at any level into prison.  Let’s start by decriminalizing possession; no arrest, no charges for possession.  At the same time, decriminalize growing marijuana for personal use.  No arrest, no charges for growing perhaps half a dozen plants.  But sale remains illegal.  You can give it away, but you can’t sell it; selling it means jail time.

This drops the bottom out of the market.  Marijuana no longer has a “street value”; anyone can grow enough for their own use, for very little outlay.  It’s a weed; it’s not difficult to grow.  One reliable source of cash for the drug trade in the state is gone, and the state saves money on incarcerating people.

Of course, some regulation must remain; treat it like alcohol.  Driving under the influence of marijuana gets the same penalties as driving under the influence of alcohol.  Put an age limit on it; under 18, you can’t possess, and it would be a crime to provide it to those underage (with fines, instead of jail time).

And the problem of addictive drugs remains, of course; I would leave the penalties for sale in place, but replace the penalties for possession with treatment.  Treatment costs less than incarceration and is more effective.

Maybe this is just a pipe dream (pun intended), but I believe it is worth a try, and would introduce legislation to this effect in the statehouse.  However, I would put a sunset provision into the bill; give it something like two to four years to prove that it does actually provide a solution, and if not, it goes off the books and we return to the status quo.  That’s the way I think a lot of legislation should be treated, and I’m willing to put it into laws that I think will work, because, although politicians are never ever supposed to say this, I could be wrong.  Not much more wrong than the way things are now, but still, wrong.

What do you think?  Worth a try?