Pubdate: Mon, 29 Sep 2003
Source: Vanguard, The (AL Edu)
Copyright: 2003 USA Vanguard
Contact:  http://www.usavanguard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2827

TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT POT PROHIBITION

Earlier this year, Webster Alexander was sentenced to 26 years in prison 
for selling four ounces of marijuana to an undercover police officer over 
the course of a month. He was no "drug kingpin"-the officer had to drive 
him to make the buys. He is now 19 years old.

The offenses took place while Alexander was still in high school. Between 
then and his sentencing, Alexander graduated from high school, began 
community college and got a part-time job as a bricklayer. Now he's looking 
at 26 years in an Alabama prison with murderers and rapists who will likely 
be out long before him.

Who is served by this sentence?

Certainly not the public. Studies have shown that marijuana usage remains 
unaffected by the criminal penalties attached to its use. And we will now 
be footing the bill for his incarceration.

Certainly not his family. For all the talk about how drugs destroy 
families, the only thing tearing this family apart is a 26-year sentence.

Certainly not him. He was on his way to a better life. But now, he will be 
returned to society a convicted felon (we all know how good that looks on a 
job application) and ineligible for financial aid to finish his college degree.

Timothy Coffman is also in prison in Alabama. His crime? Possession of a 
single joint. His sentence? Fifteen years.

In California, "three strikes" laws have locked up more people for 
marijuana possession than for murder, rape and assault combined.

In Montana, possession of a single plant can get you a life sentence.

In an age when 35 percent of adults admit to having tried marijuana, it 
seems remarkably unjust to enforce such stiff penalties for use of a drug 
less harmful to individuals and to society than alcohol or tobacco. That's 
why the American Medical Association recommends decriminalization of 
marijuana. The governor of New Mexico goes even further; he wants outright 
legalization.

Whatever the outcome of this ongoing debate, one thing is clear: the 
current laws are unjust and more harmful than the drug itself.

Clearly, it is time for a change.