Pubdate: Fri, 28 Sep 2012
Source: Herald-Times, The (IN)
Copyright: 2012 The Herald-Times
Contact: http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/htoletters/
Website: http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1498

PROPOSAL TO LEGALIZE POT MAKES GOOD SENSE

NBC reported last week that voters in three states - Colorado, 
Washington and Oregon - will decide in November whether they want to 
make marijuana legal in their states.

Several states already allow marijuana for medical purposes, with 
about 20 having already considered or about to consider such an option.

Indiana is stepping up now, too, if not quite going so far as to make it legal.

State Rep. Brent Steele, R-Bedford, told the Indianapolis Business 
Journal last week he plans to add decriminalization of possession of 
small amounts of marijuana to a bill designed to better match charges 
and sentencings with offenses to which they're connected in the next 
session of the Legislature.

His plan calls for making firsttime possession of 10 grams or less of 
marijuana an infraction, essentially a ticket, rather than a Class A 
criminal misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison and a fine of $1,000.

Steele points out this has been done before in other places and 
society has not dissolved in those states.

And besides, it's just too expensive in both judicial resources and 
in lost productivity to criminalize possession of small amounts of 
the drug. We agree on both points. Practically speaking, Monroe 
County, with its reasonably enlightened college town mentality, 
already operates under such a policy. First-time offenders who 
qualify are offered pre-trial diversion, with charges expunged if the 
offender completes the program.

That saves court time and also many young people who otherwise would 
have that scarlet D (as in druggie) branded on their records and reputations.

Get caught with a bit of pot in some other county and you may not be 
so fortunate.

Steele's proposal, if it becomes law, will help equalize justice 
across Indiana.

Just as illegal drugs are big business, so is the war on drugs, with 
its concentration of police resources, its special training seminars, 
its testing apparatus.

Both those businesses waste a lot of money and, too often, lives. 
Indiana is a long way from decriminalizing the drug trade - and we 
certainly are not arguing for that here - but Steele's proposal is a 
realistic alternative to gross judicial overkill. Now, if only 
someone could convince the federal government to revisit and rethink.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom