Pubdate: Wed, 08 Apr 2015 Source: Houston Chronicle (TX) Copyright: 2015 Houston Chronicle Publishing Company Division, Hearst Newspaper Contact: http://www.chron.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/198 GRASS MENAGERIE Proposed Changes to Marijuana Laws Deserve Serious Consideration in the Legislature. Suds-loving Americans raised their glasses Tuesday in celebration of National Beer Day, which commemorated the 82nd anniversary of the re-legalization of beer at the end of Prohibition. While breweries and their fans may focus on the tastier aspects of the day, it is also a holiday for supporters of good government. After all, it marks that rare moment when elected officials admitted to a mistake in law and undid a poorly considered policy. It is a lesson in history that members of the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee should keep in mind during this morning's hearing on proposed changes to state marijuana laws ("Pot laws under review this week," Page B1, Monday). Like alcohol prohibition more than eight decades ago, Texans have come to learn that many of our marijuana policies inflict more harm than the drug itself. This is true for both users and law-abiding citizens alike. All taxpayers shoulder the high price of criminalized marijuana, literally. During the 2014 election, Democratic candidate for Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg estimated that Harris County spent $4.4 million every year arresting and prosecuting people for mere possession. Statistics show that the black community bears an outsized burden of these marijuana arrests, despite similar drug use rates among blacks and whites. As Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland pointed out in an interview on KPFT 90.1 last year, a criminal record, even just for marijuana, can make it difficult for young men to get jobs and become productive members of society. That hurts everyone. And despite four decades of the war on drugs, marijuana use has actually gone up, according to Gallup. Our laws simply aren't working. With these issues in mind, state representatives have proposed four timely bills that would start the process of fixing our broken drug policy. State Reps. Gene Wu and Harold Dutton, both Houston-area Democrats, have sponsored House Bills 325 and 414, respectively. These would reduce low-level possession of marijuana to a class C misdemeanor, treating it like public intoxication. This comes with up to a $500 fine. State Rep. Joe Moody's HB 507 would treat possession of less than an ounce of marijuana as a civil infraction, much like a traffic ticket. The El Paso Democrat's bill also has a companion in the Senate, authored by Houston Democratic state Sen. Rodney Ellis. Any of these three bills would be a step in the right direction. However, a bill proposed by state Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, to remove all marijuana regulation simply goes too far. Simpson has said that Texas should treat marijuana like tomatoes. Last we checked, tomatoes aren't a drug. No matter how delicious those sweet heirlooms may be, they don't have a detrimental impact on teenagers' developing brains or pose potential risks to personal health. The purpose of well-written drug policy should be harm reduction, and neither Simpson's proposal nor our current laws effectively aim at this goal. Folks across the state agree it is time for a change. A 2014 University of Texas/ Texas Tribune Poll found that only 23 percent of Texans thought that marijuana should be illegal in all circumstances. If Texas really wants to reduce marijuana use, we should be looking at cigarettes. Tobacco use currently sits at historic lows. The 2012 annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that less than 7 percent of teenagers ages 12-17 regularly smoked cigarettes, down from 13 percent in 2002. This is despite the fact that they're legally available for adults all across the nation. Anti-tobacco advocates are doing something right - no jail necessary. It is time to leave behind prohibition and study the solutions that actually work. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom