Pubdate: Thu, 19 Jul 2018
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
Copyright: 2018 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc
Contact:  http://www.philly.com/inquirer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/340
Author: Sophie Quinton

MARIJUANA BILLS INCREASINGLY FOCUS ON SOCIAL JUSTICE

Chris Alexander, policy coordinator for the Drug Policy Alliance,
advocates for marijuana legislation at the state Capitol in Albany,
New York. Supporters say the bill would promote social justice and
equity.

State lawmakers and advocates pushing to legalize marijuana this year
aren't just touting legalization as a way to raise tax revenue and
regulate an underground pot market. They're also talking about fixing
a broken criminal justice system and reinvesting in poor and minority
communities that have been battered by decades of the government's war
on drugs.

The focus on justice and equity has sharpened over time, longtime pot
advocates say, as it's become clear that such issues should be
addressed and that doing so won't alienate voters -- most of whom,
polls consistently show, support legal marijuana. Civil rights groups
also have raised their voices in legalization discussions.

Now social justice provisions can be found in legalization proposals
in both blue and red states, including several of the states where
voters will face ballot measures on the issue in November. Social
justice also is a talking point for opponents, who argue that allowing
weed sales would hurt -- not help -- low-income and minority people.

"We don't want either extreme. We don't want incarceration, and we
don't want legalization and commercialization," said Kevin Sabet, the
president and CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a coalition based
in Alexandria, Virginia, that is opposing legalization efforts in
multiple states.

Many state lawmakers say they back legalization because, first and
foremost, it can be an opportunity to make changes to the criminal
justice system and repair the harm done to groups disproportionately
arrested for using the drug.

"For me, the social justice piece of it is much larger than, I think,
the taxing and regulating -- although that is important," said New
York Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes, a Democrat who represents
part of the city of Buffalo and has put forward a bill to legalize
weed.

The bill Peoples-Stokes has proposed and a companion bill in the New
York state Senate would allow people to possess, use, buy or transport
up to 2 pounds of marijuana; reduce penalties for some marijuana
crimes; make it easier for people to get criminal records sealed for
such crimes; and disburse some tax revenue to nonprofits in
communities "disproportionately affected" by former drug policies.

Some 800,000 New Yorkers have been arrested on charges of marijuana
possession over the past 20 years, according to the coalition of
organizations supporting the bill, Sensible Marijuana Access through
Regulated Trade or SMART. In New York City, the vast majority of
people arrested are black and Latino, advocates said.

The proposed legislation also would make it easier for people to get
in on the marijuana boom by creating inexpensive small-business
licenses and making them available to people with drug convictions.
It's not fair, Peoples-Stokes said, for people who got in trouble for
handling pot in the past to now get shut out of the legal industry.

Sabet's group has been lobbying against legalization in New York. He
said that while the organization agrees with the criminal justice and
social justice aspects of the legislation, he doesn't think it's
necessary to legalize pot to achieve those goals.

'Sophisticated Initiatives'

Today nine states and the District of Columbia allow adults to use
small amounts of marijuana for fun, and 23 others allow certain
patients to use the drug medicinally. Now that most Americans support
legalization, for many pot proponents the question isn't whether weed
will be legalized. It's how.

In the six years since the first states legalized adult use, pot
advocates have learned to craft more sophisticated ballot initiatives,
said Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML, a Washington,
D.C.-based organization that advocates for legal weed.

For instance, advocates are using ballot initiatives to address
regulatory issues that policymakers struggled with in the past. An
extreme example of the change is California's 2016 ballot initiative,
which filled more than 60 pages and covered everything from rules for
marijuana testing laboratories to expungement of marijuana crimes from
criminal records.

The California initiative allowed people with drug convictions to
obtain marijuana licenses. It set aside $10 million a year to pay for
services such as job placement, legal help, and mental health and
addiction treatment for residents of communities hit hard by former
drug laws. Passed by 57 percent, the initiative's success showed that
voters support justice and equity provisions -- or at least aren't
dissuaded by them, Armentano said.

"Not only did that measure pass, but I would argue more importantly,
there was very little public opposition raised during the campaign,"
he said, referring to the provisions. "Once we saw that, it was clear
that people were comfortable with those provisions."

This year that theory will be tested in more conservative states.

Missouri has four pot legalization initiatives on the ballot this
fall; three focus on allowing medical use of the drug and the fourth
on recreational use. The recreational use initiative by Total
Legalization, a volunteer operation that isn't backed by national
pro-weed groups, also would require prisoners incarcerated for
nonviolent marijuana-related crimes to be released within 30 days and
would expunge nonviolent marijuana-related criminal records.

Becca Loane, a member of the board of directors for the campaign
committee backing the initiative, said her team wants to legalize
marijuana completely without waiting for the Legislature to work out
the details. "It's something that needs to be done."

In North Dakota, a legalization ballot measure also would expunge the
records of people with some marijuana-related convictions
automatically. And in Michigan, a legalization ballot measure would
require state lawmakers to encourage people in communities impacted by
the war on drugs to participate in the marijuana industry.

Those communities would be determined by the state Department of
Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, but in essence it means minority
communities, said Josh Hovey, a spokesman for the Coalition to
Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol campaign based in Lansing, Michigan.

Backers of the Michigan initiative wanted to add expungement
provisions but decided not to after being told by legal experts that
the state constitution requires ballot initiatives to address only one
issue, Hovey said.

The argument that marijuana legalization will help poor black and
Latino people has been made vociferously in New York and New Jersey,
where national groups that back legalization, such as the Drug Policy
Alliance, have teamed up with clergy and civil rights groups.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, called marijuana legalization
a social justice issue during his campaign last year. New York
gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon, also a Democrat, has said she
supports legalization because "we have to stop putting people of color
in jail for something that white people do with impunity."

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has not taken a position on
recreational marijuana legalization. His Republican challenger, Marc
Molinaro, has said he wants to see expanded access to medical marijuana.

Legal weed backers in New Jersey say they want legislation that --
like Peoples-Stokes' bill in New York -- would make it easier for
people to expunge criminal records, set aside money for neighborhoods
most impacted by marijuana-related arrests and incarceration, and
remove barriers to participation in the industry.

"It's been a massive effort on our part to get it done, and get it
done in the correct way," said Safeer Quraishi, administrative
director of the New Jersey NAACP state conference.

Several marijuana legalization bills have been introduced in New
Jersey, including most recently a bill from state Sens. Nicholas
Scutari and Stephen Sweeney, both Democrats. Quraishi said the NAACP
doesn't support the Scutari bill because it doesn't include automatic
expungements or do enough to promote minority-owned businesses, among
other concerns.

Meanwhile the chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, Democratic
state Sen. Ronald Rice, strongly opposes marijuana legalization. He
said drug use and addiction have led to violence and financial ruin
for many people in his Newark district, and that legalizing marijuana
will encourage more people to use what he considers a gateway drug.

He's frustrated that legislation he introduced in February that would
eliminate criminal penalties for possessing 10 grams of marijuana or
less -- but would still fine people for possession -- hasn't gained
more support. It's currently in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"The conversation is about -- social justice, some black people can
make some money, expunging records and stuff," he said. "Well, we can
do all that without legalizing."

The NAACP doesn't support a bill that would only decriminalize
marijuana, because such bills don't do enough to repair the harm done
to communities, Quraishi said. "Any bill that doesn't take it far
enough, we don't support."

Nearly two-thirds of black, Hispanic and multiracial people supported
marijuana legalization, according to a Stockton University poll of New
Jersey adults this spring. That was a higher share than support among
white adults, according to a breakdown by race and ethnicity shared
with Stateline.

Peoples-Stokes, the New York assemblywoman, said that she doesn't
think marijuana is a gateway drug or that it's addictive. Some doctors
and public health experts disagree.

But she does see a divide in attitudes toward legalization, she said.
"I think it's fair to say that there are significant numbers of black
and brown people that have the old attitude about marijuana -- that
it's a negative."

People need to be taught to think about pot differently, she said.
It's used as medicine, and it's related to hemp, a crop that's legal
to grow in New York under a pilot program. "The reason why it was
considered in a negative way is that it was a reason to lock people
up."