Yes, that story is sad. I’ve been following it since it started, but I knew how it would end. I mean is marijuana worse than alcohol? How many people do you hear of killing someone in a auto accident or abusing family members because they smoked one? I hope the day comes when it is legalized or at least decriminalized. I actually gave a persuasive speech in college a couple of years ago regarding decriminalization. I have included the outline here.
Jimmy Montgomery was sentenced in 1992 to ten years in prison for possession of less than two ounces of marijuana. In 1993, after serving almost a year of his sentence and nearly dying twice because of the failure of the state of Oklahoma to provide adequate treatment for the highly communicable infections, Montgomery was released on an appeals bond. He was re-sentenced on April 4 to serve ten years in prison but was released on July 27th thanks to the hundreds of phone calls and letters from concerned citizens, NORML members, and the press. Sadly though, many people continue to sit in jails and prisons for possession of marijuana
Marijuana should be decriminalized because it would free up legal resources to deal with more serious crime, it causes far more harm by criminally prohibiting it than by the use of marijuana itself, and it does not lead to greater marijuana use.
I. Marijuana decriminalization frees up legal resources to deal with more serious crime.
A. Marijuana possession account for nearly 90% of all marijuana arrests.
B. Taxpayers annually spend between $7.5 billion and $10 billion arresting and prosecuting individuals for marijuana violations.
C. 135,000 individuals are behind bars for marijuana offenses at a cost to taxpayers of $2 billion per year.
D. Police arrest more Americans per year on marijuana charges than the total number of arrestees for all violent crimes.
E. The state of California saved nearly $1 billion dollars from 1976 to 1985 by decriminalizing the personal possession of one ounce of marijuana.
F. Group determined that marijuana decriminalization “will result in greater availability of resources to respond to more serious crimes without any increased risks to public safety.”
II. Far more harm is caused by the criminal prohibition of marijuana than by the use of marijuana itself.
A. According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), “Except for the harms associated with smoking, the adverse effects of marijuana use are within the range tolerated for other medications.”
B. The Institute of Medicine’s 1999 report on marijuana explained that marijuana has been mistaken for a gateway drug in the past.
C. More than 76 million Americans have admittedly tried marijuana.
D. In the past decade, more than 6.5 million Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges.
E. The annual rate of American deaths caused by drugs indicates that marijuana is responsible for 0 deaths.
III. Decriminalization does not lead to greater marijuana use.
A. States and regions that have maintained the strictest criminal penalties for marijuana possession have experienced the largest proportionate increase in use.
B. Citizens who live under decriminalization laws consume marijuana at rates less than or comparable to those who live in regions where the possession of marijuana remains a criminal offense.
C. Government studies conclude that marijuana decriminalization has had virtually no effect on either marijuana use or beliefs and related attitudes about marijuana among American young people in those states that have enacted such a policy.
D. There is no evidence that marijuana decriminalization affects either the choice or frequency of use of drugs, either legal (such as alcohol) or illegal (such as marijuana and cocaine).