LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

Affects of Legalizing Marijuana on American Criminal Justice System

[Charles Colbird]

[Mountain State University]

Abstract

Currently, drugs remain high on the lists of concerns of Americans and are considered one of the major problems facing our country today. We see stories on the news about people being killed on the street every day over drugs. To many people drugs are only an inner-city problem, but in reality they affect all of us - users and non-users. I believe that the negative affects we associate with drugs would be greatly reduced if the United States adopted a policy towards the total decriminalization of marijuana. The current drug policy of our government is obviously failing. Drug laws have created corruption, violence, increased street crime, and disrespect for the criminal justice system. Current drug legislation has failed to reduce demand. It's just too hard to monitor illegal substances when a significant portion of the population is committed to using drugs.

Affects of Legalizing Marijuana on American Criminal Justice System

Introduction

Marijuana use was restricted in 1937 by the Marijuana Tax Act. (Brecher, 2003). The bill, modeled after the Harrison Narcotic Act of 1914 that did not ban marijuana, but rather recognized its medical uses. During the Vietnam War, drug use among teens and soldiers increased tremendously, prompting President Nixon to declare a war on drugs in June of 1971. After two years, the commission suggesting to President Nixon that marijuana should be decriminalized. In an act of defiance to a commission established as part of his own program, Nixon chose to ignore this.

President Carter was not ignorant of the commission's suggestion, and in the years from 1973-1979, Alaska, Oregon, Maine, Colorado, California, Ohio, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, New York, and Nebraska followed the suggestion. President Reagan declared a second war on drugs during his second term in office, which actually managed to decrease drug use by 1987. In 1989, President Bush appointed a "drug czar" who suggested that if the war on drugs was stepped up, drug use could be cut in half. President Bush continued a full-fledged war on drugs that continues to this day. (Terkel, 1990).

Discussion

Marijuana comes from the hemp plant, which can readily be grown on fields across the nation and was cultivated heavily in colonial period. After 130 years of being legal, the potential problems of marijuana were brought into the public eye by Harry J. Anslingler, the commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and author of Marijuana: Assassin of Youth (Goldman, 1979). In his book, Anslinger portrayed images of Mexican and Negro criminals, as well as young boys, who became killers while under the influence of marijuana. With the added public pressure, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed into law the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. This law made the use and dale of marijuana federal offenses. At this point marijuana was removed from the public eye, and heavy users included poor Negroes, migrant Mexicans, and Jazz Musicians (Himmelstein, 1983).

Marijuana reappeared in the mid 1960's with the emergence of the 'Hippie.' Widespread objection to ...