Legal Weed: Big Profits, Slow Progress

Despite the DEA’s current classification of marijuana as a schedule 1 drug, a label determining the drug more dangerous than cocaine and meth, the majority of americans now support the federal legalization of marijuana (Jones). With marijuana now legal recreationally in 4 U.S. states and medically in 23 states, and a major presidential candidate’s plan to legalize federally legalize the plant, the prospect of nationwide legalization is increasingly picking up steam.

The legalization of marijuana is primarily positive. In states where pot is legal, there is, in some respects, less criminal injustice. Residents in Oregon, Colorado, Alaska, and Washington no longer have to worry about receiving mandatory minimum sentences for petty possession of a substance that by most measurable means, is harmless. In addition, U.S. weed legalization has considerably decreased the power of Mexican cartels that use marijuana profits to fund distribution of harder drugs and sex trafficking (Time). Throughout the history of this country, prohibition has been exclusively unsuccessful. Federally imposing negative sanctions on inevitable, not to mention, benign behaviors, does not benefit individual citizens that the government claims to speak for. It furthers socioeconomic and racial stratification.

However, the controversy of marijuana legalization is not as cut and dry as 420-culture advocates or tea party members paint it to be. For instance, in states where marijuana has become legalized, sentences for marijuana charges are not being waived, records are not being expunged. At the same time, business owners and state governments are collecting whopping sums from legal pot. What’s more? The key beneficiaries of legalized marijuana are almost all white men, while many of the current prisoners are young black men. Michelle Alexander, author of “The New Jim Crow”, states, “after 40 years of impoverished black kids getting prison time for selling weed, and their families and futures destroyed- Now, white men are planning to get rich doing precisely the same thing?” (Alexander, Short). In short, young black men have previously been negatively sanctioned for selling small amounts of the same plant that white men are now being positively sanctioned for selling. This racial discrepancy cannot be overlooked.

So why not pardon the prisoners? Politicians have remained silent on the issue- The discussion has likely been overshadowed by the controversy of legalization itself, however, I believe this is also an intentional silence. As we learned in Masse’s “Categorically Unequal”, mass incarceration has functioned for over 40 years as a deliberate tool of racial control. Pardoning offenders in prison for marijuana charges could drastically change the economic makeup in the U.S., allowing former prisoners to receive opportunities they previously could not have due to marijuana possession and distribution charges. This would dramatically affect the country’s political makeup as well, a scary thought to republicans whose support demographic is almost entirely white. According to a 2012 Gallup poll, non-hispanic blacks make up about 2% of the registered republican population, and around 22% of the democratic population, which seems to be continuously diversifying (Newport). Giving once-prisoners a greater political voice due to socioeconomic (increased job opportunities) and physical standing (physically ability to vote due to not being imprisoned) has the potential to push decrease racial stratification in the U.S.

Private prisons are some of the most powerful and profitable institutions in the United States. I believe the rise of private prisons to be a key factor in the unwillingness to waive sentences of those in jail for marijuana. Private prisons, in order to receive state funding must fill a quota, ranging from 80% to 100% occupancy.Since marijuana arrests account for a substantial portion of imprisonments, prisons would have to find new ways to meet their quotas in order to receive funding.  In addition, since 1989, private prison companies have spent about 25 million dollars on lobbying efforts (Cohen). In attempt to boost profits, prison-profit company Corrections Corporation of America have directly donated to politicians who support putting more people in prisons. Some of these politicians include Marco Rubio and Hillary Clinton, who just two months ago cut ties with private prison lobbyists amidst pressure from the Black Lives Matter movement. Politicians have been overwhelming silent in proposing legislation that could benefit those locked up for crimes that no have no legal standing. The laws that house these prisoners still exist in places with legal weed, because they benefit actors in the prison-industrial complex, including billion dollar corporations and presidential candidates (Ollisten).

However, some policies appear to be heading towards justice. The U.S. Justice department released 6,000 non-violent offenders of the 206,000 inmates currently in federal prison. Former attorney justice Eric Holder noted that the release was an effort to ease tensions in overcrowded federal prisons. Was this decision made with just intentions? There was no mention in any release statement that this was a step in reforming the criminal justice system, so the act, although seemingly powerful, is simply detracting the actual issue at hand, mass incarceration. It is disguised as a symbol of hope for victims of unjust conviction, but it is doing nothing to benefit the over 1 million non-violent offenders currently in prison.

And furthermore, who’s to say given the U.S.’s absurd recidivism rates (estimated at abuot 67% within three years) that most of those non-violent criminals won’t be thrown into private prison to combat the overcrowding of federal prisons?

Now, I am not arguing that marijuana legalization as an ideological solution is the wrong approach to countering the War on Drugs. I’m simply arguing that the legal measures put forth in states such as Oregon and Colorado are an important step, but by no means and end-all solution.

Bibliography

Jones, Jeffery M. "In U.S., 58% Back Legal Marijuana Use." Gallup.com. Gallup, 21 Oct. 2015. Web. 08 Dec. 2015.

Yackowicz, Will. "Why the Marijuana Industry Is Happy That Ohio Didn't Legalize Weed." Inc.com. Inc, 04 Nov. 2015. Web. 08 Dec. 2015.

Grilla, Iona. "U.S. Legalization of Marijuana Has Hit Mexican Cartels' Cross-Border Trade." Time. Time, 8 Apr. 2015. Web. 08 Dec. 2015.

Short, April M. "Michelle Alexander: White Men Get Rich from Legal Pot, Black Men Stay in Prison." Alternet. Alternet, 16 Mar. 2014. Web. 08 Dec. 2015.

ewport, Frank. "Democrats Racially Diverse; Republicans Mostly White." Gallup.com. Gallup, 8 Feb. 2013. Web. 08 Dec. 2015.

Ollisten, Alice. "Clinton To Cut Ties With Private Prison Industry." ThinkProgress RSS. Think Progress, 23 Oct. 2015. Web. 08 Dec. 2015.

Simpson, Ian. "America Is Releasing 6,000 Federal Inmates in an Unprecedented Action." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 06 Oct. 2015. Web. 08 Dec. 2015.

"Recidivism." National Institute of Justice. US Government, 17 June 2014. Web. 08 Dec. 2015.