briantan

Marijuana decriminalization

squashed:

I spent a few days in the last week in a courthouse watching sentencing for misdemeanors. It has helped me rethink my positions on drug use and drug enforcement.

The anti-drug side is right that drugs, including alcohol, can screw up your life pretty badly. The slowly dying Libertarian in me wants to let people make their own mistakes, but drug abuse inevitably affects parents, children, employers, and loved ones. And people who get hit by drunk drivers. Worse yet, because they are addictive, some drugs tend to take over every aspect of a person’s life.

The anti-enforcement side is also right that drug enforcement is ridiculously expensive, that criminalization of a common behavior leads to a general antagonism toward the law, and that the penalties are completely out of line.

Right now, I think we should decriminalize marijuana possession and use. The law could treat marijuana sort of like sex. Don’t do it in public. Don’t do it while driving. Don’t sell it. Don’t give it to children. I’d still keep most distribution illegal—though I would probably allow people to grow a small quantity for personal use because I’m sympathetic to gardeners.

I don’t think any sort of drug use is a good idea, but I do know that we’ve incarcated too many people, that prosecuting petty drug cases puts too many people on the wrong side of the law, and that decriminalization of some softer drugs might increase the stigma on the nastier ones.