Marijuana Prohibition is a Catastrophe: The Solution is Legal Regulation and Control

What is Marijuana? The marijuana plant has a long history of medical, religious and industrial uses dating back thousands of years. Few Americans had even heard of marijuana when it was first federally prohibited in 1937. Today, it is the most widely used illegal drug in the U.S. and the world. More than 100 million Americans about 42 percent of American adults admit to having tried it, and over 15 million have used it in the past month.1 The value of marijuana produced in the U.S. is estimated to be over $35 billion, making it the nations largest cash crop and exceeding the value of corn and wheat combined.2 Since 1996, sixteen states have passed laws permitting the medical use of marijuana. The Costs and Consequences of Prohibition Wasted Law Enforcement Resources. In 2010, there were 853,838 marijuana arrests in the U.S. one every 37 seconds, comprising more than half of all drug arrests. Almost 90 percent of these arrests were for simple possession, not sale or manufacture. There are more arrests for marijuana possession each year than for all violent crimes combined.3 Wasted Lives. In addition to arrest and incarceration, people with marijuana convictions suffer from excessively harsh collateral consequences: loss of property, employment, child custody, and access to public assistance such as food stamps, housing and financial aid for college. Violence. Virtually all marijuana-related violence is a direct result of prohibition, which keeps responsible, regulated businesses out of the market. Since illegal businesses have no legitimate means to settle disputes, violence inevitably results just as it did during alcohol Prohibition. Wasted Money. Marijuana prohibition imposes the onerous financial and administrative burden of enforcement and incarceration primarily on cashstrapped state and local governments on top of the additional costs created by prohibitions counterproductive effects on public safety and health. Legally regulating marijuana would save $7.7 billion in government expenditures on prohibition enforcement -$2.4 billion at the federal level and $5.3 billion at the state and local levels. Revenue from taxation of marijuana sales could range from an estimated $2.4 billion per year if marijuana were taxed like ordinary consumer goods to $6.2 billion if it were taxed like alcohol or tobacco.4 Unjust Racial Disparities. According to government data, white people reportedly consume and sell marijuana at the same rates as African-Americans. Yet, African-Americans are twice as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession. Likewise, AfricanAmericans are twice as likely to be arrested for selling marijuana compared to whites.5 In California, African Americans make up less than 7 percent of the state population but represent 22 percent of people arrested for all marijuana offenses and 33 percent of all marijuana felony arrests in 2008.6 In New York City, from 1980 to 2008 African Americans and Hispanics represented 85 percent of low level marijuana defendants, although they represent only half of the citys population. African Americans were four times as likely as whites to receive jail time for possession of marijuana and Hispanics were three times as likely.7

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What Does Regulation Mean? Legal regulation is not a step into the unknown we have centuries of experience in legally regulating thousands of different drugs. Legal regulation means commonsense controls marijuana wouldnt be treated like Coca-Cola, available to anyone of any age, anywhere, at any time. Under many regulatory proposals, it would be taxed and regulated in a manner similar to alcoholic beverages. Improving Health and Public Safety Marijuana prohibition persists, in large part, because of out-dated, hyperbolic Reefer Madness claims about health impacts. The truth is that marijuana is considerably less dangerous than either alcohol or cigarettes. Its far less addictive, and typically consumed in much smaller amounts. It lacks alcohols powerful association with violence, accidents and reckless sexual behavior. And its impossible to die of a marijuana overdose. Taken medicinally, marijuana is effective at addressing a wide variety of symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, and wasting diseases. "Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. - Drug Enforcement Administration Chief Administrative Law Judge Francis L. Young, 1988 Regulating marijuana means restricting access to adults, and imposing penalties for sales to minors. For three decades, between 80 and 90 percent of high school seniors have told government survey administrators that marijuana is easy to get. According to government data, teenagers are now more likely to smoke marijuana than tobacco.8 Laws against driving under the influence would still carry the same penalties. Regulation allows for quality control so that consumers would know what they are buying and are protected from dangerous adulterants. Producers would be strictly regulated with regard to advertising, marketing, health warnings and packaging. Countries that have adopted less punitive policies such as the Netherlands, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, Portugal, Austria and India did not experience an increase in marijuana consumption or marijuana-related harm relative to more punitive countries.9

Support for Regulation is Surging Lawmakers in numerous states have introduced bills to fix backwards marijuana policies, and there is more public support for reform than ever before. With new polls showing half the country in favor of taxing and regulating marijuana, there is currently an unprecedented opportunity to push for change.

Do you think the use of marijuana should be made legal or not? % No, illegal % Yes, legal

1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010
Source: Gallup

1 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2008, Table G.1 and G.5. Gettman, Jon, Marijuana Production in the United States, The Bulletin of Cannabis Reform, No. 2, December 2006. 3 Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reports, Crime in the United States, 2010. Miron, Jeffrey L., The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition, June 2005. Mauer, Marc. The Changing Racial Dynamics of the War on Drugs. The Sentencing Project. April, 2009. Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice; Criminal Justice Statistics Center, Crime in California, CA Dept. of Justice, 1954-2008. Levine, Harry. New York Citys Marijuana Arrest Crusade Continues, September 2009. Johnston, L. D., OMalley, P. M., Bachman, J. G. & Schulenberg, J. E. Various stimulant drugs show continuing gradual declines among teens in 2008, most illicit drugs hold steady. University of Michigan News Service: Ann Arbor, MI. Reuter, Peter, et. al. Cannabis Policy: Moving Beyond Stalemate, Oxford University Press, 2010.
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Drug Policy Alliance | 70 West 36th Street, 16th Floor, New York, NY 10018 nyc@drugpolicy.org | 212.613.8020 voice | 212.613.8021 fax