Time to Decriminalize Pot in Wisconsin
It’s time to drive a blunt through the heart of the law that
makes possessing marijuana a felony in Wisconsin. It’s a mean-spirited
law that is unfairly enforced, does nothing to protect public safety and
destroys life chances for anyone charged with it. It creates felons out
of people who would be perfectly law-abiding citizens in several other
states. And, it’s a waste of taxpayer money.
In
Milwaukee County, the overwhelming majority of defendants in felony
marijuana cases are African American males who are arrested in the city
north of I-94. A lot of these arrests come after traffic stops for
things like illegally tinted windows or not wearing a seat belt. An
officer approaches the car, smells marijuana, searches and bingo!
District
Attorney John Chisholm is not a fan of the second offense felony
marijuana law. His office generally charges it when there are
extenuating circumstances, such as a previous felony or some indicator
of violence or potential violence, such as the presence of a gun at the
time of arrest, he said in an interview.
But
Chisholm’s office can only review the cases the police send it and
those cases begin with cops making stops on the street. And for whatever
reason, despite the prevalence of white people in Milwaukee County
(comprising 65% of the population), it is mostly black people (27% of
the population) who end up facing second offense felony marijuana
charges.
The
Wisconsin Justice Initiative is mapping arrest locations and providing
offense details included in criminal complaints filed in second offense
felony marijuana cases. Of the first 30 cases reviewed, all filed in
2016, 87% involved black defendants, 97% involved male defendants and
77% stemmed from the area of Milwaukee north of I-94. That’s a small
sample size, but the numbers are very telling.
So,
what are we to conclude? That black women don’t smoke marijuana? That
cars south of I-94 don’t have illegally tinted windows? That the
marijuana white people have in their cars doesn’t smell enough to alert
police to its presence? Or, is it that black men are disproportionately
targeted for stops and thus far more likely to wind up in the system for
violating this antiquated law?
The
law leads to absurd scenarios. Let’s say a person with a misdemeanor
record for marijuana walks down the street brandishing a loaded
9-milimeter handgun. In his front pocket is a single blunt (a “blunt” is
a hollowed-out cigar or cigarette filled with marijuana). The felony
here is the pot, not the gun. The state has some weird priorities.
Wisconsin is falling behind other states with its criminal treatment of marijuana.
California,
Massachusetts, Maine, Nevada, Alaska, Oregon, Washington and Colorado
are all at least partway toward implementing legal recreational
marijuana use. Medical marijuana is legal in more than half the states.
And, of course, there is money involved. Marijuana-legal states are
making it; Wisconsin is wasting it. Colorado—the first state to legalize
recreational weed—has pulled in about $506 million so far since retail
selling began in 2014, according to CNN. Marijuana tax revenue hit $256
million in Washington in 2016 and $60 million in Oregon. Instead, in
Wisconsin, tax dollars are thrown at enforcing the felony marijuana
possession law: for the cost of police, jails, judges, prosecutors,
defense lawyers for the indigent and probation and parole officers.
A
bill introduced in the state legislature would allow first and second
offenses for possession of small amounts of marijuana to be treated as
municipal violations, punishable by forfeitures of up to $100.
Currently, that bill sits in committee, waiting for Wisconsin to catch
up to the 21st century.
Gretchen
Schuldt is the executive director of Wisconsin Justice Initiative,
which strives to improve the quality of justice in Wisconsin by
educating the public about legal issues and encourages civic engagement
in and debate about the state’s judicial system and its operation.
From: http://npaper-wehaa.com/shepherdexpress#2017/08/31/?article=2974278
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