Marijuana Conversation Booklet

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Marijuana: It’s Time for a Conversation 1

MARIJUANA I t ’s T i m e f o r a

C o n v e r s a t i o n

A C L U O F W A S H I N G T O N F O U N D A T I O N



A Guide to Understanding Our Marijuana Laws and eir Impacts

Written by Alison Holcomb

Drug Policy Director

ACLU of Washington Foundation705 Second Avenue, 3rd Floor

Seattle, WA 98104

Kathleen Taylor, Executive Director

For more information, please visit

www.MarijuanaConversation.org.

American Civil Liberties Union of Washington Foundation, 2008

ird edition, updated November 2009

.

MARIJUANA I t ’ s T i m e f o r a

C o n v e r s a t i o n



Table of Contents

It’s Time for a ConversationI. ...........................................1

Washington State LawsII. ..................................................2

Direct consequences A. ....................................

Additional consequencesB. ...........................................3

e History of Marijuana ProhibitionIII. ..........................4

e Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 A.

e LaGuardia ReportB. ..............................................6

e Shafer CommissionC. ............................................6

State lawsD. ..................................................................8

Marijuana as MedicineIV. ..................................................9

How many states have medical marijuana laws? A.

Washington’s medical marijuana law B. .........................9

Medical marijuana and federal law C. ..........................13

Use of Public Safety Resources V. ....................................16

Consequences for Communities and VI.Personal Freedom.........................................................18

Consequences of the “war on drugs” A. Home searchesB. ........................................................21

Loss of property C. ......................................................22

Drug testingD. ............................................................22

Frequently Asked Questions VII. ........................................24

is guide is a companion to the half-hour television program“Marijuana: It’s Time for a Conversation.” It provides additionalinformation about marijuana laws, their origins and the multi-billion

dollar impact they are having today on hundreds of thousands of Americans. We encourage you to discuss the information in thisbooklet with others and to consider whether these laws are workingfor society’s benet.

is guide is not meant to provide legal advice – individuals seekinglegal advice on how marijuana laws apply or do not apply to thempersonally should speak with their own attorney.



Marijuana: It’s Time for a Conversation 1

I. It’s Time for a ConversationIn 2007, America set a new record arresting people for marijuana-relatedoenses. Of the 872,720 arrests made, 89% were for simply possessingmarijuana, not for growing or selling it.1 Such arrests cost Americansbillions of tax dollars every year, stressing our courts and jails, anddiverting public safety resources away from violent crime and property crime. A majority of Americans believe the “war on drugs” has been a failure,2 yet we continue to wage the war at a cost of several billion dollars eachyear.

It’s time for Americans to have an open and informed conversation. We need to rethink whether our marijuana laws are working for us

or creating a new set of problems. If we conclude the current laws aremisdirected, then we can begin to talk about creating more eective and just policies. We hope the information in this booklet will provide astarting point for that discussion.

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2 www.MarijuanaConversation.org Marijuana: It’s Time for a Conversation 3

II. Washington State Laws

A. Direct consequences

In Washington state, possessing any amount of marijuana is a crime. epossession of 40 grams (roughly equivalent to two packs of cigarettes) orless is a misdemeanor crime and carries a mandatory minimum sentenceof a day in jail plus a $250 ne for the rst oense.3 Sentences can go upto 90 days in jail plus a $1,000 ne.4

Possession of more than 40 grams of marijuana is a felony.5 If convicted,a person faces up to 5 years in prison and a ne as large as $10,000.6

Growing any amount of marijuana, even a single plant, is a felony that carries the same penalties.7 is is also true for the “delivery” of marijuana, a term that includes sharing any amount of the plant, with or without the exchange of money.8

ese sentences can be doubled for second oenses, or any subsequentoenses following a conviction.9

e use or delivery of marijuana paraphernalia (pipes, rolling papers,etc.) is a separate misdemeanor that carries a mandatory sentence of a day in jail and a $250 ne, and can go up to 90 days in jail with a$1,000 ne.10

In addition to jail time and nes, marijuana convictions frequently result in probation, additional court costs, and mandatory substanceabuse evaluation at the individual’s personal expense. ese evaluationsoften lead to additional expenses for classes and/or drug treatment plusrandom drug testing.11

B. Additional consequences

Marijuana convictions result in criminal records. Criminal records arepublic information made available to anyone who seeks it,12 includingemployers, landlords, loan o cers and law enforcement. In additionto the embarrassing stigma and possible discrimination, the followingcan result from a single marijuana conviction or even the suspicion of marijuana use:

Loss of employment 13

Loss of housing 14

Loss of voting rights 15

Loss of federal nancial aid for college 16

Seizure and forfeiture of property 17

Termination of child visitation rights 18

Deportation, even of legal permanent residents 19
















V. Use of Public Safety Resources

American taxpayers spend at least $7.5 billion each year enforcingmarijuana prohibition through criminal punishment.75 Washington statespends approximately $90 million annually.76

One out of eight drug oenders in our states’ prisons have been lockedup for a marijuana oense.77 While arrests for violent and property crimes increased 18% from 1991 to 2008, marijuana arrests increased310% during that same period.78 Current forecasts indicate that

Washington state will need two new prisons by 2020, costing taxpayers$250 million to construct and $45 million per year to operate.79

What kind of return are we getting on our investment?

e use of our public safety resources to enforce marijuana prohibitionhas diminished neither the supply of, nor the demand for, marijuana inthe United States. Rising marijuana arrest rates have not led to falling

marijuana use rates:

From 1991 to 2008, marijuana arrests nationwide have

tripled from 287,900 to 847,860.80

Yet between 1991 and 1996, annual marijuana use tripled

among 8th graders and rose signicantly among 10th and 12th graders beginning in 1992.81

Both rst-time marijuana use and current (past-month)

marijuana use by Americans 18 and older – those subjectto criminal conviction – have remained steady since 2002despite skyrocketing arrest rates.82

Marijuana is more available than ever on the black market, makingmillionaires out of the criminals who control it. Today, the domestic

market alone generates $35.8 billion per year, making marijuana ourcountry’s #1 cash crop – unregulated and untaxed.83

More than half of the violent crimes committed each year go unsolved84 while we spend billions of tax dollars enforcing marijuana laws that have noeect on usage. Could our precious public safety resources be put to betteruse?










VII. Frequently Asked Questions

“Is marijuana addictive?”Marijuana is less addictive than the legal drugs nicotine, alcohol andeven caeine, but a few individuals develop a dependence that can causemild, short-lived symptoms upon cessation of use. is chart comparesvarious legal and illegal drugs based on the characteristics associated withaddictiveness:

Withdrawal: Presence and severity of characteristic withdrawalsymptoms.

Reinforcement: A measure of the substance’s ability to get users to takeit again and again, and in preference to other substances.

Tolerance: How much of the substance is needed to satisfy increasingcravings for it, and the level of stable need that is eventually reached.

Dependence: How di cult it is for the user to quit, the relapse rate,the percentage of people who eventually become dependent, the ratingusers give their own need for the substance and the degree to which the

substance will be used in the face of evidence that it causes harm.Intoxication: ough not usually counted as a measure of addiction initself, the level of intoxication is associated with addiction and increasesthe personal and social damage a substance may do.98

is comparison of addictiveness is consistent with information showingthe percentage of people who have ever tried a particular drug and thepercentage who have become dependent on that drug :

In summary, although few marijuana users develop dependence,some do. But they appear to be less likely to do so than users of other drugs (including alcohol and nicotine), and marijuana dependence appears to be less severe than dependence on other drugs .100

Ranking of Addiction Criteria for Popular Drugs1= Least Serious 6= Most Serious

W i t h d r a w a l

R e i n f o r c e m e n t

T o l e r a n c e

D e p e n d e n c e

I n t o x i c a t i o n

6

5

4

3

2

6

55 55

W i t h d r a w a l


T o l e r a n c e

D e p e n d e n c e


6

4 4

33

W i t h d r a w a l


T o l e r a n c e

D e p e n d e n c e


66

44

3

W i t h d r a w a l


T o l e r a n c e

D e p e n d e n c e


222

1 1

W i t h d r a w a l


T o l e r a n c e

D e p e n d e n c e


3

2

111

W i t h d r a w a l


T o l e r a n c e

D e p e n d e n c e


AlcoholCocaineHeroinNicotine Caffeine Marijuana

Prevalence of Drug Use and Dependence inthe General Population 99

Proportion Proportion of UsersDrug Category That Have Ever That Ever Become

Used (%) Dependent (%)

Tobacco 76 32Alcohol 92 15

Marijuana 46 9(including hashish)

Anxiolytics 13 9(including sedativesand hypnotic drugs)

Cocaine 16 17

Heroin 2 23






e experience of the 12 states that decriminalized the possession of marijuana in the ’70s is encouraging. e fact that usage rates have notincreased in these states suggests that marijuana laws can be reformed

without endangering children.105

ere are more eective and cost-e cient ways to deter our youthfrom using marijuana. For example, the “truth” antismoking campaigninitiated in 2000 costs a fraction of the marijuana prohibition budget,and it has already been associated with substantial declines in youthsmoking.106 It wasn’t necessary to criminalize the adult use of tobacco toaccomplish this.

“What are the health risks associated withmarijuana use?”

is question has been subject to intense debate and disagreement for 70years now. We do know that smoking anything is not a healthy activity,107 heavy use of any intoxicant is risky, and children are at a higher risk of

compromising their physical and emotional development through theuse of intoxicants than adults are.

But we must ask another question: what impact does the criminalization of marijuana have on our ability to address this public health issueeectively? Encouraging the reconsideration of our policies does notmean advocating the use of marijuana. e question is simply whetherthe serious problems that result from prohibition call for us to look at

alternatives.

“Why bother changing state marijuana laws ifmarijuana will still be prohibited by federal law?”

While marijuana is prohibited under both state and federal law, mostenforcement is done by state and local authorities. Of the 872,720marijuana arrests made in 2007, federal authorities made only 5,700,or less than 1% – the other 99+% were made by state and local law enforcement o cers.108 As with alcohol Prohibition, federal laws wouldneed to change in order to restore the states’ ability to regulate marijuana within their borders. However, the immediate eects of changing state

and local laws would be enormous.




1 F B I, U.S. D’ J,C U S, ,Table 29 and “Arrests for Drug AbuseViolations,” accessed November 3,2008, at http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2007/arrests/.2 See, e.g., Zogby International,Zogby/Inter-American Dialogueinteractive survey, released October 2,

2008, accessed Nov. 3, 2008, at http:// www.zogby.com/News/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1568 (76% of voters believethe U.S. war on drugs is failing); publicopinion research conducted in May 2005 by Princeton Survey Research

Associates and sponsored by Pew Research Center; and public opinionresearch conducted in September2006 by Public Agenda and sponsoredby Foreign Aairs and the FordFoundation, accessed Jan. 24, 2008, athttp://www.publicagenda.org/issues/pcc_detail.cfm?issue_type=illegal_drugs&list=2; see also G HG, T G P: PO 372 (2003).

3 Sections 69.50.4014, -.425 of theRevised Code of Washington (R.C.W.).

4 R.C.W. 9A.20.021(3).

5 R.C.W. 69.50.4013.

6 R.C.W. 9A.20.021(1)(c).

7 R.C.W. 69.50.401(1)(c),9A.20.021(1)(c).

8 Id .

9 R.C.W. 69.50.408.

10 R.C.W. 69.50.412, -.425,9A.20.021(3).

11 R.C.W. 9.92.060, 9.95.210,

10.01.160, 10.04.110 and 7.68.035.

12 R.C.W. 10.97.050(1).

13 In re Orr , Empl. Sec. Comm’rDec.2d 795 (1987).

14 R.C.W. 59.18.075, 59.18.130; 42U.S.C. §1437f(d)(1)(B)(iii).

15 R.C.W. 29A.08.520.

16 20 U.S.C. §1091(r).

17 R.C.W. 69.50.505; 21 U.S.C.§881.

18 State on Behalf of Hendrix v.Waters , 89 Wn. App. 921, 951 P.2d 317(1998).

19 8 U.S.C. §1227(a)(2)(B)(i).

20 R J. B CH. W, II, T M

C - (1999).21 Id . at , -.

22 Id . at 32-40.

23 Id . at 39.

24 Id . at 39.

25 Id . at 100-01.

26 Id . at 65-66.

27 Id. at 79-97.

28 Id . at 97-117.

29 Id . at 115.

30 Id . at 120-21.

31 Id at 119.

32 Id . at 119-20.

33 Id . at 124-26.

34 Id . at 164-73.

35 Id . at 200.36 Id.

Endnotes

Are current marijuana laws working?

We know they are extremely costly in terms of tax dollars, they divertpublic safety resources from other priorities, and they have very realconsequences to individuals, their families, and their communities.

Talk to your friends, family and policymakers about this issue. Is there abetter way for us to handle the use of marijuana? Let the conversationsbegin.







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e American Civil Liberties Union of Washington Foundation is the legal,

research, and educational arm of the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, a nonprot, nonpartisan membership organization devoted to

protecting the civil liberties of all people in Washington and extending rights

to groups that historically have been denied equal treatment.

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF WASHINGTON FOUNDATION

705 2ND AVENUE, 3RD FL., SEATTLE, WA 98104

WWW.ACLU–WA.ORG

1/2009

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Marijuana Conversation Booklet