Editorial: Decriminalize marijuana use, prioritize rehabilitation

A puff of smoke trailing from the end of a joint should not leave a lingering cloud over someone’s life.

But all too often, that’s the case and the verdict. Marijuana use is still criminalized in 30 states — including Pennsylvania— according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

In Pittsburgh, the realization of criminalization’s costs — burdened judicial systems, racial bias and extreme criminal sentences — has made its way to the legislative agenda. R. Daniel Lavelle, public safety chair councilman, introduced legislation Tuesday that would decriminalize marijuana use in the city.

The proposed legislation marks an important milestone for how we perceive marijuana in Pittsburgh. Criminalization slaps harsh sentences on personal records and drains financial resources — a cost we can no longer justify. Pittsburgh City Council should pass the ordinance and end the harmful effects of marijuana criminalization.

According to the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing, more than 4,900 people were jailed last year for marijuana offenses in the state. Nationally, police arrested more than 8 million individuals for marijuana possession between 2001 and 2010, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. The criminal justice system does not need this burden over a substance that is legal in some capacity in 23 states and our nation’s capitol.

In an Oct. 31, weekly address on the need for criminal justice reform, President Barack Obama revealed there were more than 2.2 million people in American prisons. The last thing we need are more people in jail for what should be a minor offense.

Enforcing marijuana laws siphons limited resources away from more serious pursuits. It costs about $3.6 billion a year nationally to enforce marijuana laws, according to the ACLU — funds we can easily allocate elsewhere, like drug rehabilitation programs.

Marijuana criminalization also carries a racial bias — unfairly targeting black individuals and incarcerating them at higher rates.

According to 2007 data reported in the Marijuana Policy Almanac, the largest collection of public data on marijuana arrests in the United States, Pittsburgh police arrested black individuals at a rate of 871 per 100,000, compared to an arrest rate of 129 per 100,000 for white individuals.

These aren’t light sentences. Pennsylvania classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 substance, and possession of marijuana is a criminal offense.

In accordance with the war on drugs, our country treats marijuana possession on the same scale as the use of harder, life-threatening drugs — like Schedule 1 drug heroin and Schedule 2 drug cocaine — and possession of up to 30 grams of marijuana can just as easily land you a 30-day jail sentence, $500 dollar fine or both in Pennsylvania.

If the proposed ordinance becomes law, city police will issue a fine instead of a misdemeanor summons for possession of less than 30 grams of marijuana or eight grams of hashish. The ordinance would also set a civil fine of up to $100 and allow officers to seize the drugs. 

Decriminalization in Pittsburgh would not be unprecedented — nationally, cities, like Philadelphia, have enacted similar legislation. Those efforts have allowed the city’s police force to reprioritize its  efforts toward addressing heroin use, which has grown into an epidemic in recent years with a rising death toll.

In 2014, there were 303 overdose deaths in Allegheny County. Of those deaths, 40 percent were from illegal drugs, such as heroin and cocaine. We need to priortize our attention to drugs — focus on marjuana or focus on the drug killing our neighbors and loved ones.

Using the money raised by the fines, we could invest in rehabilitation centers for heroin addicts. Decriminalizing marijuana could mean less people in jail, more addicts getting help and more resources to improve our city.