Georgia’s Criminal Justice Reform 2012-2013

Atlanta GA: Advocates for the reform of Georgia’s marijuana laws praise the Georgia legislature and Gov. Deal for the passage of historic criminal justice reform legislation just signed into law (HB-349) (HB-1176. 2012). The Georgia Campaign for Access, Reform & Education (Georgia CARE) is one of the reform groups following the legislation. Georgia CARE advocates for marijuana law reform and believes Georgia is better off regulating marijuana like alcohol and tobacco.

James Bell – director of Georgia CARE said that state officials have acknowledged we can not afford to lock up non-violent offends for low level crimes. While Bell applauds the recent reform, he said the legislation falls short on how to deal with those who use marijuana.

“We feel the state should establish and decriminalize personal use amounts and remove prison time for simple possession and use”, Bell said. “If we all agree we can’t lock away marijuana users in prison why have laws on the books that can incarcerate citizens for up to ten years”, Bell asked.

Georgia CARE will work with the state of Georgia in establishing reform legislation that reduces the harm marijuana laws causes its citizens. Marijuana laws are antiquated and draconian and must be reformed, Bell said.

As a start Georgia CARE would like to see the felony amounts moved up to 2 or 4 ounces. Currently possession of more than one ounce is a felony and carries a penalty of up to ten years in state prison.

National polls show a majority (52%) of Americans support marijuana legalization and even more support medical marijuana.

“We should treat marijuana like alcohol or tobacco and regulate personal use amounts. The legal drugs have proven to be far more harmful than marijuana yet we continue to treat marijuana like plutonium rather than wine”, Bell said. “Money saved not prosecuting marijuana case can be applied to drug and alcohol treatment programs for those who truly need it.”

Another reform issue on Georgia CARE’s agenda is expanding the medical marijuana laws that the Georgia General Assembly unanimously passed in 1980 and signed into law.

For more information on these issues go to www.gacareproject.com

Georgia CARE is a project of Georgia Taxpayers Alliance, Inc.

“I’ve been asked, and I honestly do not believe that legalizing drugs is the answer,” the president told a large gathering of young Mexicans at the city’s Anthropology Museum.

Polls show that more and more Americans favor ending the federal ban on pot. A handful of states in the U.S. have lifted legal restrictions on the drug in recent years — including Colorado and Washington — putting Obama in an awkward place. A pot smoker in his younger days, he must decide whether to instruct his Department of Justice to challenge those state laws, or to simply let them be.

The president likely felt it necessary to touch on drugs in his speech today since marijuana is a chief import from Mexico to the United States. It is also largely to blame for the rising swell of cartel violence that has killed thousands in Mexico over the years, and has occasionally spilled over into the southern U.S.

Obama said that his administration must focus on an all-encompassing strategy to deal with drug users at home, as well as figure out a way to reduce demand for drugs.

“We understand that much of the root cause of violence that’s been happening here in Mexico, for which many so Mexicans have suffered, is the demand for illegal drugs in the United States. And so we’ve got to continue to make progress on that front.”

He added that fixing the problem will require “a comprehensive approach — not just law enforcement, but education and prevention and treatment.”

Those words reflect the latest plan put forth by Obama’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, which essentially considers recreational drug use to be a public health issue. Rather than advocating for reforming drug users through jails and prisons, the plan calls for blending strong prevention techniques with effective rehabilitation programs in order to curb future drug use.

The Obama administration’s strategy, though, is somewhat controversial since it technically defines regular pot users as people with brain diseases — addiction, the administration says, is a brain disease. Scores of marijuana defenders, however, say that there is no proof that the drug is addictive.

Efforts to legalize marijuana have been in overdrive since November, when a majority of residents in Colorado and Washington deemed that the plant’s consumption should be legally on par with alcohol. Now, several other states have followed suit in considering similar proposals, and Alabama is among them with House Bill 550.

The bill is modeled after Colorado’s regulatory model, and its introduction in Montgomery earlier this year signals that genuine debate over marijuana reform has finally arrived in the buckle of the Bible Belt. This is great news for Alabamians, since responsible marijuana policy will bring the state enhanced public safety, an alternative natural medicine and a potential fortune from both industry and tax revenues alike.

As a former special agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement who worked on the Mexican border, I know firsthand that regulating marijuana would make the United States a more secure place. Our border with Mexico is 2,000 miles long and impossible to fully safeguard.

Considering Mexico’s drug war is approaching its seventh year with no signs of slowing down, there’s no telling how many criminals have fled that country and sought refuge here in the United States. What is certain, though, is the fact that revenues from marijuana trafficking account for the majority of profits earned by Mexican cartels. These criminal organizations have been responsible for more than 60,000 deaths since 2006, many of them taking place right on our doorstep and involving gruesome torture, hangings and decapitations.

There’s no doubt that using the criminal justice system to try to reduce marijuana use is a drain on Alabama’s already limited law enforcement resources. A clear illustration of this was the raid on Feb. 19 that netted 74 arrests at the University of Alabama. Rather than making Tuscaloosa a safer place to live by investigating robberies and murders, officers instead devoted two months to an investigation that only served to wreak havoc on the lives of otherwise innocent college students. These students, if convicted, may face jail time as well as barriers to financial aid, employment, housing and many other benefits for the rest of their lives. Are we any better off for it?

Alabama jails are overflowing and the state’s Department of Corrections is housing more than 190 percent of its intended capacity. Meanwhile, marijuana arrests contribute to the overcrowding as they make up more than 50 percent of the state’s drug arrests. This alone should show Alabamians that marijuana regulation is a smart economic decision when it comes to the fiscal future of the state.

As for the potential revenues that could be gained by regulating marijuana, Alabama spends nearly $50 million annually on marijuana enforcement, according to a study by the Cato Institute. They also estimate that legalization would yield $8.7 billion in taxes nationwide. The illegal market created by marijuana is a multi-billion dollar industry, so with a smart taxation scheme, Alabama would make tons of money off the plant’s regulation.

With a brand new poll from the Pew Research Center showing that 52 percent of Americans now want marijuana regulated like alcohol, it’s clear that the issue isn’t going away anytime soon — in Alabama or elsewhere. It’s inevitable that legalization will eventually make its way to the South. The question is whether Alabama can be the first state down here to make that happen. Or will another one of the South’s fertile states lead the way, making the safe, compassionate and fiscally sound decision to reform their marijuana laws?

Jamie Haase, a former special agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a group of more than 5,000 police, prosecutors, judges and other law enforcement officials opposed to the war on drugs.

Photo by AJC

Calling it a historic day for Georgia, an emotional Gov. Nathan Deal on Wednesday signed into law major changes to how the state punishes non-violent criminals.

Deal signed House Bill 1176 at the Capitol surrounded by lawmakers and members of his Special Council on Criminal Justice Reform, which recommended many of the new law’s provisions.

The sentencing reform package is projected to save taxpayers $264 million in prison spending over the next five years. The legislation, which takes effect July 1, establishes alternatives to incarceration for low-level, non-violent drug and property offenders and reserves expensive prison beds for the most dangerous offenders.

From the AJC

http://www.pewstates.org/uploadedFiles/PCS_Assets/2012/Georgia_Bill_HB_1176.pdf

Periodically, Georgia CARE will ask you to help with a public outreach project. You can help us grow our organization by taking 2 minutes of your time and accomplishing the task. Let’s get started…

Go to www.topix.com and enter your zip code. This will take you to your local page. You can either register or post anonymously. State a new topic: Enter in the subject line – “Legalize Marijuana in Georgia” and simply post our website address – www.gacareporject.com . This will help to drive traffic to our site and will be seen by 1000’s a readers.

Thank you for your help and support! James Bell

In the wake of the marijuana legalization victories in Colorado and Washington last November, and buoyed by a series of national public opinion polls showing support for pot legalization going over the tipping point, marijuana reform legislation is being introduced at state houses across the land at levels never seen before.

While the mere fact that a bill has been introduced is no guarantee it’s going to pass, that such bills are being introduced in record numbers speaks to how far the marijuana reform movement has come. According to a legislative activity web page maintained by the Marijuana Policy Project, decriminalization bills have been introduced in 10 states and the dependency of the Northern Mariana Islands this year, while outright legalization bills have been introduced in 11 states and the dependency of Puerto Rico. Read more>>>

“The DEA’s Administrative Law Judge, Francis Young concluded: “In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume. For example, eating 10 raw potatoes can result in a toxic response. By comparison, it is physically impossible to eat enough marijuana to induce death.

Marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within the supervised routine of medical care.”

With that in mind James Bell set out to look at statements made in the AJC concerning marijuana – particularly “fake pot” also know as “Spice” and “K2”.

On a front page story “Synthetic pot still on market” (Aug. 10, 2012 side bar) AJC reported that the designer drug was made by spraying a plant material with chemicals containing THC, an active compound in cannabis.

Bell challenged the AJC on the statement and asked for a retraction and correction of the statement. After a series of email exchanges the AJC did in fact correct the statement on April 4, 2013 –

“A front-page article about synthetic marijuana in the Aug. 10, 2012, edition should have stated that it is a designer drug made by spraying chemicals that mimic the effects of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the chemical compound in marijuana that has psychoactive effects. If you have a question or comment about articles or photos published in the AJC, contact the newsroom at 404-526-7003 or email newstips@ajc.com.”

Bell said if the AJC is going to trivialize the arrest of nearly 30,000 people each year in Georgia, it was fair to challenge them on this false statement.

“The designer drug being called “synthetic pot” is not cannabis and is not a natural substance, False statements associating cannabis with this product piles on more negative connotations on a plant that has been deemed to be one of the safest therapeutically active substances know to man”, Bell said.

Bell is concerned that when the public is given false information that associates cannabis with a synthetic substance that has caused harmful effects on users and negative news stories worldwide, the public will assume the same harmful effects apply to natural cannabis. “This is not true”, Bell said.

Bell ruled the statement to be false on his Truth-O-Meter and commends the AJC for correcting the statement.

“The DEA’s Administrative Law Judge, Francis Young concluded: “In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume. For example, eating 10 raw potatoes can result in a toxic response. By comparison, it is physically impossible to eat enough marijuana to induce death. Marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within the supervised routine of medical care.”

Source: US Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Agency, “In the Matter of Marijuana Rescheduling Petition,” [Docket #86-22], (September 6, 1988), p. 57.