SENSELESS MARIJUANA CRACKDOWN MUST STOP

MARIJUANA USE is far from having been decriminalized and enforcement has
become a lot tougher since the early 1990s.

In Maryland, as in the rest of the nation, arrests for possession of
marijuana roughly doubled between 1992 and 2000. There were nearly 15,000
Maryland arrests last year. That's not because marijuana use increased.
Much attention has been given to the rise in school-age marijuana use,
which also doubled over this time.

However, for the whole population over age 12, the rate of use has been
almost steady since 1990; adults have been quitting marijuana more rapidly
than in the past. For adolescents, marijuana has become the
third-most-common reason for arrest; for adults it is fifth on the list.

Particularly alarming is that the increase is much sharper for blacks and
teen-agers than for the rest of the population.

In 1991, black and white marijuana possession arrest rates in Maryland were
nearly identical; by 1997, the African-American rate was double that for
whites. Teen-age arrest rates rose seven-fold in the same period.

Even adjusting for the increase of marijuana use among teen-agers, the risk
of arrest for teen-age users rose much faster than for the rest of the
Maryland population. We estimate that about 3 percent to 4 percent of black
male teen-agers in Baltimore City and Baltimore County are arrested each
year. If that is correct, an African-American male has almost a one-in-six
chance of being arrested in connection with marijuana use at some time in
his teen-age years.

The police campaign against marijuana use is one of those minor mysteries
of our time. It is certainly not an announced policy shift in most communities.

Regardless of why it has occurred, the marijuana crackdown clearly exacts
social and fiscal costs. While only a tiny fraction of those arrested are
sentenced to prison or jail, many spend time in jail before trial. We
estimate that for roughly one out of six arrestees, the time in jail is a
week or more.

Again there is evidence that African-Americans are more likely to spend
time in jail if arrested and longer time than whites if jailed at all. Very
few of those jailed for marijuana possession had any but the most minor
charges in the previous two years.

Many of those arrested ended up in the drug treatment system, usually
referred by a criminal justice agency. About 7,000 entered drug treatment
in Maryland for marijuana in 1998, mostly as a result of criminal justice
referrals. That compared with about 20,000 entering for cocaine or heroin
problems.

What is odd about this is there is almost no research about marijuana
treatment and, since the crackdown ensnares recreational and heavy users
alike, many of those arrested do not have a problem in need of treatment.
What they mostly get cured of is probably the need to spend time in jail.

Paradoxically, these increases in marijuana treatment admissions, clearly
generated by arrest rather than use, are then used to justify more intense
enforcement since drug hawks assert that they show just how dangerous the
drug is.

Marijuana use is by no means harmless; intoxication always carries risks to
the smoker and to the rest of us. Long-term use increases cancer risks, and
about 10 percent become dependent and have trouble quitting. The majority
of those who have trouble quitting do so without treatment. Most marijuana
users will not go on to another drug. The number of emergency room
admissions for marijuana has risen sharply but is still tiny, given the
number of users.

Marijuana attracts public attention only when there is debate about changes
in the law, such as allowing its use as a medicine or decriminalizing
possession of small amounts.

But dramatic surges in arrests for marijuana possession should not be
ignored. Police crackdowns on marijuana have real consequences for those
arrested. Moreover, they seem to have done little to lower crime or drug
use or increase public safety.

The police have a particular responsibility to account for their actions
when they choose to use their discretion so aggressively against behavior
that much of society regards as barely the law's business.