SENSIBLE SENTENCING

State Must Reform Drug Laws That Fill Up Prisons

Alabama absolutely needs to be tough on crime. But the state also needs to
be smart.

A look at the state's prison system tells why. Prisons have twice as many
inmates as they were designed to hold, and we have far too few corrections
officers guarding them.

That's why changing how the state treats certain drug offenders is
necessary and why the work of the Alabama Sentencing Commission is so
crucial. The commission must agree on how to fix those laws that needlessly
send nonviolent drug offenders to prison at great cost to taxpayers.

One such proposal deals with repeat marijuana users. As an article this
week points out, the state is spending millions of dollars locking up users
who wouldn't be imprisoned in many states.

In Alabama, a first offense for possession of personal-use marijuana is a
misdemeanor. A second offense is a felony, no matter the amount. Of about
1,000 people convicted each year of felony possession, nearly 40 percent
are sent to prison.

We're not talking about drug dealers. Selling drugs is a felony for even
first-time offenders, and rightly so.

But the threshold for possession of marijuana to be treated as a felony in
other states is much higher. In Virginia, for example, a person must sell
the drug to be convicted of felony involving marijuana. In Nebraska, seven
possession arrests are allowed before it's a felony.

Alabama needs to think more in those terms. The Sentencing Commission,
though, is split on how best to treat marijuana use. Some prosecutors don't
look favorably on ideas such as raising the quantity required for felony
possession. They're concerned about the message it might send to young people.

The bigger concern should be that our drug laws make too little sense.
Alabama has the fifth-highest incarceration rate in the nation, and one
reason for that is harsh drug penalties.

Alabama has made strides in some places, such as Jefferson County, with
drug courts, which steer nonviolent offenders into treatment rather than
prison. More is needed. Drug treatment should be mandatory for every drug
offender, including those sent to prison.

The burden falls on the Sentencing Commission to come up with a plan that
makes sense of the state's drug laws. And proves the state can be both
tough and smart.