SENSIBLE HANDLING OF MARIJUANA OFFENDERS IS CRUCIAL TO PRISON REFORMS

Among the many hard questions faced by legislators under the current
budget mandate to cut $1.2 billion in corrections spending, there's
at least one easy answer: release non-violent marijuana offenders and
reform penalties for some marijuana offenses.

Patching the hole in our prison budget is going to require much more
than early release programs. Serious sentencing reforms are
inevitable, especially considering the looming court order to reduce
the inmate population by 27 percent.

With dangerously overcrowded prisons, Californians can no longer
afford to waste valuable cell space - not to mention the annual per-
inmate cost of $49,000 - on non-violent marijuana offenders. If you
think this conclusion is way too obvious to merit the column-inches
in this publication, you might be surprised to know who didn't
include marijuana sentencing reform in his list of prison cuts.

Incredibly, early reports of the Gov. Schwarzenegger's forthcoming
proposal to trim the prison budget suggest he would rather reduce
penalties for crimes like auto theft, receiving stolen property, or
writing bad checks than for offenders charged with growing even a
single marijuana plant or selling a joint. The governor's plan would
change some property crimes that are currently charged as felonies to
misdemeanors, but, bizarrely, leave felony penalties for victimless
marijuana offenses intact.

Ironically, Gov. Schwarzenegger recently dismissed the idea of taxing
and regulating marijuana as not being worth the $1.4 billion in new
revenue it would bring to the state, but now he's trying to tell us
that reducing penalties for car thieves is a perfectly fine way to
save a few bucks. No wonder confidence in state government is at a
record low in California.

Although the state "decriminalized" marijuana possession over 30
years ago and most of the state's voters now support taxing and
regulating marijuana sales, it remains a felony to grow even one
plant or sell a single joint in California. According to the
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, 1,538 marijuana
offenders are housed in California's jam-packed prisons. This figure
does not include the undoubtedly larger number of inmates returned to
prison on marijuana- related parole violations, such as testing
positive for marijuana.

It's time for the legislature to show common sense and include non-
violent marijuana offenses in the inevitable sentencing reform package.

Currently, marijuana cultivation, possession for sale, and
transportation - of even for the smallest amounts - are always
treated as felonies. A smart reform would be to allow district
attorneys discretion to prosecute these offenses as either felonies
or misdemeanors. This way, the person who sells a gram of marijuana
to his neighbor doesn't end up in the state corrections system along
side dangerous criminals.

Lawmakers should also finally act on a seven-year-old suggestion from
the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) by reducing penalties for
simple possession of hashish (concentrated marijuana resin) from a
felony to a misdemeanor. The LAO's 2002 report estimated that this
simple change would save the state $4.8 million. Possession of
marijuana is already treated as a misdemeanor -- there's no good
reason why possessing hashish, which is equivalent to marijuana in
terms of associated risks, shouldn't be treated equally under the law.

Amending the marijuana laws is not only one of the better prison
reform options in terms of public safety, it would also be safe
politically. Nobody in their right mind wants the law to go easier on
a car thief than a person who grows a marijuana plant in his or her
backyard. And polling indicates that most Californians want marijuana
legal these days, anyway.

We clearly cannot afford to lock up everyone who grows or sells
marijuana - especially when we could be controlling its sales through
regulations akin to those imposed on alcohol vendors and using the
tax revenues to pay for enforcement.

Reforming penalties for victimless marijuana offenses is a good idea
in terms of the immediate prison fix, but a substantial overhaul of
our corrections system is still needed to address the bigger problems
our state faces. Lawmakers should support legally taxing and
regulating marijuana as part of a long-term plan to solve
California's criminal justice crisis.

More than 100 million Americans - including our own governor - have
used marijuana and led perfectly functional, productive lives. It's
about time our elected leaders produce a functional marijuana policy
in California.