RETHINKING THIS NONSENSE

The crowing tone of the press release is a pretty good indication that
the Lafourche District Attorney's Office took the drug charge against
Matthew Zugsberger seriously.

"A California man on a self-professed crusade to change Louisiana's
marijuana laws instead pled guilty to felony drug charges Monday
rather than face a jury of his peers," the release begins.

At issue was the case against Zugsberger, who was caught receiving a
shipment of more than two pounds of pot.

Zugsberger argued that his prescription for use of medical marijuana
should be respected in Louisiana even though it was issued in
California. The local district attorney disagreed, opting instead to
spend more than three years going after a man whose only crime was
possessing marijuana.

I know it's a crime. But don't we have more important things to
do?

Aren't there people out there committing crimes against other people
who might be more deserving of prosecution and jail time? Apparently
not.

In fact, even Zugsberger deserved no jail time. At the end of years of
legal arguments and the like, costing God knows what to both sides,
Zugsberger pleaded guilty Monday and got ... no time in jail.

Let's get this straight. This legal case of massive importance,
meriting a self-congratulatory press release and all, resulted in a
suspended sentence.

Zugsberger all along admitted he possessed the pot. His argument was
that he had permission to possess it.

The legal system, on the other hand, argued that he had no such right
and had to be punished severely for this crime that hurt no one.

In the end, I suppose, they were both right.

Zugsberger had to forfeit the marijuana. He also had to forfeit the
$4,640 in cash he had at the time of his arrest. (I'm still not sure
why the cops can just take your money.) And he had to pay a $2,000
fine. In addition, he will serve three years of probation.

So it cost him plenty. On top of all that, he had the expense of
defending himself against a charge that could easily have been avoided.

But, significantly, no jail time.

"The defendant's medical marijuana card did not allow him to flaunt
our laws, and this plea shows that he finally acknowledges that,"
District Attorney Cam Morvant II said in the release.

I respectfully disagree. Instead, it shows that a person can possess
two pounds of pot without getting sent to jail. To me, that means we
might as well do away with an outdated, draconian law that does
nothing more than legally harass otherwise-law-abiding citizens.

How many people are in America's prisons right now because of
nonviolent drug offenses?

Too many.

The debate is relevant again locally because our parish officials are
in the midst of discussing what kind of jail they're going to build to
replace the outdated one now being used.

There has been some talk of building a giant facility that would hold
many hundreds of prisoners. Do we really need that, or could we handle
some of the seemingly infinite supply of prisoners by having more
sense about what we make illegal and what we choose to vigorously prosecute.

Mr. Zugsberger possessed marijuana, a crime in Louisiana. But he had a
prescription for it. Are authorities here going to prosecute everyone
they find with an out-of-state prescription? If so, the sheriff and
Parish Council had better make plans for a much bigger jail than they
have discussed. If not, why treat this guy differently?

It is time we got over our knee-jerk reaction to marijuana and started
having some common sense. Marijuana doesn't kill as many people as
drinking or cigarettes. And they're both legal.

I don't want everyone walking (or driving) around stoned. But we could
punish that kind of behavior (like we do with DWI, for instance)
without imposing penalties on marijuana possession that are way out of
line with the actual threat it poses.

Besides, how illegal can something be if you can have 2 pounds of it
and not go to jail?