STATE DOESN'T GET MUCH RETURN FOR ENFORCING MARIJUANA LAWS

New Jerseyans spend about $197 million each year to enforce state and local
marijuana laws. What are these taxpayers getting for their money? Not much,
according to a recent study.

Jon B. Gettman, a senior fellow at George Mason University's School of
Public Policy, prepared the study, "Crimes of Indiscretion: Marijuana
Arrests in the United States," for he National Organization for the Reform
of Marijuana Laws.

"Marijuana arrests," says Gettman, "are instruments of a supply-reduction
policy." But, he adds, "The doubling of marijuana arrests in the 1990s has
produced the opposite of the intended effect in every major indicator. An
increase in arrests should produce a reduction in use and the availability
of marijuana. However, during the 1990s, both use and availability of
marijuana increased."

Marijuana possession arrests in the United States totaled 260,000 in 1990.
By 2003, that figure topped 662,000. Even failed public policies, however,
can cost a bundle.

New Jerseyans are, in effect, paying for Washington's marijuana prohibition
policies. "The use of criminal law to control the availability and use of
marijuana," says Gettman, "is a federal policy that is dependent on local
law enforcement for its implementation." And state and local costs quickly
add up.

A Boston University economics professor, Jeffrey A. Miron, estimates that
nationally, state and local officials spend about $5 billion per year
enforcing marijuana laws. New Jersey's share of this handout to Uncle Sam
looks like this: $79 million for police services, $103 million for judicial
services and $15 million for correctional services.

The thousands of people arrested on marijuana possession charges in New
Jersey each year -- especially teenagers -- pay extra. "Marijuana arrests,"
Gettman says, "make criminals out of otherwise law-abiding citizens.
Indeed, the primary consequence of marijuana arrests is the introduction of
hundreds of thousands of young people into the criminal justice system."

Once a teenager has a criminal record, a number of other penalties often
follow. In New Jersey, for example, employers can ask job applicants about
arrests, even arrests not leading to a conviction, and a criminal record
may bar a person from public housing.

Taking a close look at marijuana arrest patterns, Gettman notes that young
people are disproportionally targeted. "The brunt of marijuana law
enforcement," he says, "falls on both adolescents and the youngest adults."
Nationally, almost 17 percent of all people charged with marijuana
possession were between 15 and 17 years old. Another 26 percent were age 18
to 20.

And what do New Jerseyans get for these financial and personal costs? In
2002, there were 17,815 marijuana possession arrests in New Jersey, but the
number of users has not gone down. While 5 percent of New Jersey's
population was estimated to be monthly users in 1999, in 2002 the estimate
was still at 5 percent. Nationally, monthly users went from 4.9 percent in
1999 to 6.2 percent in 2002.

The basic problem, says Gettman, is that the "overall supply of marijuana
in the United States is far too diversified to be controlled by law
enforcement."

If the current marijuana policies are both costly and ineffective, what is
the next best strategy? Because marijuana is so widely used, Gettman
recommends treating marijuana like a pharmaceutical product subject to
Federal Drug Administration testing and regulatory requirements.

By shifting to a policy that treats and taxes marijuana like tobacco and
alcohol, New Jerseyites could gain the following benefits: a decrease in
illegal activities surrounding drug sales, government control of marijuana
quality, better control of underage access to marijuana, and the removal of
the profit motive that attracts sellers, including a substantial number of
teenage sellers who, most frequently, supply other teenagers.

On top of that, Miron estimates a marijuana sales tax would replace the
$197 million a year New Jersey taxpayers are now spending to enforce
unenforceable laws, with a new revenue pipeline bringing in $24 million a year.