OPINION: LET'S GET TO THE POINT AND LET'S ROLL ANOTHER JOINT

You know how it is. It's late at night, you're with friends and that
ubiquitous phrase is whispered to someone around you: "Come on, it's no big
deal. Everyone does it."

No, I'm not talking about sex and I'm not talking about smoking - well, at
least, not in the way that people usually think about smoking. I'm talking
about marijuana. Call it pot, call it dope, call it whatever you want, but
it's a well-known fact that a large percentage of college students indulge
in Mary Jane.

We all know it happens at Brandeis and we've all heard stories about people
being busted, getting kicked off campus or into a judicial hearing.
Furthermore, most of us have heard stories about ridiculous jail sentences,
overly harsh federal penalties, or any number of other weed-related horror
stories. Lots of people smoke it, and that's an accepted fact. The real
problem is how the authorities deal with pot.

The U.S. government has one of the most restrictive and harshest policies
on marijuana usage in the world. But this country also has one of the
strongest and most vocal movements to legalize the drug, or at least
decriminalize it. Although it was widely used in previous decades, Pot did
not become a major American drug until the 1960s.

Following those long-haired smokers are generations of intellectuals,
scientists, high-school dropouts, lawyers, doctors and other respected and
functioning Americans who are more than willing to take a risk to indulge
in the drug. With so much apparent acceptance, why is marijuana such a
legal hardship? And with all the support for decriminalization, why is the
U.S. government so damn stubborn?

The U.S. government has tried to be liberal before. Former president Jimmy
Carter was actually a marijuana activist - as much as a president can be -
before he was forced to get strict with all of his drug policies.

Perhaps holding the government back are the ultra-conservative sectors of
America who are ceaseless advocates of harsher drug laws. Programs like
D.A.R.E. emphasize the notion that marijuana is a gateway drug by sending
messages such as, "Give yourself some time to smoke pot and the next thing
you know you'll be a junkie selling your body to get your next fix." The
anti-drug propaganda in the United States is so extreme that you'd think a
pothead is on the same level as a child molester.

The criminal consequences of that propaganda reflect that overreaction as
well. Under Massachusetts law, a first offense for possession of any amount
of marijuana is a misdemeanor requiring six months probation (with records
sealed upon completion of said probation) and a $500 fine. A second offense
possession charge (again, for any amount) carries another $500 fine and
another six months sentence - but not necessarily another six months on
probation. That's right, if you get caught with a joint you may find
yourself in jail next to real criminals for up to six months.

Even worse, if you're caught with paraphernalia, you can be charged with a
felony and receive up to two years in prison and $5,000 in fines. And if
you sell paraphernalia to a minor, your sentence is practically doubled; up
to five years in prison and a fine of at least $1,000. It's important to
remember that this is just based on the word "paraphernalia" -- a word that
could be construed by the police and the court system to mean just about
anything that can be used to suction smoke in the direction of your mouth.
No wonder everyone is so scared.

Selling is even more dangerous. In Massachusetts, selling less than 50
pounds is a felony that can get you two years in jail and a mandatory
$5,000 fine. Any larger amount carries at least a mandatory minimum
one-year prison sentence. And remember, this doesn't even include penalties
for cultivation.

Surprisingly, Massachusetts is a very liberal state. In Maryland, on the
other hand, possession of any amount of marijuana brings with it one year
in jail. In Washington D.C., the possession fine is doubled, and sale of
any amount gets you a year in jail - mandatory. If you sell to a minor or
within 1000 feet of a school your sentence is doubled every time.

Now, you can argue that with such obvious precedents in place, people
should just stop using, stop selling and stop getting in trouble. The
problem with that argument is it's not going to happen. Ever.

Besides the fact that most people who use marijuana on a regular basis use
it because they like what it does to them, a lot of people have also built
it into their lives. Many living in poverty sell marijuana to keep
themselves afloat. And while that particular aspect of the marijuana debate
begs for discussion of civil services and the question of why such a rich
country can't even feed its own people, it also begs the question of
whether anything is being changed for the better by taking every offender -
no matter how small- and throwing him in jail.

Upon release, dealers' situations have often deteriorated, and they have to
go back to selling drugs again. They aren't taught any skills or given any
training to better their lives, and the fact that they've been in jail and
now have a record can do irreparable damage to any efforts to get their
lives back on track. And on top of all of that, it is massively expensive
to put someone in jail - $129 million is spent on prison operation and
upkeep annually, according to a Washington Post article.

Talking about legalization or decriminalization, however, is often met by
strong reactions induced by fear. What if decriminalization leads to
massive marijuana use? What if decriminalization causes kids to turn to
harder, more dangerous drugs?

These fears are not unfounded, especially based on American propaganda, but
the truth is not nearly as worrisome as our doubts are. In a 1999 study by
the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine (IOM), the
researchers stated that, "In sum, there is little evidence that
decriminalization of marijuana use necessarily leads to a substantial
increase in marijuana use."

Similarly the Connecticut Law Review Commission found that "...reducing the
penalties for marijuana has virtually no effect on either choice or
frequency of use of alcohol or illegal 'harder' drugs such as cocaine."
Furthermore, a 1989 study published in the Journal of Health found that "On
the other hand, the so-called 'decriminalization' measures did result in
substantial savings in the criminal justice system."

We know decriminalization can work. Large parts of Canada and the United
Kingdom have decriminalized pot without negative consequences and marijuana
has been happily and safely legal in Amsterdam for years. So why won't
America budge? Are we so stubborn and so unwilling as a country to admit
that we were wrong in our perceptions that we will continue to harm our own
people and our own society in an effort to prove that marijuana is the enemy?

Are we so blind to the hurt and pain our policies are causing that we will
continue to chip away at our cultural stability? Our marijuana laws don't
just hinder a good Friday night, they also tear away at the foundations of
our society by unjustly and unfairly harming the lives of our own citizens.
And that needs to change.