ed, jailed, and treated as criminals, solely because of their recreational choices. Tens of thousands of people are now in prison for marijuana offenses. An even greater number are punished with probations, fines, and civil sanctions, including having their property seized, their licenses revoked, and their employment terminated. Courts also deny marijuana defendants access to state and federal benefits, including college loans, small business loans, farm subsides, occupational licenses, and government grants contracts and fellowships (Morgan and Zimmer 38 and 43). According to government statistics, federal and state prison populations have increased by 90% since the mid 1980s, while the crime rate remains virtually unchanged. Over half the prison inmates are still there on drug charges (Heath 48). That this massive incarceration has had little effect on reducing crime is evident. Increased reliance on mandatory sentencing, eliminating parole, and building more jail cells has nothing to do with rehabilitation and apparently accomplishes little in the way of deterrence. Criminalizing marijuana users does harm by blocking effective treatments and incarcerating far to many people. Our prison and jail population, now more than a million and a half, has doubled over the past decade, and more than tripled since 1980 (49). Every serious scholar and government commission examining the relationship between marijuana use and crime has reached the same conclusion that marijuana does not cause crime. The vast majority of marijuana users are peaceful and do not commit crimes other than the crime of possessing marijuana. Among those who do commit crimes, marijuana plays no casual role. Almost all human and animal studies show that marijuana decreases rather than increases aggression (Morgan and Zimmer 88). If marijuana were legal, any violence associated with it would disappear. Controlled distribution of the drug in a safe, regulated...
