BY NICK BANCROFT — A new Gallup poll shows that for the first time in our country’s history a majority of Americans favor legalizing marijuana. The poll, conducted in October of 2013, shows that 58% of Americans want to legalize the drug. The numbers are startling considering that when Gallup first polled Americans to get their thoughts about marijuana legalization, a mere 12% were in favor.
These numbers have been reflected at the ballot box as well, medicinal marijuana is legal in 20 states and the District of Colombia, while 9 other states (including Florida) have pending medicinal marijuana legislation on the books.
The most drastic change in marijuana policy has occurred in Washington and Colorado where the states have legalized the drug for recreational use. These states are being closely watched by the whole country to see if regulation and taxation can work with marijuana the way it does with alcohol.
This is all well and good, but what does it mean for the thousands of inmates incarcerated in Colorado and Washington for marijuana crimes that are now legal? Colorado has said that there will be no amnesty for past convictions, which has me as well as many others wondering, “How is this fair?” Men and women are sitting in jail for doing something that others can now do with impunity.
It is no secret that federal and state prosecutors look at minor marijuana possession as small potatoes these days, and while that is helping unclog the justice and correctional systems today, the people sitting in jail for crimes committed years ago should not have to suffer because of this country’s crawl towards progression.
Some may view the people in jail in Colorado for marijuana crimes as the sacrificial lambs needed for legalization. Voting to legalize marijuana is one thing, while voting to legalize marijuana and release thousands of ‘convicts’ into the public is another.
As of now the Governor of Colorado is not reconsidering his position on pardons for marijuana offenders, but it is something that has to be discussed. While Colorado and Washington should be applauded for their success in making change in a country that is often reluctant to do so, there are still many questions that need to be answered.
What it comes down to is this, from Eric Stern’s Salon piece on the subject: The new legal regime in Colorado is, “So murky as to be incompatible with basic notions of justice and rights and fair notice. People whose lives have been destroyed by selling an ounce of pot should not have to watch from their jail cells as Coloradans now take part in identical activity.”
Well written piece.