Punishment to Fit the Crime

If you've ever considered installing a Gro-Lite in a closet to cultivate a marijuana plant for your very own use, I suggest you consider obstructing justice and perjuring yourself in a case involving national security instead. Especially if you live in Florida, Delaware, Alabama, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Utah, Arizona, Virginia, or South Carolina.

Because, while the fine or jail time meted out in court for your cannabis experiment is likely to be mild in most cases, the additional penalties triggered by the conviction can really hurt. Sometimes for life.

According to the comprehensive Life Sentences: The Collateral Sanctions Associated with Marijuana Offenses released Monday by the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics:

In most cases, a felony marijuana conviction (for example growing marijuana) triggers the same collateral sanctions as those triggered by a conviction for murder, rape, or kidnapping. In many cases, the collateral sanctions for a marijuana-related conviction actually exceed those for a violent crime.

• Collateral sanctions triggered by a marijuana conviction can include: revocation or suspension of professional licenses, barriers to employment or promotion, loss of educational aid, driver’s license suspension, and bars on adoption, voting and jury service. For people who depend upon  public assistance, a marijuana conviction can trigger a bar on receiving food stamps and restrict access to public housing. In some states, these sanctions continue for life. ...

• In 47 states, a conviction for growing marijuana (or any other marijuana-related felony) results in at least some period of time during which the person is barred from voting. In 6 of these states, the bar on voting lasts for life.

Some 45,000 of the three-quarter-million Americans arrested for marijuana offenses each year are convicted of felonies that can trigger these collateral sanctions.

Are there any but a handful of true believers in reefer madness who don't realize how disastrous a toll the War on (some) Drugs has taken on America and Americans? So why is there only a handful of high-level elected officials willing to do something about it?