The Daily Campus

Issue date: 4/16/09 Section: Commentary

Connecticut's judiciary committee recently took a huge step in the right direction by advancing a marijuana decriminalization bill along the legislative track. The proposed bill is good for a number of reasons. First of all, it takes the age of drug users into account. The new bill also only decriminalizes the drug for users, not dealers. Finally, decriminalization would save the state millions of dollars annually. Decriminalizing marijuana in this manner is a rational idea.

Substance abuse by teenagers is always a big problem. People under the age of 18 or 21 are not allowed to buy cigarettes or alcohol, respectively, but they still manage to do both. The new marijuana law also makes 18 into an important age. Since most 18-year-olds are more capable of making decisions for themselves than most 16-year-olds, the state's proposed decriminalization bill only allows for lighter penalties for people who are 18 and older. People younger than 18 will still face the traditional penalties for marijuana, just as they still face traditional penalties for tobacco and alcohol.

The proposed legislation is also a compromise between strict legislators who don't want to even consider legalization and more liberal legislators who advocate full legalization. Since this bill fits somewhere in the middle ground, it is a good compromise. Only users 18 and older who possess less than half-an-ounce of marijuana will be eligible for reduced penalties. Anyone who is selling or growing marijuana still has to face the harsh penalties that are in place with regards to those activities. While this isn't ideal, such a compromise makes the bill's passage into law much more likely.

Perhaps the biggest no-brainer with regards to the proposed decriminalization of marijuana is the amount of money that it will save taxpayers. Rather than locking up a large number of stoners - who are probably just going to go looking for marijuana the minute they get out of jail - the state could reinstate some of the funding it has recently been cutting to UConn or put more money toward public health. Other states that enacted decriminalization have seen huge benefits for their budgets.

Really though, the important thing to realize is that the drug war isn't working anyway. People who want to smoke pot are going to smoke pot, whether the penalty is a month in jail or a $100 fine.

Unfortunately, Gov. M. Jodi Rell doesn't seem to care. She refuses to accept any form of decriminalization. It really is disheartening to know that the leader of our state would rather spend money lock people in jail for smoking plants than spend money to increase health care programs, fund higher education or give the hardworking people of Connecticut a tax break.

Sin taxes on alcohol and cigarettes - plus money from gambling - already provide plenty of funding for worthwhile initiatives in this state. Why not let people who smoke marijuana pay for their share too?

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