Marijuana decriminalization debate continues | News

ATLANTA — When Jeff Breedlove purchased $20 worth of crack in 2016 in Georgia, it ultimately led to his arrest and a felony charge.

At the time, he was secretly battling addiction while working for an elected official in DeKalb County. He admits that his hypocritical lifestyle of being tough on drugs as a politician while struggling with drugs himself opened his eyes to the need for policy reform.

“It’s a disease, not a lifestyle choice. We’re treating them like a criminal instead of like a patient,” said Breedlove, who is now chief of communications and policy at Georgia Council on Substance Abuse.

GCSA and other groups support Pres. Joe Biden’s push to support decriminalization of marijuana, though it has lesser support among law enforcement.

In October, Biden issued an executive order pardoning prior federal convictions for simple possession of marijuana, beginning the process of potentially lowering the classification of marijuana from a Schedule 1 drug. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, Schedule 1 drugs are “defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”

Biden’s order also encourages governors to decriminalize possession of low amounts of marijuana in their respective states.

Breedlove said while most people who are in possession of drugs, particularly marijuana, aren’t generally a major threat to the community, arrests for drug possession often lead to setbacks in their lives.

“A person who’s sick with substance use disorder, which is what is commonly called addiction, they shouldn’t be treated like a criminal, they should get medical attention,” Breedlove said. “And there’s people who’ve also maybe not gone to jail and prison, but maybe they got arrested and they get out on parole or probation … but they’ve had thousands and thousands of dollars of legal fees that they never should have had and that impacts them financially. They get a record and they can’t get a job or they can’t get into a college or university because of their record.”

Leah Nelson, research director for Alabama Appleseed, a public policy group in Alabama, advocates for drug policy reform. An investigative report published by the group found that the amount of money Alabama spent in 2016 on the enforcement of its marijuana possession laws cost $22 million.

Entering the criminal system for minor infractions such as simple possession of marijuana, she said, is more dangerous than the drug itself. 

“When I look at people who are in prison, they often have possession of marijuana convictions in their histories, and that’s not surprising because involvement with the criminal justice system begets further involvement in the criminal justice system,” Nelson said. “It’s very hard to get out from under even probation. We need a criminal punishment system because some people are harming other people. So I’m not arguing for abolition of all laws. But [we] have to look at which side of the scale is more dangerous, and I think when we look at marijuana possession, what we’re doing now is far more dangerous than decriminalization. 

She continued: “We are not on the safe side right now because we have prisons where people are dying, literally dying of drug overdoses, regularly dying by homicide, regularly dying by suicide inside of Alabama’s prisons. We have a very dangerous situation inside of our prisons.” 

Marijuana arrests largely impact Black people

According to the 2020 census, white people make up nearly 62% of the U.S. population and Black people make up 12.4% of the population.

FBI data suggests that Black people are arrested at a disproportionate rate for marijuana possession. 

According to 2021 FBI data, though underreported due to lack of agency participation, white people were 53% of arrests for marijuana possession while Black people were 41% of arrests.

The disparity was much higher in Georgia.

Among the 13 of 432 agencies that reported to the FBI in 2020, nearly 66% of arrests for marijuana possession were Black people, and 33% were white. Reported data for 2021 shows 69% of arrests were Black people, and 29% were white among 301 of 657 that reported to the FBI.

In 2021, marijuana possession led to 40% of drug-related arrests among those agencies; other dangerous non-narcotics made up the largest percentage, 43%.

Race data was not available from Alabama where only 186 of 436 reported data, though marijuana possession constituted the highest amount of drug-related arrests, approximately 43%.

“In 2016, which was the year we were able to get data for, Black people in Alabama were four times as likely as white people to be arrested for possession of marijuana, and that is extremely concerning,” Nelson said, “because of longstanding research by the federal government showing that Black people and white people use marijuana at the same rates. So if you use it, you commit the crime of possessing so there’s no reasonable explanation for that disparity.”

She referenced the case of disabled Iraqi War veteran Sean Worsley, who served nine months in an Alabama prison in 2020 after an arrest for legally possessing medical marijuana. An Arizona resident at the time, Worsley was prescribed the drug to treat PTSD and other medical issues. He was traveling through Alabama when he was stopped by police for a traffic violation.  

“And nobody that I know thinks that that’s a reasonable outcome,” Nelson said. “He is a Black man and he ended up in prison for making this mistake. Sean, all by itself, is good reason to decriminalize marijuana. We have to take that tool away from law enforcement because clearly, they’re not using it in a way that anybody thinks is reasonable.”

Local efforts to decriminalize marijuana

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 27 states and the District of Columbia have decriminalized small amounts of marijuana, essentially making it a civil infraction or not a crime that constitutes an arrest or jail time.

In 2016, metro-Atlanta city Clarkston became the first city in Georgia to decriminalize possession of less than an ounce of weed. The fine is $75.

Atlanta, Forest Park, Kingsland, unincorporated Fulton County, Savannah, South Fulton, Tybee Island, and most recently Athens and Stonecrest have also decriminalized small amounts of marijuana.  

Georgia and Alabama are among the 19 states that can impose jail time for possession of low amounts of marijuana.

This year, several marijuana-related reform bills did not advance.

SB 263 in Georgia would have legalized and regulated cannabis for adults. HR 281 and SR 165 would have referred a constitutional amendment on legalization to voters, and SB 77 would have reduced the penalty for possession of less than a half-ounce of marijuana to a fine of up to $300. HB 738 and SB 264 would have created comprehensive medical cannabis programs.

In a Democrat advisory question during the May 2022 primary election, voters were asked: “Should marijuana be legalized, taxed, and regulated in the same manner as alcohol for adults 21 years of age or older, with proceeds going toward education, infrastructure and health care programs?”

Just over 80%, or 588,253, voted “yes” and 141,394 voted “no.”

In Alabama, SB 160 did not advance. Democrat Rep. Bobby Singleton attempted the pass the bill in a previous session as well. It sought to change penalties for possession of two or more ounces of marijuana from jail to a fine. It would have lowered the first offense fine from a maximum of $6,000 to $250. The bill also provides for potential expungement opportunities for those who have been charged or convicted of possession under certain circumstances. It would also expunge such charges or convictions if he or she has not been convicted of a felony, misdemeanor, or violation, excluding minor traffic violations, within the last five years.

Opposition to marijuana decriminalization

In many legislative sessions, lawmakers have tackled other issues that appear to be more prominent than marijuana decriminalization, a topic that often leads to much debate.

“There’s just a lot of sort of general anxiety whenever we change a law,” Nelson said. “People worry about a slippery slope. … I respect the anxiety but I also think we should be equally anxious about the intolerable outcome of our current situation.”

Some argue that marijuana is a “gateway” drug that leads to users anxious to try a drug that gives off a “higher high.”

“We understand that some people can use that product, and they’re never going to have an incident that encounters law enforcement or impacting other persons, but what about the people for whom it does,” Breedlove said, pointing to views of opponents of decriminalization. “Take the position that there are Georgians and Americans who are impacted by it medically because they are. I have met people who will give public testimony that the first drug they did was marijuana, the high didn’t sustain itself and they sought out another high and that was the nature of meth or heroin or cocaine or whatever it was.”

Most law enforcement agencies are also against decriminalization efforts.  

A March 2020 survey by Police1 and Louisiana State University analyzed 3,615 sworn law enforcement officers’ attitudes toward marijuana use and enforcement. 

That survey revealed that 36% “strongly agree” and 37% “somewhat agree” that marijuana is less dangerous than other Schedule 1 drugs, but 48% “strongly agree” and 29% “somewhat agree” that it is a gateway drug.

Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk referenced Colorado where recreational use of marijuana is legal for adults 21 and older. He cited an increase in traffic deaths and emergency room visits, referencing it as an introductory drug, as reasons for his opposition to marijuana decriminalization.

“It’s just chipping away at the block, then next it will be don’t arrest for a pound of marijuana, then it’ll be make it all legal,” Paulk said.  

Oftentimes, the South Georgia agency arrests for possession of large amounts of marijuana, and deputies are generally focused on arresting for something as small as a marijuana cigarette, he said. 

“We would make them dispose of it as far as trying to bring them to jail, but you can get a DUI on marijuana. A lot of times marijuana has made them a little brave,” Paulk said. “I would not support (decriminalization efforts) but you just support the laws with common sense. If you’ve got someone with an open container, like half a beer, you can charge them with open container. It makes more sense to tell them don’t have another open container instead of taking them to jail.”

While the Police 1 survey shows that nearly 63% of law enforcement “strongly disagree” and “somewhat disagree” that incarceration is an effective way to reduce marijuana use in society, 52% did not think marijuana should be decriminalized in their state.

Kenny Culpepper, the police chief in Cullman, Ala., said he has mixed emotions about decriminalization. 

He said existing legalized CBD products that have THC in them already make it difficult for law enforcement to enforce marijuana violations.  

“If we bring a dog to the car and the dog alerts and somebody’s got something that’s labeled as CBD or some type of legal marijuana-like product, the only way we can determine whether it’s illegal or not is to send it off to have the THC level tested,” Culpepper said. “And with the Department of Forensic Science in Alabama, that could be months before you get those results back. So it really makes it difficult for law enforcement to make those charges anyway because of the introduction of CBD-type products.”

Sheriff Bill Massee of Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia said proposals to decriminalize marijuana come with many unknowns.  

“There are too many unanswered questions,” he said. “One is, people on probation and parole, and also they’re going to have to change the way they analyze THC if they’re gonna legalize it. What’s the limit? They’re gonna have to come up with a limit of THC to show whether you’re under the effect of marijuana.”

Law enforcement budgets often receive a portion of revenues derived from citations and fees associated with arrests, but Breedlove said he has encountered some law enforcement leaders who support marijuana decriminalization efforts.

“We have so many officers leaders in law enforcement changing their mind and saying, ‘You’re right, we’ve got to do it differently,’ and to me, they’re heroes,” Breedlove said. “They’re breaking stigma but it’s not a majority. We need more leaders in law enforcement to be willing to join their peers in saying, ‘We’re open to doing it a different way.’”