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If you would have predicted to Erik Alteri a decade ago that the majority of U.S. states would pass ballot initiatives or legislation either providing for medical marijuana usage, decriminalizing consumption or outright legalization and regulation by 2014, he would have told you that you were being a “bit optimistic.”
What a difference a decade can make, as that is precisely what wound up happening.
“We totally expect that momentum to move forward,” said Alteri, the spokesperson for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), hardly able to contain his excitement.
With no less than seven states, 17 municipalities, and one territory in the United States featuring ballot initiatives to reform marijuana laws, 2014 could be a banner year in terms of marijuana and drug policy reform. The upcoming midterm election already features more ballot initiatives of this sort than any other previous election year in U.S. history.
Meanwhile, just last week in New York City, a plethora of ex-heads-of-state from Latin America and Europe, a former United Nations Secretary General, Chairman of U.S. Federal Reserve and cabinet member of President Ronald Reagan, along with the founder of the Virgin Group, all co-authored and released a report calling for the decriminalization and regulation of “as many illegal drugs as is possible,” to borrow the words of the commission member and chair of the study, former Brazilian President Henrique Cardoso.
The “war on drugs” should bedescribed as a “war for drugs” between rival cartels along with their respective and corrupted allies in law enforcement.
The report, put out by the Global Commission on Drug Policy, goes farther than a previous 2011 release by the same commission in the wake of the 40th anniversary of then President Richard Nixon's declaration of a “war on drugs.” Even at that point, the commission still dubbed the four decade long “war” as largely a “failure” and one worth “abandoning,” though stopped short of calling for decriminalization beyond marijuana. This latest report however, specifically mentions decriminalizing the coca leaf and several other currently illegal drugs.
According to Jag Davies, the spokesperson for the Drug Policy Alliance, Latin American leadership was a significant factor behind the evolution of the commission towards favoring decriminalization of all drugs. “Historically, Western Europe has been a leader in drug policy reform, but Latin America has caught up and led the way in terms of political debate,” Davies told teleSUR.
The predecessor to the Global Commission was the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, while the present day Global Commission actually features four different ex-Latin American heads of state, with two hailing from the drug war-torn countries of Colombia and Mexico.
While Davies pointed out that Latin American officials have led the way in terms of furthering the political debate on drug decriminalization, Uruguay still stands as a lone exception in terms of actual and meaningful drug policy reform adopted in Latin America. Nevertheless, Davies cited the current Colombian and Guatemalan presidents as having been “forceful in questioning the whole premise of the war on drugs and prohibition,” adding that this has been a far cry from their predecessors.
“This is because they have suffered some of the worst and most violent effects of drug prohibition,” Davies explained.
Policy Debate Shifts on Drug Decriminalization While Support for Marijuana Legalization Grows
Stateside, polls have consistently shown that nearly 60 percent of the U.S. populace favor outright marijuana legalization, a sharp departure from similar polls taken at the turn of the century (in 1969, the figure was at 12 percent). Coinciding with these polls, the New York Times recently editorialized in favor of ending prohibitionist laws on marijuana.
Some recent scholarly books published on the topic go even further than the polls. Ohio State University legal scholar, Michelle Alexander, characterizes the drug war as a thin cover for institutionalized racism. In her book The New Jim Crow, Alexander argues that the drug war results in nothing less than a modern day caste system trapping African American men in a permanent underclass.
The southwestern based writer and drug war journalist Charles Bowden, who recently unexpectedly passed away after decades of having covered the war from the border, often quipped that the “war on drugs” should be more accurately described as a “war for drugs” between rival cartels along with their respective and corrupted allies in law enforcement.
In light of increasingly common criticism like this, along with the apparent sea change when it comes to the parameters of the debate within the U.S. and international drug policy arenas, one could think that official support for existing drug policies has become unsubstantial or marginalized. The continued presence of powerful and important public officials opposing reform, however, indicate otherwise and to drug policy reform advocates, serve as an antidote against further drug policy reform.
“That's a stupid idea,” the head of the Chicago DEA, Jack Riley, said during an interview when asked about the growing trend toward marijuana decriminalization. The charismatic and six foot plus frame of Riley unmistakeably gives him away as a law man and one who continues to preside over a city he himself describes as one of the most important “hubs” in the world, in so far as the illegal drug trade is concerned. Unsurprisingly, Riley describes marijuana as a “gateway drug” that should not be legalized or decriminalized.
It is not just heads of DEA district offices who voice opposition to drug policy reform. Important policy makers, right up to the White House, have stayed relatively quiet on the matter. To date, the farthest any federal official has gone on drug policy reform has been to pledge not to interfere with decisions on the state level to legalize marijuana and to forgo enforcement of federal anti-drug laws on the matter.
Meanwhile, plenty of other important public officials continue to downright oppose reform.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto pledged to undo a number of his predecessor's policies on the drug war during his campaign, only to quickly assure the press shortly after assuming office that no major security policies would be changed. Various initiatives promised by Peña Nieto to merely reform security forces have been either downgraded or have not come to fruition at all.
In contrast, Portugal continues to quietly serve as the longest running example of nationwide drug decriminalization, having done so over a decade ago in 2001. Researchers such as Caitlin Hughes and Alex Stevens have published studies pointing to figures showing similar or even lower levels of drug usage in spite of decriminalization in Portugal. The academics also noted sharp reductions in prison overcrowding.
While last week's Global Commission report represented nothing less than a “new evolution” to Davies and an opportunity for potential reform to the Single Convention on Narcotics to Alteri.There are no countries on the horizon set to follow Portugal's lead.
“Marijuana legalization gets a lot of attention from the media, but when it comes to decriminalizing drugs more generally and ending arrests for drugs other than marijuana, there's a lot less press,” Davies pointed out.
In this sense though, there was much to be happy about for single issue advocates such as Alteri, who are witnessing more than just shifts in the debate but actual and widespread policy change when it comes to marijuana decriminalization and legalization.
A quick and closer look at upcoming ballot initiatives scheduled for the midterm election readily reveals as much.
Midterm Marijuana Reform Ballot Initiatives Loom Large as Challenges to Prohibition
Oregon and Alaska are considering outright marijuana legalization and regulation, which if passed, will join the states in with Washington and Colorado as the first U.S. jurisdictions to pass regulatory regimes for marijuana (as opposed to mere decriminalization, as is the case in Portugal, or legalization without regulation).
Florida is the only statewide medical marijuana ballot initiative in the upcoming election, but holds plenty of importance as it could potentially become the first southern state to adopt such a measure.
Voters from Albuquerque, the site of the popular television show Breaking Bad, will decide whether to decriminalize marijuana in a state that already has legalized it for medicinal purposes.
In D.C., where African Americans represent 91 percent of arrests for marijuana possession, the already decriminalized district is now considering legalizing the cultivation of small amounts of marijuana, albeit side stepping the question of sales.
Philadelphia is another city where African Americans have been disproportionately targeted for drug use; marijuana being no exception, according to city council member James F. Kenney. “There are no arrests at Phish concerts or fraternity parties,” Kenney told the New York Times, criticizing the racial disparities in law enforcement.
Reversing a previous position from June, Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter has now pledged to sign a city council initiative switching previous criminal offenses provided for public consumption and possession of marijuana to fines and non-arrestable offenses. However, given Pennsylvania's continued harsh state laws on marijuana possession, state troopers have pledged to continue to enforce laws, including on interstate highways within Philadelphia's city limits.
Beyond the coming midterm election along with its respective ballot initiatives, a state representative from New York has pledged to introduce legislation next year which would legalize marijuana in ways similar to Colorado and Washington. Earlier this summer, New York already became the 23rd state to legalize marijuana for medical usage.
Regardless of what the referendum results are this November, up to 26 U.S. states have already adopted some form of marijuana reform.
What explains this monumental shift on public opinion toward marijuana and related policies?
According to Alteri, in the past, “we still had George W. Bush as president, who certainly was not a friend to the cause.” Since that time, a global recession provided more financial incentives to states than ever before to reap millions of dollars from increased tax revenues generated by regulated marijuana consumption.
“Facebook is good for something, after all,” Alteri half joked while explaining that social media has increased political communication between citizens, thereby liberalizing views on the matter.
Alteri, after all, could afford to laugh a bit, as marijuana reform continues to gain momentum and strength.
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