$40,000 bail?

When are we going to figure out that treating selling pot like a violent crime just isn’t working.  Recently two kids from Morristown were stopped by the Mendham police for driving erratically.  Good, driving is a very serious responsibility, especially around here and the police need to vigilant.  There is no excuse for driving while impaired or distracted.

However, both of those kids are now in jail with huge amounts of bail set because the police found 50 grams (about 1 and 3/4 ounces) of marijuana in their car.  I’m sure I don’t understand why less than 2 ounces of pot is worth ruining the lives of two young people.  Are we expecting to “learn ‘em reaal good?”  Save them from a future life of crime?  Or just add to the costs of a tragically failed policy of over-punishment for a victimless crime?

Going to jail is a horrendous punishment.  It’s what we do when we don’t know what to do with someone who is a serious danger to the community at large.  It is a complete interruption of a person’s life and a stain that will remain with them forever.  It’s something we should really think twice about before sending two kids away.  Think about it, 21 years old just starting life as an adult and all of a sudden your future just got a lot dimmer.  Adults under the law, but in very few other ways.  You know why insurance companies don’t start to moderate car insurance premiums until we’re at least 26?  It’s because they know that kids make dumb decisions.  Apparently, the law does not.

What incenses me the most is that selling pot, if that’s what they actually intended to do, is one of most harmless crimes we have.  Why is this a felony?  Why isn’t this a simple misdemeanor?  Some would ask why is this a crime at all?  I ask why we react to this crime in the most destructive way possible.  We ruin people’s lives, fill our jails with people who shouldn’t be there in the first place and make the business of selling pot even more profitable for those who dare.  We have nothing to show for our 30 year war on drugs, except bigger and bigger incarceration bills and a prison system that is overflowing.

I also wonder what's happening to respect for the law .  Why would we think that after ruining a 21 year old’s life and locking him away for years, that he would somehow emerge respectful of the system that put him there?  Fearful perhaps, but respectful?  I’m sure police and the courts don’t wonder why the public’s respect for them has waned over the last 30 years.  What’s the first thing in most driver’s minds when a police car pulls up behind them, “Golly, do I ever feel safe!” or “Uh Oh...”?

It’s certainly not their fault though, they simply enforce the laws that our legislators create.  Judges who otherwise might be a lot more human with legal repercussions are bound by precedent and mandatory sentencing guidelines.  Police who would otherwise be respected for seeking the safety of the community are busy wasting their time harassing residents for crimes without victims.

We’ll all have to see how this turns out, but for my money I don’t see a 21 year old selling pot as a serious danger to the community and I wonder at the wisdom of treating he and his friend so harshly.  Can we take a “chill pill” on this for a minute, or is that illegal as well?