The Kickham Comment - Boston Criminal Attorney Blog
As a Boston, Massachusetts drug crimes lawyer, I believe quite strongly that the Massachusetts court system, and our Massachusetts law enforcement operations, waste their time and resources when it comes to making arrests over the possession of marijuana. In my professional opinion, marijuana is a harmless drug that’s non-addictive – and yet, the court system, and law enforcement, continue to pursue Massachusetts marijuana drug arrests, a “Class D” substance, as though it were a “Class A” substance such as heroin or morphine, or a “Class B” substance such as cocaine, LSD, PCP, or Ecstasy.
In the latest example of this, consider this following story from FOX25 in Boston.
This past Friday, April 12, in Everett, Mass., a 28-year-old Arizona man was arrested after police discovered more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana inside his rented truck. Police offers charged Mr. Luis Barrios, of Tuscon, Arizona, with Massachusetts marijuana trafficking, as well as the crime of operating a motor vehicle without authority. According to police reports, after being stopped, Mr. Barrios showed difficulty in locating his motor vehicle registration, as well as the signed rental agreement for the Ryder truck he was sitting in, and driving. A K-9 team was also used to determine the presence of drugs in the Ryder truck. Mr. Barrios will be arraigned next week, and will undoubtedly, require the services of a Boston marijuana arrest lawyer.
But this is where I roll my eyes. I don’t care how much pot was discovered in this truck: 2 pounds or 2,000 pounds. This is NOT an addictive, or “destructive” substance (bearing in mind that any substance can technically be “destructive” – even water.) Why do we waste the time and resources of police and the courts, on something that is dozens of times less harmful than alcohol, which anyone over the age of 21 can legally buy and consume, anywhere? This is a MASSIVE waste of public money and resources.
Massachusetts courts are overcrowded enough, without wasting more time and resources prosecuting people for possession of a harmless drug such as pot. I believe marijuana should be legalized, regulated and taxed, just like alcohol and cigarettes. In fact, the failure of our laws to do just that – legalize marijuana – only serves to spawn a thriving black market for marijuana. Black markets are what create drug rings – period. If the government outlawed milk today, crime rings would spring up tomorrow to control it, price it, smuggle it and profit from it. Marijuana itself isn’t harmful – but its prohibition IS, because that’s what creates crime. Our government – federal and too many of the states – learned nothing from 1930’s prohibition of alcohol, and Al Capone.
Study after study, report after report, has concluded that marijuana is essentially a harmless drug that should be legalized, regulated, and taxed. The most recent? A highly authoritative report on why marijuana should be legalized in the USA, endorsed by 500 top economists such as Milton Friedman. This report, like so many others on this subject, is stunning. The statistics within it show that legalizing marijuana with resulting regulation and taxation could save an estimated $7.7 billion annually in federal and state spending on enforcement of marijuana prohibition. This authoritative economic report states that if marijuana were to be subject to taxes, like other consumer products, it could probably generate tax revenues of $2.4 billion per year. Furthermore, the economists endorsing the report believe that if marijuana were taxed in the same way as are tobacco and alcohol, the taxes could result in as much as $6.2 billion per year.
But don’t tell that to government. They’re too busy with their heads somewhere they can’t be seen. Are you listening, President Obama? Because a lot of the states are talking, and very loudly.