On Marijuana & Drugs
Drug Enforcement
It is time to end the War on Drugs, started by Nixon and expanded under Reagan and Clinton. This was a racist policy ostensibly designed to help fight back against the negative health consequences and dishevelment attributed by drugs, but was only successful at devastating the lives and communities of ethnic minorities and the poor. We cannot continue to treat drug addiction as a criminal issue to be tackled by law enforcement and criminal procedure. Instead, it is time to treat drug use and drug addiction as a mental health issue, to be treated by counselors, doctors, and mental health specialists. We cannot let drug use serve as a gateway into the legal system, for experience has shown that having an arrest record and criminal convictions marginalize vulnerable populations, restrict their access to treatments, and furthers the process of funneling people into the prison system, to the benefit of private prison companies and to the detriment of taxpayers and the people at large.
Prohibition of alcohol back in the early 1900's was a failed policy which did not significantly curtail the use of alcohol use, led to a significant number of arrests and criminal records resulting from the enforcement of Prohibition, and led to a significant rise of organized crime and cartels relating to alcohol trafficking and other crimes relating to the same. We are seeing today that much of the same today with other drugs. Drug users are being drawn deeper into the underworld, discouraged from seeking treatment and are excluded from being able to contribute positively to society.
To this end, I am pushing for an end to criminal charges for simple possession of all drugs and drug paraphernalia without intent to distribute, for the same reason that alcohol prohibition was repealed in the early 1930's. Alcohol is not a harmless substance - psychological dependence on alcohol often destroys relationships, families, and lives, and withdrawal associated with physical dependence can be fatal, not to mention the many lives lost each year due to drunk driving. However, the alternative to our current system of alcohol regulation of returning to prohibition created much worse problems than any health and social welfare benefits decreased consumption of alcohol may have generated. It is time to take the same approach to other drugs, given the damage that criminal enforcement of drug prohibition has generated, as well as the racist and discriminatory manner in which it has been conducted.
All too often, the stigma of mental illness and threat of criminal charges deters drug users from getting the treatment they need to become sober. We waste countless resources locking people up in jails and prisons throughout the state of Arizona, resources that can be better spent investing in education, job training, and infrastructure that can serve underprivileged communities. The system that we have now is nothing less than a blatant act of theft from the people, especially the poor, to private prison corporations and the politicians which support them. I am proud that I will never accept money from these entities or listen to their lobbyists, and will fight to create a sensible plan to divert as many drug offenders as possible out of prison and into treatment programs. At the same time, we must work to ensure that there are clean and anonmyous needle disposal and exchange programs - while we must fight with education and treatment to get people sober and off of drugs, we cannot also allow drug users to face the increased risk of needle contamination, leading to costly-to-treat and often deadly diseases including hepatitis and HIV/AIDS.
We must also scrutinize the use of prescription medication by doctors and medical professionals. Prescription drug abuse, especially for opioids and other pain relievers, is a widespread problem affecting millions of people across the nation. It is time to work with health professionals to develop reasonable policies governing the prescription and usage of opioids and other potentially dangerous and/or addictive substances, as well as to develop programs to help treat the numerous people who have become addicted to painkillers. We should be working to develop a workable mental health and substance abuse program within the state of Arizona in order to provide a safety net to help people become sober and rebuild their lives.
Marijuana Policy
I am proud to endorse legalization and the creation of a well-regulated recreational marijuana industry within the state, and I will advocate as a state legislator for Congress to remove Marijuana from the Federal Controlled Substances Act and any federal statutes that limit access to the banking system for marijuana dispensaries that operate in accordance with state law. While it remains the case that marijuana is no miracle drug and does carry the very real risk of potentially harmful side effects, I believe that the negative effects associated with continuing criminal enforcement of marijuana prohibition do not outweigh any benefits that might be gained by continuing current policy.
Rather than continuing to spend money jailing residents and saddling them with civil and criminal fines, it is time to create a regulated and taxed industry for marijuana and cannabis products, to bring in much-needed revenues to cover our budgetary shortfalls. Legislation passed in Colorado, while not perfect, has proven to be largely successful in raising revenues for the state, and the fears of crime increases relating to legalization of recreational marijuana have not come to pass. I believe that we have a responsibility as a state to take the policies passed in Colorado, Washington, and elsewhere, and to craft policy using these states' policies as a guideline to emulate the success seen in other states and nations.
Proposition 205 is a step in the right direction. I admit several flaws with the legislation, such as the fact that it does not provide law enforcement with sufficient direction to prevent marijuana-related DWI's and grants a quasi-monopoly to established medicinal dispensaries. Nonetheless, I do believe that the regulation of marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol is a step in the right direction, and intend to vote in favor of it in the November election.