Article published Dec 10, 2010
Lawmaker says new report builds case for pot reform
Vermont Press Bureau
BURLINGTON — A Burlington lawmaker began building his case for marijuana decriminalization Thursday by releasing what he calls the most authoritative data yet on the cost of misdemeanor marijuana crimes to Vermont taxpayers.
And with a change of administration coming soon, his data and effort to change marijuana laws may find more political traction than in past years.
According to the Legislature’s Joint Fiscal Office, the criminal justice system spent about $716,00 on 801 misdemeanor marijuana charges in 2008. Rep. Jason Lorber, a three-term Burlington Democrat, says the state cannot afford to pour its resources into a law enforcement policy that has done little to reduce marijuana use.
“If you can’t show a benefit to society you shouldn’t be spending government dollars,” Lorber said Thursday. “Seven hundred thousand dollars each year is an eye-popping number, and what are we getting for it? We’re getting a wasted policy, and it’s time for a smarter approach.”
Vermont has some of the highest marijuana usage rates in the country. In 2007, according to federal data, more than 40 percent of 18- to 25-year-olds reported smoking pot within the last year.
Under current law, citizens caught with less than two ounces of marijuana are subject to a maximum of six months in prison. Lorber, who asked the Legislature’s number crunchers to perform the fiscal analysis, will introduce new marijuana legislation next year that would replace criminal sanctions with civil fines.
“If we’re going to devote such a significant amount of money to a government policy, we need to be able to show something for our money,” Lorber said. “And right now, I don’t believe we’re able to show anything.”
The decriminalization effort isn’t new to Vermont. Legislation seeking to make small-time marijuana possession a fine-only offense is introduced annually in the Statehouse. With the recent election of a Democratic governor on record as supporting marijuana decriminalization, however, the political landscape has shifted.
“The governor-elect has made his position clear on decriminalization for a very long time — he supports it,” said Alex MacLean, spokeswoman for Gov.-elect Peter Shumlin.
MacLean said decriminalization isn’t among Shumlin’s top priorities. However, she said, “it’s our understanding it would save significant amounts of money and in this economic climate, we’re attempting to do anything that saves money.”
The Joint Fiscal report details the cost of misdemeanor charges on all aspects of the criminal justice system. The lion’s share of the costs is incurred in the corrections system where, according to the analysis, Vermont spends $230,000 each year to incarcerate misdemeanor offenders and another $135,000 to supervise convicts on probation or parole.
Misdemeanor charges result in more than $140,000 in annual costs for judges, court clerks, state’s attorneys and public defenders. And the 801 charges required about $45,000 in police work. According to the report, which stipulates a 20 percent margin of error for its cost estimates, police spend an average of more than two and a half man-hours to process a single marijuana charge.
Decriminalizing marijuana is much different than legalizing the drug, and would still make those who smoke it subject to intervention from law enforcement.
Windsor County State’s Attorney Robert Sand said that writing civil tickets — rather than arrest warrants — for people caught with the drug would reduce drastically the drain of marijuana offenses on limited public safety resources. Thirteen states, including New York, Maine and Massachusetts, have passed decriminalization laws.
“I have been suggesting, as have others, that we’re spending too much time on low-end marijuana cases, and I think the numbers that are reflected in the JFO report would support that,” said Sand, a longtime proponent of decriminalization. “What I think is important to understand is that a decriminalization proposal is not legalization, it’s not an endorsement or a condoning of the behavior, it is simply saying there is a more efficient, more cost effective, and I think overall more effective way to tackle this problem.”
Exactly what form the decriminalization bill takes remains unclear. The Vermont Senate in 2008 passed what many referred to as a “decriminalization” bill. But while it eliminated the possibility of jail terms for low-level possession charges, it did not actually eliminate the threat of criminal records for people caught possessing marijuana.
That legislation gave offenders the option of entering court diversion. If they successfully completed the program, the charge would be tossed, and scrubbed from the offender’s criminal record. If not, they would appear before a judge to answer to the fine-only criminal charge.
Lorber said he’s inclined to pursue a fine-only path in which offenders simply pay their civil tickets without having to go through the court system. Forcing offenders into diversion, he said, might prove almost as costly as the current system.
“I would say I’m moving more toward you pay your fine and that’s it,” Lorber said. “We don’t need to use up the resources of state government on this.”
While the Vermont Senate in recent years has been willing to devote committee hours to decriminalization proposals, the House has been less keen on the issue. Rep. Bill Lippert, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said that might change in 2011.
Lippert said he’s always been in favor of reforming marijuana possession laws.
“I personally support a bill that moves in the direction Jason is talking about,” Lippert said Thursday.
In recent years though, Lippert said, his committee has been overwhelmed by major pieces of legislation dealing with sex offenders and restructuring the judicial system.
“And that, combined with the fact that I don’t think any bill such as this had any chance of becoming law under the outgoing administration, made it seem to me at the time not a place where we would be well-served placing our energy or resources,” Lippert said.
With Shumlin in office, he said, pursuing the legislation might not be so futile.
Lippert said he still has questions, though. And the Joint Fiscal analysis, he said, might overstate the cost of misdemeanor charges on the criminal justice system.
“If this issue comes up in the judiciary committee, we’ll look very carefully at these numbers to see if these numbers represent the costs for people convicted for strictly standalone possession, and not other crimes as well,” Lippert said.
On its surface at least, the report seems to have captured costs for offenders charged solely for possession. In 2008, there were actually 1,254 people charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession; the report details costs only for the 801 people charged with the single offense of possession.
In fact, the costs of misdemeanor marijuana offenses could be even higher than the JFO estimates, which include only numbers of people actually charged with an offense, not those who are merely arrested.
Attempts to reach Commissioner of Public Safety Thomas Tremblay, who is on record opposing decriminalization, were unsuccessful Thursday.
The founders of Marijuana Resolve, a grassroots nonprofit formed late last year to advocate for decriminalization legislation, called Lorber’s bill a step in the right direction. Darryl Pillsbury, a former legislator from Brattleboro, said that as a member of the House Committee on Institutions, he watched corrections costs go from $45 million in 2002 to $130 million in 2008.
“When we spend twice as much on corrections as we do on higher education, something’s wrong,” Pillsbury said. “And small-time marijuana offenses are contributing to that problem.”
Even setting aside fiscal concerns, Pillsbury said, adults should be able to enjoy the drug without fear of prosecution. Pillsbury, now a member of the Brattleboro Select Board, ultimately wants to see marijuana legalized, so that both the state and its residents can enjoy the revenues that would flow from pot and hemp cultivation.
“One of the perceptions is that pot smokers are lazy bums sitting at home doing nothing, not bringing anything to society,” Pillsbury said. “In some of the circles I travel in, I can tell you there are a lot of people that are closet smokers who are responsible for making important public policy decisions and hold high places in the state. It’s time to take a more reasonable approach and stop demonizing this.”
