Michelle Writes:
I was on a panel discussion yesterday on "Jordan melee--one year later" (for a City Pages article) and Tim Dolan stated that most of the busts they do for drugs in the city are for marijuana--MARIJUANA! I could not believe my ears--not crack, not heroine, not crystal meth--MARIJUANA!
Dennis Responds:
When is the next panel discussion on the "Bryn Mawr Melee"? I'd like to request to be seated as a panel member.
It should come as no real surpirse that marijuana leads all DRUGS from the standpoint of investment AND busts manpower-wise for the MPD. It's a very low-risk offense for dealers, and the risks associated with selling are worth the paltry rewards. I'd be curious to find-out what percent of the total investment/busts this represents especially for "impacted areas". I've read the latest precinct reports,as well as the feedback on chargeable offenses as they relate to impact statements for my neighborhood and I'm left scratching my head.
Unless other neighborhoods are handled differently that mine, I can assure you a very small amount of time is being spent by the police in the apprehension of "pot dealers".
Michelle Writes:
If marijuana sales and use were decriminalized, it would sure deflate the financial base of some of the criminal element and would keep people from coming into impacted areas to buy their recreational drugs. Folks would just go down to their local Walgreens, liquor store or whatever. We'd need laws to prevent driving while impaired, etc. but overall this would really reduce some of the activity associated with the criminalization of this low level drug and allow police to focus on bigger issues in those impacted areas.
Dennis Responds:
I am growing weary of the fact that some would like to draw a correlation between the socially disenfranchised and the legalization of pot. Legalizing pot won't make the gangs, or the violence go away, or for that matter, the socially disenfranchised and happier. The "bigger" issues in impacted areas can't be solved by the police, or the legalization of pot. It's a societal issue that has yet to be dealt with.
I am somewhat amused by the fact that it's been pointed-out to me in the past, on list, that some posters had relatives that participated in prohibition and that everything turned-out okay (with them) when alchohol was legalized. In fact, some even went on to hold very respectable positions within society. However, the pot dealers (mostly gang members) that I know of in my neighborhood won't change their behaviour because we legalize pot and they no longer have a source of income. They'll find something else to make money from, and somehow I don't think it'll be getting a job or becoming a contributing member of society. Again, I am not opposed to legalizing pot. I am against using the reason to legalize pot as a means to end societal woes that are very loosely connected to it.
There's an old saying - "be carefull of what you ask for, it may come true". Right now we have a realtively low-level offense associated with selling pot on the street corner. Most gang members have adapted to the laws, and know them well. It's part of doing business, and even looked upon as a source of amusement by some (getting a ride downtown, knowing full-well you'll be back on the street in two hours). At this point, legalizing pot will disrupt the socio-economic balance (regardless of how dysfunctional it is). Personally, I shudder to think what my neighborhood would be like, if all the current pot dealers had to find something else to do for a source of income. I'd probably end-up moving to a nicer neighborhood, and driving property values/rents-up even higher than they are now.
I really truly would like to believe that by legalizing pot, many of those currently selling on the street corner would suddenly become contributing members of society. However, my gut tells me that most would turn to something else illegal, probably more harmful, and much more precious to defend as a way to generate income. But then again, maybe I'd have a different opinion, if I didn't live amongst it.
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