Allan Appel Photo
If he could have used marijuana to treat his attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder when it was diagnosed 15 years ago, Jim Bruno believes, his life would have changed for the better, and far sooner.
If Connecticut were run by the 50 outspoken people who came to an American Civil Liberties Union panel discussion convened at Yale on the pros and cons of legalizing marijuana, Bruno would have had his way.
Nobody offered joints of medicinal Acapulco Gold to Bruno (pictured) as part of the pre-discussion cookies and other provisions at the discussion Wednesday night. But one got the sense the mellow group gathered at Yale’s Linsley-Chittenden Hall Wednesday evening would not have minded either.
Whether that’s true or not, panelists and audience were of one mind on two points: The War on Drugs is a bust. And politicians are becoming more comfortable with the idea of allowing drug use, particularly small amounts of pot.
Still, there was debate amid the convivial vibes: Whether Connecticut should go all he way and legalize drugs. The wisdom of decriminalization, on the other hand, was a given.
Among the participants joining in the consensus were many Yale students and Clifford Thornton (pictured), a longtime legalization spokesperson, who ran as the Green Party gubernatorial candidate on a pro-legalization, anti-drug war platform back in 2006.
One of the more tantalizing questions wafting through the two hours of talk was whether marijuana’s moment for legalization or decriminalization has truly come.
Thornton (a Hartford area ACLU vice president these days and not a panelist) said it has: “We’re getting closer to legalization. The more state government goes into the red, the better this policy of legalization looks.”
Panelist Jim Diamond, a former Danbury area state prosecutor, supported decriminalization, a major reform but far less sweeping step.
Why not legalization?
“From a public policy view, it’s [even modest marijuana personal use] abusive and should be discouraged, but not in a way that burdens the criminal justice system,” Diamond argued.
He pointed out that last year for the first time the state legislature’s Judiciary Committee reported out decriminalization bill, SB476. Although it didn’t get to the floor for a vote, no such proposal had previously advanced that far.
Diamond said Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s retirement might bring the decriminalization day closer. Rell had vowed to veto the proposal.
SB476 calls for declassifying possession of less than one ounce of marijuana from a misdemeanor to an infraction, like a parking ticket, with a fine of $91.
Yale law professor Steven Duke said it was good only as far as it goes. Duke is known nationally for advocating more far-reaching reform. “In 2008, we arrested 800,000 people in America for possessing marijuana,” he argued Wednesday night. “To use police resources for that is flat crazy.”
With 13 states already legalizing the medical use of marijuana, he suggested “something big” may be coming.
Duke pointed to another sign of the times: Because medical marijuana use is still a federal crime, the attorney general of California is advising Golden State doctors who prescribe pot how to avoid federal prosecution.
As the former superintendent of prisons in Cheshire, N.H., Rick Van Wickle (pictured on right, with Diamond) was the only law enforcer on the panel. He was probably also the most eloquent defender of legalization.
Likening the current atmosphere to alcohol prohibition in the 1930s, he said, “The problem isn’t the drugs, it’s prohibition.” The only true beneficiaries are the current Al Capones, he suggested.
“[With] 2.7 million in prison and 37 million who use illegal drugs in the last month, if you use a prison model, do the math,” added Van Wicler, a spokesperson for a group called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). “The states are waking up to the fact that they built prison systems they can’t afford.”
He said 900 new prison beds and 250 corrections officers are being brought on line every two weeks.
Jim Bruno told the panel that of the various psychotropic drugs he has used to deal with ADHD, marijuana has the least damaging side effects. Medical and other legalization, however, doesn’t seem in the offing because the whole system is corrupt, with prisons, unions, and prosecutors all benefiting from the $20 billion nationally devoted to incarceration every year, he argued.
Diamond disagreed as did Duke. The experts cautioned that even if pot were legalized, there wouldn’t suddenly be prison closings.
“Then why does law enforcement always fight to prevent legalization or decriminalization?” asked New Haven activist Barbara Fair, who moderated the ACLU panel.
Diamond said the prisons wouldn’t empty, but serious felons would stay fuller terms in the beds vacated by the first-time marijuana offenders.
“Turn the prisons into schools,” suggested Thornton from the audience.
Diamond said a more likely outcome is that probation officers would spend more time with their clients and cops would have more time to investigate burglaries and other more serious crimes.
In short, when the War on Drugs is over, there would likely be a new “war” on, say, domestic violence. “I don’t see prisons being shut down or cops being laid off,” he said.
The fourth panelist, Jill Spineti, president of the Governor’s Prevention Partnership, endorsed decriminalization but said legalization is bad policy and set a bad example, especially for children.
In his closing remarks, Duke said children would benefit from getting rid of all drug laws and using an alcohol model. “If we legalized, we could focus on those who illegally sell to children,” he argued.
Jim Bruno listened carefully to all this. Including remarks by an audience member inquiring whether back in 1981 Connecticut had indeed already passed and put on the books a medical marijuana law.
Diamond said it was there among the statutes, but was never implemented or spelled out.
Bruno liked what he heard. Looking a little jittery and seeking a cup of coffee, he said, of the panel, “They agree with me.”
According to state ACLU Executive Director Andrew Schneider, the organization’s national position is for legalization. “In Connecticut, however, there will be an approach to go step by step.”
Acapulco gold? How old are you Appell, like sixty?
And regarding ADD, the cure is to jog three miles in the morning, not do three bong tokes.