One of the more surprising results of last week's election was the decision by voters in Colorado and Washington state to legalize marijuana for adult use. The success of both these ballot initiatives has been welcomed by many as a signal that we are about to enter a more enlightened phase in the "war on drugs", which has criminalized drug addicts and recreational drug users, as well as drug dealers.
In reality, however, there is little reason to believe that any fundamental change in government policy is in the works. In fact, if the last four years have been anything to go by, then, despite its rhetoric to the contrary, the Obama administration is on track to, at the very least, maintain the status quo on the war on drugs and possibly make things worse.
In April of this year, the Obama administration issued its "21st-Century Drug Policy Strategy", dubbed an innovative new approach to our nation's drug problem, emphasizing treatment over punishment. In a statement issued at the time, Gil Kerlikowske, director of national drug control policy, said the following:
"Outdated policies like the mass incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders are relics of the past that ignore the need for a balanced public health and safety approach to our drug problem."
A closer look at the strategy, though, shows that the only sentencing reform pertaining to drug crimes that has been enacted since Obama took office was the long overdue Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (pdf) . This reduced the ratio in the amount of crack versus cocaine that would trigger a mandatory minimum sentence, down from 100 to 1, to 18 to 1.
It is a genuine shame that, thus far, the Obama administration has failed to fulfil its own policy goals by overhauling the mandatory sentencing laws that have ensured our prisons are overflowing with nonviolent drug offenders serving decades-long sentences. One example of the kind of outrageous sentences I'm talking about was awarded to a 24-year-old music producer and small-time drug dealer called Weldon Angelos.
Back in 2002, Angelos was caught selling approximately $300-worth of marijuana on three separate occasions to a confidential informant. During the first of these three drug deals, the informant noted that a firearm was visible in Angelos' car. In the second deal, the informant reported that Angelos was wearing an ankle holster holding a firearm.
No allegation was ever made that the firearm was used as a coercive weapon during any of the drug deals, yet Angelos was convicted of 13 drug, firearm and money-laundering charges, as well as three counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime. He was sentenced to 55 years in prison.
This particular travesty of justice happened in 2004, when President Bush was running the show. Despite unprecedented public outcry and appeals from former judges and prosecutors, Angelos' sentence has not been reduced since, and no changes have been made to the laws that allowed for such an outrageous prison term for a small-time pot dealer.
In the one area where the Obama administration has decided to make a decisive mark, it has been a callously destructive one. In 2011, the federal government began an unprecedented crackdown on medical marijuana, with horrifying consequences. The New York Times recently profiled the case of Chris Williams, an authorized grower of medical marijuana in the state of Montana, who opened his grow-house after the state legalized the drug for medicinal purposes. Williams' facility was visited several times by local and state government officials during its years of operation, and was found to be in total compliance with state law.
In 2011, however, when the Obama administration underwent a change of heart about federal interference in state marijuana laws, Williams' premises was raided. He was arrested and charged with drug-trafficking on a grand scale, and is now facing a minimum mandatory sentence of 80 years in prison.
Meanwhile, as the Obama administration continues to use prosecution and incarceration as its primary weapons in the drug war it now purports to oppose, those on the front lines of this misguided war are becoming increasingly vocal in their desire to see it brought to an end. The Brave New Foundation recently launched a video series featuring former law enforcement personnel, prosecutors, judges and police chiefs whose firsthand experience of the miseries inflicted by the "war on drugs" has led them to conclude that our drug laws are not just unjust and cost-prohibitive, but that they are also detrimental to public safety.
One of the men interviewed, Stephen Downing, a former deputy chief of the LAPD who witnessed colleagues being shot dead when intervening in drug deals, believes the only way forward is full legalization and regulation.
"You don't see Coors and Budweiser distributors shooting it out on the street. That's because alcohol is legalized and controlled and taxed. I would legalize, regulate and control all drugs."
It's hard to know what the Obama administration really intends to do in this second term, if anything, to stop the bleeding from the "war on drugs". During the past year or so of electioneering, criminal justice policy barely got a mention. One can hope, though, that with a shift in public opinion crystalized by a handful of recent ballot victories, the administration might finally wake up.