Booming Busts

Pot is still legally hazardous

David Miller, a student at Rutgers, "didn't think it could happen." When his roommate called the police to report a burglary in their New Jersey house, Miller's budding cannabis plants were in plain view. Said he: "I know more people who smoke pot than smoke cigarettes." The police, when they arrived, were less blase. They arrested and handcuffed his roommate on the spot. Miller later pleaded guilty to charges of possession in order to clear his roommate's name and challenge the constitutionality of the police search.

More than 30 million Americans smoke marijuana, and most are only dimly aware of breaking the law as they do it. Now that eleven states have "decriminalized" marijuana and made it only a minor offense, most users seem to assume that society has decided simply to look the other way. Not the police, however. There are more than 400,000 marijuana busts each year, and well over half of those arrests are for mere possession, sometimes for less dope than fills one joint.

The increase in arrests appears to be due less to a boost in police zeal than to the all too noticeable proliferation of pot smoking. The Drug Enforcement Administration estimates that some 30 million lbs. of marijuana were imported or grown in the U.S. last year, up from some 26 million five years ago. Even in states where budget cuts have reduced police manpower, drug busts are way up--often inadvertently. Patrolmen discover marijuana seeds in a car stopped for speeding or, as in hapless Miller's case, while responding to a burglary report.

Why do police persist in arresting people for a crime that is widely viewed as victimless and rarely punished by more than a fine? Captain Joseph Craparotta, supervisor of the New Jersey narcotics bureau, answers, "We do not distinguish among drugs. We do our jobs." Indeed, many narcotics officers in states that do differentiate between hard and soft drugs wish the law did not. Sergeant Eugene Rudolph of the Los Angeles County sheriffs office complains that in his jurisdiction, marijuana is "almost as accepted as alcohol," and believes that "marijuana should be dealt with more harshly." He can take heart in a new movement to "recriminalize" marijuana in California. Currently, the fine for possessing an ounce of marijuana is $100, payable by mail. A nine-member state commission appointed by state Attorney General John Van de Kamp has recommended legislation to impose steep fines and jail sentences for the possession, cultivation or sale of marijuana, no matter how small the amount. Even if legislatures do not increase the penalties for pot, its devotees should beware. Warns New York City Attorney Gerald Lefcourt: "That doesn't mean the police won't still make the arrests."