A commission set up by President Donald Trump recently released a report on law enforcement issues that is critical of local efforts to legalize marijuana or to criminalize drugs otherwise.
The 300-page document of the Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement covers a lot of ground, but it focuses in a number of sections on cannabis and drug policy.
It discusses, for example, the need to address issues such as drug abuse and homelessness, but says that it should be balanced with ‘law enforcement and public safety’.
The report notes that ‘communities across this country have decriminalized or reduced the sanctions for drug use, as in the case of marijuana, or’ quality of life ‘crimes – actions that are often the result of homelessness – such as public urination. ‘
The panel argued that drug policy reforms “only increase the limit for law enforcement arrests”, but that they should not declare that law enforcement should continue to address complaints about these individuals from community members, responding to the -criminal results of untreated drug. use problems (eg overdoses), or interaction with large homeless populations. ”
The commission recommends that ‘the Department of Justice investigate how local laws and policies that criminalize or reduce sanctions for drug use or activities related to homelessness affect law enforcement and public safety.’
The commission, set up by Trump through a 2019 executive order, argued that opposing policies against decriminalization often leads to an increase in the number of people in need who cross paths with law enforcement, while the mechanisms around this behavior sanction and people shepherds in treatment programs obligated by the court are removed. ”
“This could have a greater cost to the community, including escalation and long-term drug use,” the report reads, concluding that the Department of Justice and state and local governments have the “impact and side effects of the laws. and policies of local and jurisdictions have the safety of their community and the effectiveness of their criminal justice system. ”
The document also quotes the U.S. attorney in Vermont as saying that decriminalization “is an instrument of law enforcement, a sign that the behavior is good and that it will not have consequences, and that it will logically lead to more undesirable behavior.”
The 18 members of the panel have mainly backgrounds in law enforcement. For example, one member is the chief operating officer of the Drug Enforcement Administration, and another is a deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Florida Attorney General is also a member, as are several local sheriffs.
The commission’s report also refutes reformers’ argument that drug penalties are a major contributor to mass incarceration, claiming that nonviolent drug offenders represent a small fraction of the federal prison population.
That said, it does acknowledge that law enforcement alone cannot “expect from the plague of drug addiction.”
“Law enforcement is part of a government architecture of social welfare and public safety systems working together to keep communities safe,” the report said. “In many communities, however, law enforcement still bears the primary responsibility for managing the social ills that motivate crime, whether mental illness, drug addiction or homelessness.”
“As law enforcement officers have taken on the duties of public safety and social care, finite resources within their agencies have been diverted from traditional policing to the domain of social providers – where law enforcement often does not have the necessary resources, expertise or authority,” it continues.
The commission held 15 hearings to give evidence in preparation for the compilation of the report, and cannabis policy was raised at several of the meetings.
In one of the more interesting exchanges, the sheriff of Orange County, California, testified that the federal government ‘should plead for the removal of [marijuana] as a Schedule I anesthetic ”to promote public safety as it can help facilitate the creation of a cannabis disability test.
That said, he claims that high THC products cause psychosis and has expressed frustration over the broader reform movement, declaring that California’s pressure to reduce the prison population is being done “at the expense of our residents, families. [and] children.”
A California federal prosecutor was asked about how he navigates the conflict between the federal state and cannabis policy, and told the panel that his office focuses on “the classic federal marijuana cases, and it’s mostly dealing in marijuana with marijuana.” “
Testimony from McGregor Scott, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Eastern California, revealed part of the final report at the prosecutor’s discretion.
A threat to the rule of law and the ability of law enforcement to enforce it has recently come from self-identified prosecutors ‘progressive’ or ‘social reform’ who pretend to share the distrust and cynicism of law enforcement that some in their communities, ”reads the report.
“Despite their election to a position to enforce the law, these prosecutors regard the laws they apply as unfair and illegal, and therefore seek to undermine the system by unilaterally deciding not to enforce certain laws. not, “it is said. “Unlike the standard prosecutor of a prosecutor, in which a prosecutor judges whether to prosecute after a case-by-case investigation into the individual circumstances, the non-application policy removes that discretion completely by prescribing that certain laws will not be applied at all. “
A memo from the Obama-era Justice Department did give prosecutors guidance on the type of discretion they should use if they want to go to cannabis cases, amid the state-level legislative movement, but it was withdrawn under Trump’s first lawyer General, Jeff Sessions.
Trump’s approach to marijuana was difficult to define. On the one hand, the president has appointed numerous officials with hostile attitudes toward the cannabis reform; on the other hand, there was no federal fight against legal dagga states.
In a sense, the commission’s report reflects that dichotomy. Although they have been critical of cannabis legalization and broader drug criminalization, they have stopped proposing that the federal government increase prosecutions in the growing, constitutional market.
What remains to be seen is how cannabis will be handled under Elected President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice.
He is a proponent of legalizing medical marijuana, modest rescheduling, decriminalization, scrapping for low-level convictions and allowing states to pursue their own policies without fear of federal intervention. However, he has not yet named an attorney general who could fill the lead gap for federal prosecutors – and his constant opposition to adult legalization keeps lawyers on their toes.
Illinois sells more than $ 1 billion worth of legal marijuana by 2020, new state data shows
Marijuana Moment is made possible with the support of readers. If you trust our cannabis advocacy journalism to stay up to date, you may want to consider a monthly Patreon pledge.
