Since Hitler was defeated by the
Allies and retired to TV screens (dozens of CableACE awards), America has a
lousy record in wars, real and figurative. One of them is the “war on drugs,”
launched by Nixon in 1971. The results are clear. You lost, Dick. (R.I.P. Even
aging hippies don’t kick him around anymore.)
A rising tide of states are
legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana. Tides can rise faster than
imagined (see marriage, same-sex and Trump, Donald). Luckily, catnip is both
heavenly and legal everywhere. The issue to humans is prisons stuffed with
non-violent drug offenders. There is statistical evidence that minorities are
singled out for harsher treatment.
Then there are the junk fees
legislatures and courts sprinkle into the system. They are especially onerous
to those on probation, often imposed for years too long. It smacks of a system
too eager to raise funds to finance salaries. Miss a payment, you might go to
jail. If you’re poor, things could turn hopeless fast.
At some point, good people will
rebel against this modern incarnation of debtors’ prisons, expressly forbidden
in the largely shredded Constitution. They will rebel first at the ballot box,
and the uprising will spread to jury deliberation rooms as the doctrine of
“jury nullification” is applied in drug possession cases, especially those
involving marijuana, where polls show a majority of Americans, especially
younger ones, favor legalization.
Judges will hate this uprising
and threaten to hold jurors in contempt, and some will go through with it.
Ambitious prosecutors interested more in securing scalps than producing justice
will go nuts and double down. That will cycle back to the ballot box, where in
some jurisdictions they will become ex-prosecutors.
Fighting a
rising tide has consequences.
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