Emanuel's reform to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana isn't all that radical

﻿Jon Krause illustration

Powerful Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, had this to say Monday about Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposal to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

This is a slippery slope that we begin sliding down. I'll tell you as a parent, I'm very concerned with anything that gives kids the idea that (smoking marijuana) is not a bad thing to do. … I'm not saying we shouldn't do this. I'm saying there's a lot of questions that should be answered.

Burke's remarks prompted my trademark "If only" quip, which you may feel free to use — giving proper credit, of course! — next time you're at a gathering where questions of any sort arise:

If only we had a device at hand — something like a phone or a tablet or a box on our desks — connected as if by magic to a vast worldwide storehouse of information! If only we could somehow consult that storehouse almost immediately, then we could get an answer instead of continuing to wonder and speculate. Call me a dreamer, but that would be nice, wouldn't it?

I'm widely admired for my sarcasm, though the admiration is often disguised — ironically I'm sure — as irritation.



In this case I'd add wistfully, if only other states and countries had previously decriminalized marijuana so we could look to research for the consequences. That would be nice, too, wouldn't it?



Not to belittle the concerns of Burke, who has a teenage son, and others who worry about the messages we send to youths and the malignant effects of drugs on society. My two youngest are sophomores in high school, and I don't want them anywhere near pot (or alcohol) until they're at least 18. (Your sarcastic assessment here.)



But even a quick consultation with the devices at my disposal shows that Emanuel's proposal is hardly radical or chancy:



Earlier this month, Rhode Island became the 15th state since the early 1970s to pass a law reducing the penalties for private, nonmedical possession of small amounts of marijuana — similar to laws in scattered municipalities throughout the U.S. and many European countries.

Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, estimates that a third of Americans now live under such relaxed laws, not even counting states where police have pointedly lowered the priority of marijuana enforcement.



NORML points to the conclusions of academics and policy experts who've been picking over the data for decades:

"Evidence provides no indication that decriminalization leads to a measurable increase in marijuana use."



— Boston University Department of Economics



"There is little evidence that decriminalization of marijuana use necessarily leads to a substantial increase in marijuana use."



— National Academy of Sciences



"The preponderance of the evidence which we have gathered and examined points to the conclusion that decriminalization has had virtually no effect either on the marijuana use or on related attitudes and beliefs about marijuana use among American young people."



— The University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research



"The Dutch experience, together with those of a few other countries with more modest policy changes, provides a moderately good empirical case that removal of criminal prohibitions on cannabis possession (decriminalization) will not increase the prevalence of marijuana or any other illicit drug; the argument for decriminalization is thus strong."



— British Journal of Psychiatry

And so on. My colleague Steve Chapman this week pointed in his blog to a 2008 World Health Organization survey showing that pot use among teens in the Netherlands, where possession by adults is largely legal, is less than half what it is in the United States.

For these and other sourcs on this topic, click on the Change of Subject weligography on marijuana decriminalization

So there appears to be very little downside to Emanuel's proposal to allow Chicago police to ticket rather than arrest those who are caught with 15 grams or less of marijuana — 15 grams is roughly the amount of tobacco in 15 cigarettes.

The serious upside, according to police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, is that such a reform will free up more than 20,000 hours a year of police time now wasted — I mean spent — processing the more than 18,000 people arrested for possession on minor amounts of pot.



The question for which none of my devices has a ready answer: What's taken us so long to seriously consider this change?