Marijuana in Alabama image.jpg

AL.com kicked off a series examining marijuana in Alabama on Feb. 21.

(AL.com)

Discussing marijuana in Alabama strikes a deep chord, with supporters enthusiastic about its possible benefits, and opponents worried that a national trend toward legalization might sweep into the state.

Already, the Deep South sees the signs, with medical marijuana recently approved in Arkansas and Florida.

On Feb. 21, AL.com launched a project called "Marijuana in Alabama" to assess trends and public sentiment in the state. More than a dozen stories explored issues surrounding changing attitudes and how Alabama handles enforcement of marijuana laws from the courtroom to school hallways.

AL.com found that Alabama courts are not sending many people to prison for marijuana possession anymore, although police are still making arrests and most of the remaining prison inmates are black. As of October 2016, more than 80 percent of the 220 state prisoners convicted of first-degree marijuana possession were black, according to the Alabama Sentencing Commission.

Al.com reported that some counties are still imprisoning new mothers who test positive for marijuana and in some cases removing the baby. We found that some colleges arrest students, some don't. We talked to parents using newly allowed CBD oil to help children with seizure disorder and we spoke with people serving life in prison based on Alabama's low thresholds for felony possession. We found the Baptist lobbying group ALCAP is gearing up to lobby against any legalization movement, employing the same moral arguments used to fight against the rolling back of blue law restrictions on alcohol.

Readers responded with 14,000 comments after the articles and with tens of thousands of shares on social media. We found among Al.com readers that much of the debate focused on whether marijuana was harmful to society or not. Many commenters made the argument that no one has ever died from marijuana. Others argued it leads to drug addiction.

"Anyone ever had a child hooked on pot?" one reader commented. "Mine started at age 13, which led to Xanax and Klonopin. So please don't tell me it's harmless. I have seen the effects and how it shaped his mind. Three stints of rehab to get him off all three. I will never support legalizing it."

Other readers had only ringing endorsements for marijuana.

"Cannabis-hemp is the most useful plant-herb on the planet: food, clothing, shelter, energy, medicine, insights, recreation," one reader commented. "It has been mankind's helpmate and companion since the beginning. Any law against it is a crime against humanity, creation and the Creator."

Overall, the responses from AL.com readers clearly favored legalization. Here are some results, with numbers in the chart representing percentages.

Across the country, the trend toward softer enforcement continues. Kansas City voted April 4 to lower penalties for people caught with small amounts of marijuana, reducing maximum fines from $500 to $25 and eliminating jail time. Under the old ordinance, judges could send someone to jail for 180 days for marijuana possession.

AL.com readers were also quick to weigh in on poll questions. More than 9,280 readers voted in a poll asking whether recreational marijuana should be legalized: 84 percent said yes.

In another AL.com poll, more than 6,780 voted on the question of whether or not using marijuana was a sin: 88 percent said no and 8 percent said yes. Asked which was more dangerous, alcohol or marijuana, more than 6,470 readers voted: 91 percent said alcohol was more dangerous. Only four percent said marijuana. On the question of whether marijuana was a "gateway drug," 84 percent of readers said no; only 12 percent said yes.

These were not scientific polls, but thousands voted and the results were decidedly one-sided.

Dark green indicates recreational marijuana, light green is medical marijuana. (Source:AL.com)

Alabama, experts on both sides agree, remains a longshot to legalize marijuana because of its reputation for conservatism and lagging social trends. Yet everyone agrees the idea becomes less farfetched as more states vote to legalize it and as popular opinion continues to shift in favor of legalization.

The state has already taken significant steps with the passage of Leni's Law and Carly's Law.

In 2016, Alabama passed Leni's Law, allowing patients who suffer seizure disorders or other debilitating medical conditions to use a product that comes from the marijuana plant. The law decriminalized cannabidiol, derived from cannabis, for those with certain medical conditions in Alabama. That law expanded on Carly's Law, passed in 2014, that authorized a UAB study on using cannabidiol to treat seizure disorders.

Medical marijuana laws have now been passed in 28 states plus the District of Columbia, including some states in the South: Arkansas, Florida and Louisiana.

Of those 28, eight states also legalized marijuana for recreational use. Oregon, where marijuana is legal for recreational use, recently reported $5 million to $7 million a month in 2016 in tax benefits to the state.

Will Alabama, someday, follow suit?

Many readers expressed that hope.

"Step up, Alabama, don't be last again," one reader commented. "Fire it up and get that tax money!"

Others sounded the alarm.

"Americans can't even deal with alcohol and they want to introduce another intoxicant for which there are no legal guidelines or laws for driving, work situations and other things," another reader commented.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions (AP)

A complicating matter for the surge in marijuana legalization is the ascension of former U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions from Alabama to U.S. Attorney General. Sessions is staunchly anti-marijuana, but President Donald Trump has said that enforcing federal anti-marijuana laws in states that have legalized marijuana is not a priority. Still, Sessions issued a memo directing the Justice Department to review its marijuana enforcement policy. That could endanger the Cole Memorandum, a 2013 Obama directive to place a low priority on enforcing federal marijuana laws in states where it has been legalized.

On April 4, the governors of Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington wrote a letter to Sessions, urging him to keep marijuana legal in those states where it has been approved.

U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican from California, introduced the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment prohibiting the Justice Department from interfering with the implementation of state medical marijuana use. It became law in 2014 as part of the omnibus spending bill.

"The Rohrabacher amendment prevents Jeff Sessions from spending any federal dollars to enforce federal cannabis prohibition in medically legal states, which includes all fully legal states," one AL.com reader wrote. "Reform of cannabis law is not strictly a liberal agenda item; in fact, it is more rightly a conservative one, since it is an issue of fiscal conservatism, limited and smaller government, and less regulation."

For marijuana to be legalized in Alabama - either for medical or recreational use - the state Legislature must act.

For now that seems unlikely to happen. An AL.com survey of legislators shows little interest in marijuana legislation.

A bill sponsored by state Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, both this year and last year that would significantly reduce the criminal penalties for possessing one ounce or less of marijuana for personal use, has languished without a committee vote.

As other states begin to reap millions in new revenues from taxing legalized marijuana, Alabama's politicians may become more and more tempted.

"People in Alabama have been smoking pot for over six decades," one reader commented. "Legalize it. Stop arresting people for possessing a harmless substance."

And others still say not here, not ever.

"I hope Alabama is the last holdout," another reader wrote. "Move to the west coast if you want to smoke it legally."