Yay for Prop A?

Introduction

Voters in Austin voted on Proposition A from April 25 through May 7. The proposition bans law enforcement from charging low-level marijuana offenses and no-knock warrants. This initially seems like a good idea, as we have famous Democrats like Beto’ O’Rourke wanting to decriminalize marijuana use altogether and Republican leaders like Greg Abbot saying we shouldn’t allow individuals with small marijuana possession charges to be in prisons with convicted criminals. Should we legalize at least some marijuana possession? Furthermore, no-knock warrants have become controversial due to the death of Breonna Taylor and many others. Would an outright ban prevent deaths on both the officer and civilian sides?

In regards to cannabis, the act will prohibit law enforcement from arresting individuals with Class A and B marijuana possession misdemeanors, which in simple terms, is 4 ounces or less. I couldn’t picture 4 ounces in my head either, but depending on the size of the bag, it’s generally 2 sandwich ziplock bags full. I’m confused about how officers with the naked eye can tell the difference between 4 and 6 ounces if they manage to fit more in a ziplock bag? Further, law enforcement will be required to knock, announce themselves, and then wait for 15 seconds before entering any residence. No-knock warrants are dangerous and are supposed to be used in high-risk areas, so what determines and enforces these warrants to only be used in high-risk situations? Below, I discuss each part of the proposition, and what I think of it. 

Why do people want decriminalized marijuana? 

It would allow individuals to smoke weed without the fear of being arrested. A lesser-known issue is this action would stop a disproportionate amount of African Americans from being arrested for the same current crime. Based on the American Civil Liberties Union, states that African Americans are 3.73 times more likely than their Caucasian counterparts to be arrested for marijuana even though they have similar usage rates. The JAMA Network even states that in 2018 African Americans had a lower lifetime prevalence of cannabis use compared to Caucasians. In Texas, a 2022 analysis of marijuana possession from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) states African Americans take up 30% of all possession arrests even though they are only 13% of the total population. 

How many people get arrested for carrying cannabis? NORML again states that in 2020, out of 350,150 arrests for marijuana-related violations in the United States, only 317,793 were for marijuana possession offenses only. I find it interesting that it specifies arrests for marijuana possession but doesn’t specify convictions. To settle my fascination I went looking at previous years and their records on the subject. The Recovery Center describes that in 2009, only 0.1% of prisoners were first-time marijuana possession offenders. In 2001, the Office of National Drug Control Policy states that out of 24,299 drug offenders sentenced in federal court, only 186 were sentenced for simple possession of marijuana, and only 63 were sent to prison. In more recent times, The Washington Post relates that in 2017, the federal system had 92 people sentenced for marijuana possession out of an estimate of 20,000 drug convictions. Just based on that it isn’t as bad as references are stating it is. 

Is there any issue with decriminalizing cannabis? Texas is already moving towards allowing medicinal use where maybe it will even be legal for recreational use. Most of the states are following the same direction as there are only 4 states who still have it completely illegal. There seem to be medical benefits from cannabis and countries like Israel with individuals researching it. There is an attitude change for marijuana as it may help certain medical cases.

What is the purpose of no-knock warrants? 

From my understanding they allow law enforcement to enter a building without the need to announce themselves. This would be needed to catch criminals in the act so they don’t destroy evidence, or because it was a high-risk situation. That doesn’t sound bad, however, there seems to be an abuse of this power. Innocent citizens have been killed during the use of these warrants. We have cases like Breonna Taylor and Amir Locke who were killed from these warrants. The Good Good Good article goes more in-depth in the destruction of this abuse of power. Would it be better to restrict than an outright ban? The Department of Justice already changed its policy for no-knock warrants to be given only if there was a threat of physical violence.

My view on Marijuana

My personal opinion is that this is not the right course of action for our community. I do believe that we would just be harming our community even more. Because allowing this action just enables drug users? It would still be illegal to sell marijuana, but we would be enabling buyers to buy without repercussion. Theoretically, this currently illegal business in Texas would be more profitable as now buyers aren’t threatened as long as they only buy 4 oz. Based on this, we would be placing these theoretical potential buyers in more non-safe and unregulated environments. 

At this point, you might as well completely legalize cannabis to destroy these current illegal markets by replacing them with ones that follow government regulation. Alas, is it more ethical as a community to ensure a safe path for individuals to feed their pleasure, or to not feed the addiction? Optimistically, maybe these individuals are buying it from out of state and bringing it into Texas. Now we can discuss if there should be a line for those individuals, but they are still choosing to bring a current illegal substance into Texas. Or maybe they just forgot and ran out of luck. Still, what does that say about them?  

We can discuss a less harsh punishment as other states are legalizing cannabis. People who are openly drunk in society aren’t given a felony. We also should have a conversation on how the African American population is being targeted by police. It seems as if we are basing it off that there is a significant proportion difference in those arrested compared to other populations. Specifically, in large cities, I think it’s stereotypical for us to believe that areas full of poverty have high crime rates. I think it’s saddening for us to also think that minorities of all races and ethnicities fall into those poverty areas. However, this idea didn’t magically pop into our heads. It’s just a sad truth that we have officers going to these high poverty areas with high crime rates and finding criminals who are a part of the minority population. But should we turn a blind eye as those individuals are still committing a crime willingly? In their minds, pleasure seems to outweigh the risk of getting caught and going to jail. If Prop A passes, buyers will see no risk of going to jail. We allow these neighborhoods to be filled with drugs, which police are catching criminals from. If you don’t report a crime it doesn’t mean that crime doesn’t happen. We are now enabling something currently illegal to not be reported anymore. Where it’s not that it isn’t happening, just will never be documented. We are just turning a blind eye to these communities. And mayors will be praised for reduced crime rates.

My view on No-Knock Warrants

I won’t claim I’m an expert on the subject, but wouldn’t it be better to just restrict instead of just banning no-knock warrants in total? Currently, it seems that it is being abused by the police, but what happens when there are high-risk situations that will inadvertently lead to violence? We would be placing officers in these calculated high-risk situations into more danger. 

Let’s imagine we ban no-knock warrants, then there might be an increase in officer deaths. Maybe, officers will be susceptible to use more force and be more paranoid as they can only imagine that the offenders they’re raiding on the opposite side of the door are just waiting for them. The people getting raided are just going to open their doors and not be surprised. Imagine seeing parts of a swat team outside ready to breach your house. Fully armed and surrounded. How are individuals going to react when they see it? Are they going to freeze outside their door causing more tension between the police and them? Maybe try to run away and hide? Or just calmly open the door and offer coffee? Where I can imagine we are going to create a lot more different detrimental situations instead of trying to determine how to improve a situation. The past has evidenced that banning something outright tends to not resolve a situation and only brings more challenges