Lesser pot penalty is welcome change

It's good to see a bipartisan group of Iowa lawmakers working together to reduce criminal penalties for possession of very small amounts of marijuana.

If the bill passed 13-1 out of the Iowa Senate Judiciary Committee stands, possessing five grams or less of marijuana - an amount one lawmaker and former deputy sheriff described as 'scrapings out of a pot pipe” - would be reduced to a simple misdemeanor, subject to a fine and no more than 30 days in jail. It is a change that is long overdue.

The law now classifies first-time possession of five grams or less of marijuana as a serious misdemeanor - the same class of crimes that includes assault causing injury - punishable by up to six months in prison and/or fines up to $1,000.

Revisiting and revising such heavy-handed penalties helps ensure that our justice system is fair and efficient. Filling jail cells with petty drug offenders is not a wise use of the taxpayer-funded space.

Our state has finite resources. When law enforcement, prosecutors, judges and corrections officers must spend valuable time and energy pursuing such small offenses, that means they have less time and energy to pursue higher priorities.

Likewise, if a reduced penalty would make programs like Johnson County's Marijuana Diversion Program less attractive to those charged with holding a small amount of marijuana, it would free up resources to for those facing greater charges.

If the end result is that more individuals with significant abuse issues are funneled to a diversion or drug court program and offered treatment and a fresh start in lieu of jail time and the shadow of a criminal record, we are hard-pressed to see a downside.

And as research has shown, arrest rates for marijuana possession are eight times higher among blacks than whites, even though the two groups use the drug at roughly the same rate. Thus, reducing the penalty for this minor offense could help battle Iowa's shameful incarceration disparity rates.

While we understand that no elected official wants to be painted as lax on crime, we also hope the realities of the current system's cost, figuratively and literally, will remain the focus of this debate.

We urge the full Senate and House to quickly dispatch the bill to the Governor's desk for signing.

Justice is served when the punishment fits the crime, and system that is fair for all.

' Comments: (319) 398-8469; editorial@thegazette.com