ACLU And Rick Steves Take On Washington Marijuana Laws

Travel writer Rick Steves and the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington are out to take on the issue of the criminalization of marijuana calling it the prohibition of our times.

Rick Steves is a travel writer who has admitted to using marijuana when he visits Europe. He claims he's not "pro-marijuana" but in favor of discussing the laws that give 830,000 Americans a year an arrest record. 90 percent of those who are arrested are for possession charges. Washington State's ACLU has received funding from the national organization to create an informational program that will be broadcast on television and the Internet. It will delve into the disproportional arrest patterns that affect minorities and the severe punishments that can take place for possessing as little as 40 grams (that is about the same size as 2 packs of cigarettes or roughly 40 joints). The program is being launched in Washington because of it is considered on the cutting edge of drug legislation. In 1998 medical marijuana use was approved and in 2003 Seattle voters approved the Initiative 75. That measure has allowed the police to focus on other issues than adult marijuana use by making it a low priority for law enforcement. In the United States there are only 11 States that allow for the use of medical marijuana. Because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling though that states that laws can not be enacted that supersede federal criminal laws getting medically needed marijuana can still prove to be risky.

Marijuana use should be treated primarily as a health issue, not a criminal one. In Europe I've seen how more thoughtful approaches to social issues can really work. Our government's war on drugs sounds very tough and results-driven, but all it really succeeds at is being enormously expensive, tearing families apart and treating nonconformists as criminals," Steves said. He said as a society we've made the same mistake as was made when lawmakers banned alcohol during Prohibition.

Percentage wise marijuana smokers are white. In the United States 74 percent of all users are white as opposed to 14 percent who are African-American. Yet when you compare the arrests because of the leafy drug blacks account for 30 percent. The ACLU stated in 2006 that it was 12 times more likely for a black person to be arrested for using marijuana than a white person.

Seattle City Attorney Tom Carr called the claim unfair and statistically insignificant.

"What they're doing is sensationalizing a number that has no statistical validity because the numbers are so small," he said.

The issue of marijuana laws is one for state legislators, he said. "We enforce whatever laws are on the books."