Another Highlight of the Failure of the War on Drugs

Early last week, Jeff Mizanskey walked out of prison a free man after 21 years behind bars.  This would normally not a be story, except for the extraordinary way Mizanskey wound up in prison.  Mizanskey was the victim of the draconian three strike law in Missouri.  What did Mizanskey do to earn the three felony charges that would have given him a life sentence? Was it homicide or armed robbery that put him away? Nope. Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon? Try again. 

The terrible crimes that put Mizanskey behind bars were three non-violent marijuana related drug crimes. Due to three strike laws and mandatory minimum sentences. Those three crimes put a non-violent offender behind bars. For life. 

After years of pleading from his lawyer, the ACLU and pro-marijuana groups, Mizanskey's sentence was eventually commuted by the Missouri governor and the law that put him away for life was repealed, but not everyone is so lucky.

Mizanskey's fate is not an uncommon one in America.  It is estimated that over 3,000 people are currently serving mandatory life sentences for non-violent drug related crimes, many of which are simple possession charges.

This case highlights the gross injustices of the war on drugs that have been prevalent since its beginning.  Instead of making people safer and drug free, we've created a dangerous black market, given control of it to violent gangs, and put hundreds of thousands of non-violent offenders behind bars, wasting billions of dollars in tax payer money in the process.

And the practical failures of the drug war only further highlights the enormous elephant in the room: prohibition doesn't work and it never has. Prohibition didn't work in the late 20's and 30's with alcohol, it just pushed the alcohol trade underground and sparked the golden age of organized crime.

In addition to that, the drug laws unfairly target low income and minority citizens.  We are effectively locking up a second generation of non-violent black and Hispanic youths for little more than possession.

In recent years states have taken it upon themselves to change the dialogue.  Almost half of the states have legalized medicinal usage of marijuana and 4 states (and Washington, D.C.) have legalized marijuana use for recreation, with more on the ballot in 2015.  In the states where marijuana is either legal or decriminalized, violent crime, non-violent drug arrests and teen high school dropout rates have declined.  Millions of dollars in tax revenue, most of which goes to public schools, have been collected. There have been bumps in the road for sure, but nowhere has the fear mongering, "sky is falling" scenario so loved by anti-drug zealots played out.

This is the lesson to take away: wherever legalization and regulation has been tried, it's worked.  Thankfully, Jeff Mizanskey was freed in time to enjoy the prime of his life, one can only hope that the same fate will be realized for so many more.

--Ray--