Repeal Day Remarks, Rodney Square, Wilmington, DE 2024

 

Repeal Day Remarks

Rodney Square, Wilmington, DE 2024

Celebrating the 91st Anniversary of the Repeal of Alcohol Prohibition, with

Delaware Cannabis Advocacy Network

President Biden, approximately 400,000 Americans are currently incarcerated for drug offenses. But drug use and drug abuse are health issues and social issues that cannot be solved by a criminal justice approach. The criminal justice approach only makes things worse.

I have worked in the healthcare industry for 51 years including 48 years as a registered nurse (RN). I’ve worked in a wide variety of clinical settings, including 22 years with the New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJ DOC). When I started with the NJ DOC in 1984, there were 9,000 inmates. When I retired in 2006, there were 27,000 inmates. And 86% of those inmates were Black or Hispanic, about the same rate that were poor, inner-city residents.

I saw the effects of this mass incarceration on the inmates, their families, and their communities.

For the inmates, the average length of stay was four years. When they were released, they had problems with employment, education, and housing. They had a high recidivism rate.

The families of inmates were disrupted. They had a low socioeconomic status, and poor education.

The inner-city communities where most inmates were from, were characterized by poverty and violence. It was Ground Zero of the War on Drugs.

The War on Drugs is the most wasteful, disgraceful, and counterproductive policy this country has ever had. The domestic and foreign components of the War on Drugs combine the worst aspects of alcohol prohibition and the Vietnam War. Alternatives to the War on Drugs—legalizing drugs--must be explored and applied.

But people insist we must keep drugs illegal, “for the children.”

I’ve seen the  effects of our current policy on the children of the inmates. Children of inmates are robbed of the loving guidance and support of a parent. Having a parent in jail is an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE). These children face other ACEs, like living with poverty, violence, and food insecurity. This results in children of inmates who have a low socioeconomic status, a greater involvement with the criminal justice system, and a greater likelihood of substance abuse. 

Our War on Drugs is literally creating future generations who are doomed to lives of poverty, violence, and substance abuse.

For the past 21 years I have been executive director of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana--New Jersey, Inc. (CMMNJ). CMMNJ has been instrumental in getting a medical marijuana bill passed into law in 2010.

In 2020 the ballot question to legalize marijuana in New Jersey passed with 67% of the vote. All 21 counties in New Jersey voted to legalize marijuana.

New Jersey voters saw the sickest and most vulnerable members of their community using medical marijuana and getting stronger and better. They now had an alternative medicine that helped them without harsh side effects. Voters could tell that the dangers previously associated with marijuana were exaggerated.

When we legalized marijuana in New Jersey we ended over 30,000 arrests each year for marijuana offenses. Some of those resources are now improving the lives of the community members who were devastated by the War on Drugs.

We now have a $1Billion legal marijuana industry in New Jersey, with social equity at its core. There are tax benefits and other benefits to local communities.

And what is true of the benefits of creating a legal marijuana industry is true for other drugs as well.

Only 10% of drug users ever become addicted to drugs. The other 90% use drugs to improve their lives in some way. Stop arresting, and wasting resources, incarcerating drug users. Develop programs to help them when their drug use becomes problematic.

Arresting a heroin user or a cocaine user does nothing but increase the dependence of that person on drugs. Their substance abuse problem is now compounded by a conviction. The former inmate is less able to find gainful employment, housing, or even a stable family life.

So, President Biden, I am calling on you to recognize these facts.  Please use your clemency power to commute sentences, pardon convictions, and release people incarcerated for non-violent drug offenses. Let them start to rebuild their lives.