The Honorable
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Re: H.R. 5843
Dear Representative:
I encourage you to cosponsor H.R. 5843, a bill to eliminate most Federal penalties for possession of marijuana for personal use, and for other purposes, introduced by Reps. Barney Frank and Ron Paul.
I appreciate that your decision to cosponsor this bill will not be made easily. Nevertheless, this bill is just and should be enacted. Current law is that “marijuana users should be punished.” The justice of that proposition must be demonstrated to defend current law.
As I make the few short arguments that follow that marijuana users should not be punished, the object of H.R. 5843, ask yourself, “is this why it is just to punish marijuana users?”
First, the act of using marijuana is not wrongful. The act does not violate the rights of others or injure others, nor is it a failure to carry out a duty such as paying taxes or caring for a minor in one’s supervision. It is wrong for the government to punish people who engage in the conduct of marijuana use or marijuana possession because the conduct is not wrongful or harmful to others.
It is not an argument to say that it is wrong to drive under the influence of marijuana, for that is different conduct, and is appropriately punishable due to the demonstrated serious risk of grave injury to others. We should note that it is not a federal crime to drive under the influence of marijuana (or any other drug or alcohol), although it is a crime in Maryland and the other states.
Nor is it an argument to say that since some marijuana users drive under the influence, we should punish those who might do so but have not. In America we do not punish people for the conduct of others, nor do we punish people for crimes they have not committed.
In opposing this bill, a thoughtful Representative should articulate why adults who use marijuana deserve a term of imprisonment of up to one year, and a minimum fine of $1000 up to $100,000, plus the costs of investigation and prosecution (21 U.S.C. 844; 18 U.S.C. 3571(b)(5); 18 U.S.C. 3559(a)(6)).
Second, it is wrong for the state to punish a person in order to simply dissuade other persons, such as children, not to engage in that conduct. It is an important social goal to discourage young people from experimenting with marijuana, but that educational purpose does not justify punishing adults who use marijuana. We do not punish, or threaten to punish, cigarette smokers in order to “send a message” to children that they should not experiment with tobacco. Wouldn’t you be outraged if a bill were about to be enacted that proposed to punish adults who use cigarettes or alcohol with arrest, imprisonment and fines for the purpose of discouraging youthful misuse? Indeed, cigarette use has declined dramatically without having to jail any cigarette smokers. Can you think of any conduct that we punish, other than drug use, on the asserted justification that it dissuades children from it. Considering that marijuana has been used, year after year, for the past 30 years by a large cohort of teenagers (i.e., about 20 to 25 percent of high school seniors), the punishment of adults for this communicative purpose has been ineffective, and very costly, as well as unjust.
This is not the same case as punishing a person who actually robbed a bank in order to deter other persons from robbing a bank. It is wrong to punish the innocent to send a message to others. It is not an argument here to insist that marijuana possession is against the law, because it is the justification for the law I am challenging.
Third, the harm that results to marijuana users is too insignificant to justify punishing them to stop them from using marijuana. Compared to many lawful activities, the risk is minor. Numerous “frivolous” legal activities regularly result in more deaths and injuries than marijuana use, such as downhill skiing, white water boating, recreational sailing, mountaineering, sky diving, motorcycle racing, automobile racing, recreational horse back riding, and football playing. It is inconceivable that anyone would propose punishing persons who engaged in those activities in order to prevent them from hurting themselves. The collateral consequences of an arrest and criminal prosecution and, less frequently, imprisonment, certainly outweigh the harm to the individual from his marijuana use.
We have known each other a long time, and I have been, and will continue to be, your ardent supporter. I am confident that you will take this matter seriously.
I encourage you to research the support for this issue in your district, and not make assumptions. I defer, of course, to your much better judgment about the political consequences to any given Member of Congress who co-sponsors this bill when it is based on research.
But in the final analysis, I ask you to weigh the potential political consequences to you if you support this bill against the very damaging consequences to the hundreds of persons who – having taken to heart the promise of the Congress in 1776 of a government of just powers instituted to secure certain Creator-endowed, unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – use marijuana and are punished by the Federal government each year.
With very best wishes,
Sincerely yours,
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