The first and last thing almost any opponent of marijuana reform will tell you is that if we ease up on marijuana enforcement, our children will pay the price. Reforming marijuana laws, they claim, "sends the wrong message" to our young people and paves the path to a life of addiction, crime, and lost promise.
With that in mind, let's take a look at an interesting story emerging in Massachusetts:
Mass. courts' juvenile caseload plummets
December 6, 2010
LOWELL — Criminal and child welfare caseloads in the state’s juvenile courts have fallen sharply over the past three years despite economic turmoil that has placed enormous strain on many families, a dramatic decline that confounds social workers, lawyers, and child and family advocates. [Boston Globe]
Like any social trend, there are surely a multitude of factors at play here, but I'm surprised no one mentioned this:
Mass. voters OK decriminalization of marijuana
November 4, 2008
Massachusetts voters today approved a ballot initiative to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, making getting caught with less than an ounce of pot punishable by a civil fine of $100. The change in the law means someone found carrying as many as dozens of marijuana cigarettes will no longer be reported to the state’s criminal history board. [Boston Globe]
It's been 2 years since Massachusetts decriminalized possession of marijuana, and what do they have to show for it? An inexplicable decline in juvenile crime.
To be clear, I'm not at all attempting to claim that the decriminalization of marijuana is solely responsible for bringing down juvenile crime rates in Massachusetts. The decline began before the law took effect, so there's obviously a lot more to the story (although I don't doubt that if juvenile crime were going up instead of down, our opponents would immediately tell anyone who'd listen that the problem was entirely caused by reducing marijuana penalties).
What's significant here is that marijuana decriminalization hasn't prevented – and may even have contributed to – an exciting decline in crimes committed by young people. This outcome is the perfect opposite of what our opponents have been screaming for many years and anyone who actually cares about protecting youth or society in general should be thrilled to see things going so well.
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