Family Business

You can see the display of drugs and guns here. It’s the typical layout, this time of 52 pounds of marijuana. The offenders are a husband and wife team – oh, and they have kids in the house.

The marijuana charges are higher because the house is close to a school. That’s another 7-year felony for selling and 3 more for selling close to a school, plus 5 years for possession on the weed. All this while Connecticut is kicking around marijuana decriminalization for medical use. In fact, our state has been “targeted” by NORML and other advocates.

In a sense, we’ve already decriminalized it. The latest round of legislation signed into law has a fine of $150 for possession of less than half an ounce of weed ($200 for second offense). Maybe that’s enough. After all, in states where medical marijuana is legal, the subsequent regulations and enforcement conflicts with federal law have generated confusing messes. As long as federal law says one thing and state law another, such conflicts aren’t going to go away.

The couple mentioned above represents a kind of family dealer situation. There are kids involved and those may be removed for child endangerment or child welfare issues. Certainly, if mom and dad are in prison, those kids are going to have a rough go.

Where’s the balance here? There ought to be some pathway that allows medical use and then treatment for others who abuse the drug. Quantity dealing will still be a problem, and the line has to be drawn somewhere, but fifteen years in prison doesn’t sound like a good solution. OK, they probably won’t get that much, but still, isn’t there some middle ground?

Connecticut has a chance to write laws to fit our state. Rational laws and realistic punishments. Let’s hope the addiction treatment side isn’t overlooked.