Jacob Sullum has more on Gov. Mitch Daniels' support for prison reform and the slap on the wrist he got for marijuana possession:
More important, Daniels assertion that "justice was served" obscures what a huge break he got. Under current New Jersey law, possessing more than 50 grams (about 1.8 ounces) of marijuana is a felony punishable by up to 18 months in prison. Given the amount of pot had (enough to fill two shoeboxes), he easily could have been charged with intent to distribute, which under current law triggers a penalty of three to five years (for less than five pounds). And at the time of Daniels' arrest in May 1970, New Jersey's marijuana penalties were even more severe. Six months after his arrest, the New Jersey Supreme Court decided a case involving an 18-year-old who was caught with a tiny amount of pot (clearly just for personal use) and got a sentence of two to three years in prison. Concluding that "the sentence was entirely too harsh," the court noted that state law set a minimum sentence of two years but allowed it to be suspended for a first offense. The court ruled that "a suspended sentence with an appropriate term of probation is sufficient penalty for a person who is convicted for the first time of possessing marihuana for his own use." Given the legal situation prior to this ruling, Daniels was incredibly lucky to get off with a $350 fine, and he was able to do so only because he did not actually plead guilty to marijuana possession—only to the lesser offense of "maintaining a common nuisance."
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Daniels, with his two shoeboxes full of marijuana, was not exactly a "casual user." Under New Jersey law then and now, he committed a felony. Yet he got away with a slap on the wrist, and here he is advocating "jail time" and a criminal record, with all the ancillary penalties that entails, for anyone caught with half a joint.
The only thing I wish I had mentioned yesterday is that I hope that Daniels personally recognizes that if the face of drug war mass incarceration were white kids at Ivy League schools caught with shoeboxes full of marijuana, the reforms he's proposing wouldn't be as controversial as they are.
