Eric Schlosser - Reefer Madness

Recently, I began reading Eric Schlosser's "Reefer Madness". You may recognize Schlosser's name from his book "Fast Food Nation". I have found the book so far to be very intriguing. Although I am less than half way through the book, Schlosser's intent is to investigate how marijuana, pornography and illegal migrant workers are driving forces in our economy. In Schlosser's first chapter on marijuana, he compares how users of different economic and social status are treated by the criminal justice system:

"In 1997, Gary Martin was arrested in Manchester, CT and charged with possession of marijuana. Almost twenty years earlier, he'd been severely beaten in a robbery, resulting in permanent brain damage. After the beating he endured a series of strokes that left his right side paralyzed. He developed circulatory problems, and his left leg was amputated. Martin began to smoke marijuana to relieve the "phantom" pains from his amputated leg. After being arrested for possessing less than four ounces of pot, he was evicted from his apartment at a special (federal) housing complex for elderly and disabled." (Schlosser 2003)

Compare this experience to:

" In 1990 Congressman Dan Burton introduced legislation requiring the death penalty for all drug dealers. 'We must educate our children about drugs', Burton said, 'and impose tough new penalties on dealers.' Four years later, his son was arrested while transporting nearly 8 pounds of marijuana from Texas to Indiana. Burton hired an attorney for his son. While awaiting trial in that case, Danny Burton II was arrested again, only five months later, for growing thirty marijuana plants in his Indianapolis apartment. Police also found a shotgun in the apartment. Under federal law Danny Burton faced a possible mandatory sentence of five years in prison for just the gun, plus three years in prison under state law for the pot. Federal charges were never filed against Burton, who wound up receiving a milder sanction: a term of community service, probation and house arrest." (Schlosser 2003)

As I was reading this, I began to think some more about crime and who it really targets. Schlosser has at least five more examples of high ranking government officials whose children had much more marijuana than Gary Martin, and who were never sentenced to the harsh punishments their own fathers had fought for in Congress. Why is it okay for a poor or working class person to be sentenced to life in prison for possession of a small amount of marijuana, yet a senator's son who is selling pounds of pot to other dealers gets off with community service? This is yet another example of how crimes are written to target the poor, and how those in power are able to manipulate the criminal justice system.

I highly recommend this book, and I hope to have more posts before I finish it. Schlosser also talks about how prostitution, marijuana, and illegal migrant workers are fueling our economy, and how without them, our economy would collapse. He also points out that currently more money is spent on illegal drugs in our country than tobacco, one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington. Food for thought...