Expert: Jean M Mahan - 3/22/2011

Question
Thank you for your past answers. I have two question after reading your answers. Have you wrote a book or blog?The second question is why do have such hard punishment for small time pot sellers.At a time when many feel pot is less a health problem then alcohol.I grew up  at time when a third of the people I knew smoked pot.We all know the poor are targeted for stop and frisk as per example New York City.The middle class are not targeted  the same for pot.The criminal records of small drug dealers are ruining lives.

Answer
I am writing a book now. It is slow going.

As for pot and the dealers, don't have any idea about the hard punishment for small time dealers. The states and whims of each court are very different from place to place.

And what is small and what is harsh exactly? Justifying the use of pot by pointing the finger at alcohol doesn't work for me. It is like a 250# five foot woman pointing at a 300# woman saying "At least I don't look like that!" And of course from my perspective criminals of all types hugely minimize their crimes. Just as an alcoholic when arrested for a DUI states "I only had two" and I think "what two gallons? You blew a BAC of .025! You caused a wreck and killed someone."

But yes you are right, the poor are targeted and not just for pot. And yes you are also right about the criminal records of any kind ruining lives. The official jail time and/or fines are nothing compared to the peripheral damages; the shame, the monetary loss of court/lawyer costs, the job loses. So many people who end up with prison time for relatively harmless crimes (those crimes that weren't violent) end up with hungry kids and lose their homes. Now that is severe punishment. Then when they get out with a felony on their record, they are automatically disqualified for life from many types of jobs. And a lot of employers shun them from jobs they are legally qualified for and could easily perform.

My grandma used to say when I was a kid "Anyone who would lie would steal, anyone who would steal will murder." Oh Grandma I though when I was a kid. Now after a lifetime myself and being a grandma myself, I find out what she said was true. Not everyone of course, but by taking a small step in the wrong direction, it is so easy and seems so natural to take another small step in the wrong direction until before you know it, you have murdered.

Being a drug dealer is a very risky business, first of course, you have to lie and cover up a lot. Then selling the drug so you have a supply leads to interactions with some very unsavory characters. Danger is always there. What supposed buyer wants to rob you for the pot or the money it brought in? What other drug have they high on when they come to buy pot? Are they armed? Will you have to shoot someone in self defense? Will the court judge it as self defense? I don't think so. That is exactly what happened to a man I knew in prison, he was a small time, street corner dealer in an extremely poor neighborhood. A highly drugged up man came up to him to rob him at gunpoint and to possibly/likely kill him, so he shot the other in self defense. Well, the robber was dead but the small time dealer got ten years. He protested to me "I'm not the bad guy!" Yep, he wasn't stealing, he wasn't murdering, he was a good guy supporting his family. But somehow he ended up killing and in prison.