Marijuana Policy Project

One could easily accuse Gov. James Douglas of political opportunism in his decision on Tuesday to rescind his policy of bypassing Windsor County State's Attorney Robert Sand's office for the prosecution of major marijuana cases.

But another way of looking at Douglas' decision is that he is simply bowing to the reality that the way the so-called war on drugs has been waged is a costly mistake.

The Vermont Department of Corrections announced Wednesday that it is considering closing one of the state's prisons and releasing some nonviolent offenders from state supervision as part of an effort to trim $4 million from next year's budget.

Those were two possible remedies contained in a 150-page report to state lawmakers from the department. According to the report's executive summary, "In the long run, the most effective way to reduce the demand for increased prison capacity is to increase the effectiveness of efforts at responding to crime and misbehavior in the community."

Over the past 20 years, the number of people in custody in Vermont has nearly tripled. Presently, there are more than 1,600 people held in Vermont prisons and more than 500 held in out-of-state facilities. This, despite the fact that the violent crime rate in Vermont over the past two decades has been stable. That's because tougher sentences for drug offenses, drunk driving and domestic violence is putting more people in prison.

At the same time, the report found that "there are virtually no low re-offense risk, nonviolent offenders in prison." That's because Vermont has been a national leader in finding alternative ways to deal with nonviolent offenders. One example of this is the court diversion program for first-time, low-risk offenders, where either community service or restitution wipes an offense off one's criminal record.

Sand's use of diversion in the case of part-time family court judge Martha Davis, who was arrested after with 36 marijuana plants and 2 1/2 pounds of marijuana were found at her Windsor home, prompted Douglas to take the unprecedented act of forcing Windsor County law enforcement agencies to refer drug cases to the Vermont Attorney General's office.

But then another case came up, this time in Orange County. State's Attorney William Porter authorized court diversion for a Randolph man who was arrested after 110 marijuana plants were found in his home. In this incident, Douglas didn't say a word.

Both cases sounded very similar, except for one difference. Sand is a Democrat who has been outspoken about the need to change the way drug cases are handled by the courts. Porter is a Republican who hasn't expressed public misgivings about the state's drug laws.

In any event, the objections that Douglas raised about the Davis case — that Sand's decision was tainted by personal bias, that Davis got preferential treatment because she's a lawyer, that the marijuana laws aren't being enforced consistently — all rang hollow after Porter's decision to take the same approach as Sand did in the Randolph case.

It's not the first time that Douglas has come off as looking inconsistent on a public policy issue, but at least he had the good sense to back down and admit that a purely punitive approach to low-level drug use is not a good policy to follow.

One-size-fits-all sentencing rules and limits on judicial discretion ends up jamming up the courts and the corrections system. Using the criminal justice system to deal with a social problem rarely works.

That's why the state corrections budget is $130 million a year and has grown 74 percent over the past seven years. That Douglas may be starting to recognize this is a hopeful sign.