Reply #18: That's essentially what Nevada's got, too [View All]

[Nevernose]

For pot under an ounce, it's a $50 fine, but after the third offense, it becomes a class "E" felony (the mandatory puinishment for a class E is one year's probation, so really a class E doesn't do anything except fuck up all possiblity of ever getting a good job). I was a pretty heavy pot-smoker for years, and never got busted for anything drug-related, so I think that's pretty fair. A fine for under an ounce might be just enough motivation to keep it on the down low, if you see what I mean. Even cultivation in this state is usually plea-bargained pretty lowly, so long as the defendant doesn't have a string of felonious behavior.

Also speaking from a Nevadan's standpoint, at least in Las Vegas, harder drugs are decriminalized. First and sometimes second offenses of possession of harder drugs are punished with drug court. Daily therapy, weekly random UA's, bi-weekly mettings with the judge -- Las Vegas was one of the five pilot cities for the drug-court program, and it has a much higher recovery rate than most poor addicts can achieve alone. Sometimes, even other crimes can be taken to drug court if they were committed to feed a drug habit (e.g., Las Vegas is the forgery capital of the world). Meth, crack, sherm, and heroin fuck up way more than the user -- they fuck up families and communities, and it would be totally irresopnsible to allow them free reign.

For the record, matijuana possession by a minor is usually treated much more seriously than possession by adults.

What we NEED to figure out is how to better control alcohol and alcohol-related crime.