The internet is abuzz over legalized recreational marijuana,
so I thought I would toss in my two cents.
It is going to be fascinating to watch what happens in
Colorado and Washington State. My guess is
that they will see benefits in not only tourism and tax revenues, but hopefully
also a reduction in some violent drug-related crimes.
In Brazos County, we have had at least four marijuana
related murders in the last few years.
In none of the cases did marijuana consumption itself make people behave
violently (they weren’t so high that they killed somebody), but the illegal sale or
theft of marijuana was a crucial part of each case.
In 2013, Phil Banks and I represented Christopher Hernandez a
quiet nineteen year old who was charged with murder along with two other young
men after a weed deal went South. Throughout the case I couldn’t help but think
whether or not the murder would have happened if marijuana was legalized. Could the lives of the victim, the three
young men charged, and all of their families been saved if possessing weed was
not a crime?
Obviously no one can answer that with certainty, but I am
hopeful the Colorado experiment might shed some light on the larger criminal
repercussions of decriminalization.
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