FAQ #8: Are police “arresting patients”?

QUESTION: The Marijuana Policy Project says “stop arresting patients.”  Are there seriously or terminally ill people in jail for using marijuana for medical reasons?

ANSWER: No.

Although the Marijuana Policy Project makes numerous references to “arresting patients,” there is no evidence that seriously ill people are in prison for using marijuana for medical reasons.  Don’t think for one minute there is a terminally ill patient incarcerated solely for his or her use of “medical” marijuana; that person would be MPP’s poster child.  Marijuana Policy Project is blowing smoke, disingenuously preying on the compassion of voters.

Drug abusers are great con artists. They know how to play on our sympathies.  But don’t believe their innocents in prison stories. Yes, thousands of people are in prison on marijuana charges, but almost all of them pleaded down from more serious charges, had more serious prior offenses or were arrested with extremely large amounts of pot.  This can be found in a Justice Department publication called “Who’s really in prison for marijuana?” People with serious illnesses aren’t getting arrested, and the Marijuana Policy Project knows it.

This should be obvious. Any defendant can demand a jury trial. Can you imagine a jury sending a grandmother with cancer to prison for marijuana possession? Of course not.

On the other hand, as one psychiatrist who works with drug addicts said, “I’ve seen hundreds of patients who have been in jail or prison, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard one admit he deserved to be there. They all have a reason why they’re innocent. There definitely are innocent people in prison, but if someone claims he got locked up for simple marijuana possession, check it out before you believe it.”