Dormont Criminal Defense Lawyer
Legalize Pot, Says Allegheny County Coroner
Former Allegheny County Coroner Cyril Wecht presents strong and convincing arguments for legalizing medicinal marijuana and decriminalizing the drug in Pennsylvania.
“As a forensic pathologist performing autopsies on hundreds of people each year who die as a result of drug toxicity,” Wecht wrote recently in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “I have never signed out a death due to cannabis, nor have I ever seen such an autopsy report from any other forensic pathologist.”
Wecht decries the decades-long propaganda campaign against marijuana. “Marijuana is not an addictive drug that leads to physiological habituation and tolerance,” he writes, contrasting it with the countless deaths directly caused by popular legal substances such as alcohol, antidepressants, sedatives, and opioids.
Wecht supports legalizing medicinal marijuana and decriminalizing marijuana use and possession. Currently, two states have completely legalized marijuana and 18 other states have decriminalized it. “There simply is no rational reason, medical logic or justifiable legal basis for the refusal of the federal government and most states to decriminalize marijuana,” Wecht writes.
To speak with an experienced Pittsburgh criminal defense attorney, call Spivak Law Firm at (412) 344-4900 or toll free at (800) 545-9390.
Marijuana and Racial Profiling
Blacks and whites use marijuana at similar rates, though blacks are nearly four times as likely to be arrested for possession, according to new federal statistics.
“The costly, ill-advised ‘war on marijuana’ might fairly be described as a tool of racial oppression,” writes The New York Times’s Editorial Board. “[L]aw enforcement agencies need to put an end to what is obviously a widespread practice of racial profiling.”
Marijuana arrests make up about half of all drug arrests in the United States. There were almost 900,000 marijuana arrests in 2010, and about 810,000 of these were for possession.
The sharp rise in marijuana arrests during the last two decades comes at a time when two states – Colorado and Washington – have legalized the drug for general use by adults, and 18 others and Washington D.C. have legalized it for medical use. Pennsylvania currently has legislation pending that would legalize marijuana for medical use.
Consequences for marijuana arrests are severe, as convictions can lead to fines, jail time, temporary loss of federal student financial aid, and criminal records that make it difficult to find housing or work.
If you’ve been arrested for drug crimes, call Spivak Law Firm at (412) 344-4900 or toll free at (800) 545-9390.