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The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors adopted (17 – 1) a resolution sponsored by Supervisor Supreme Moore Omokunde encouraging the State of Wisconsin to decriminalize marijuana at their meeting on November 1.
“There is a burgeoning industry that will potentially make its way to the state of Wisconsin. If this happens it would be criminal to allow those with previous convictions to continue to languish in our prisons and suffer the ills of retaining years old misdemeanor and felony records. We have to decide that we will not only invest in economic capital, but our people capital as well,” said Moore Omokunde.
Supervisor Moore Omokunde’s resolution was co-sponsored by 10 supervisors.
Although the state of Wisconsin is the number one incarcerator of Black men in the country, and many of those are from the 10th District, Moore Omokunde stressed during debate on the issue decriminalization is not strictly about ethnicity.
“We have to ensure that we are doing right by all in our community and balancing the fiscal desires of the state and the moral responsibility to all we serve,” added Moore Omokunde.
Supervisor Moore Omokunde encouraged state legislators to pair any bills legalizing marijuana with retroactive decriminalization for marijuana related convictions. Moore Omokunde says that decriminalization could come in the form of the expungement of court records and release from incarceration where appropriate.
The resolution will be sent to members of the Wisconsin State Legislature.
It’s about time that cannabis was decriminalized on a statewide level… but if cannabis isnt LEGALIZED then both law enforcement officers, and the district attorneys throughout the state of Wisconsin can still choose to charge persons with felony possession of a controlled substance every time that someone is caught with cannabis, or paraphenilia with THC residue on them.
It was more than a decade ago that the City of Milwaukee passed an ordinance that decriminalized possession of cannabis, for personal consumption, under one once – by creating a municipal ordinance that made possession of cannabis under one once – a misdemeanor offense – which carries no jail time…
But, despite the fact that there is a non felony option for the the District Attorney to use here within the Milwaukee city limits – Milwaukee’s District Attorney regularly charges people with the State Charge of Possession of a Controlled Substance – which is a felony that will stay on the police record of those convicted because most of the people who are convicted of the state charge are low-income people who cant afford to get their police record expunged… and most of the people who are convicted with the state charge of possession of cannabis – are young men of color.
There is not a higher concentration of cannabis use in any given race – weather people are Caucasian, African American, Latino, Asian, Native American, etc – about the same percentage of the population of ALL races – smoke cannabis – regardless of race.
BUT young men of color are arrested and convicted for the state charge of felony possession of a controlled substance – for the possession of cannabis for their person use – 4x more often than Caucasians are arrested and convicted of the same charge.
I recently went to dinner with a friend of mine who had just finished serving jury duty… I could tell he had something on his mind because he was distracted, and eventually he told me that he was troubled by the case he served on… And he went on to tell me that the jury he served on had just put a young black man in prison for possession of less than an once of cannabis.
Shocked – I asked him if he meant put in county jail – not prison – because there is a municipal ordinance on the books in the City of Milwaukee that decriminalized possession of less than an once of cannabis for personal consumption – which is a no jail time, misdemeanor charge that would only have resulted in the young man having to pay a fine, and the loss of his cannabis.
My friend looked like he was going to cry when I told him that – and he was very upset that no one told the jury that instead of giving the young man a felony conviction, that the jury had the option of convicting the young black man of the lessor charge of misdemeanor possession of cannabis for personal consumption.
My friend felt betrayed by the D.A. and felt horrible for giving a young black kid a felony conviction when there was a lesser charge available for the non-violent, non-theft crime… and this young man’s life was permanently screwed by an overzealous DA looking to pad his conviction stats with easy wins.
Decriminalization is NOT enough, because District Attorneys are NOT legally required to charge persons caught with less than an once of cannabis, for personal consumption – with the lesser charge of misdemeanor possession of cannabis… and to make things WORSE District Attorneys are not legally required to inform juries that they have the option of only convicting people of the misdemeanor charge – instead of convicting them of a felony charge.
We need full legalization of cannabis, for personal use… Decriminalization is a step in the right direction – but it isnt enough because still allows District Attorneys to ruin people’s lives for a non-violent, non-theft crime – simply because THEY want to convict cannabis users with a felony.
Justice is supposed to be handed out by the verdict of a jury of one’s peers – but by withholding the fact that juries can legally refuse to convict people of a felony for less than an once of cannabis, and instead only convict the person of a lessor misdemeanor charge – defeats Justice by not allowing the people who serve on a jury – to render a verdict according to their conscience.
District Attorneys are NOT God – and we need to take away their ability to PLAY God with other people’s lives when it comes to this non-violent, non-theft crime.
LEGALIZE cannabis, and TAX IT to pay for our children’s educations – from preschool all the way through college; and give teachers a raise and good-quality, affordable, health care benefits, state wide, while we are at it.