Drug Decriminalization in Maryland Through an African Centered Research Paradigm- Analysis and Recommendations

significant number of them were homeless.281 When the laboratory finally tested their
drugs, it found only legal substances or nothing at all.
For example, in July 2014, police arrested Isaac Dixon, 26, for possession of a substance
that field tested positive for Ecstasy. Two days later, Isaac pled guilty to felony drug
possession and was sentenced to 90 days in the Harris County Jail. More than 14 months
later, the substance was tested by a laboratory, and the field test was proved faulty. No
drugs were found—only antihistamine and caffeine.282” (Human Rights Watch, 2015).
The intent here is clear enough, as the author is attempting to convey the reality that innocent
people are potentially subject to incarceration due to the policing regime under the War on Drugs.
However, focusing attention on whether individuals arrested for drug possession were actually in
possession of drugs risks obviating the core argument of drug decriminalization, the drug
possession ought not be a crime. Calling upon the narrative of innocence risks making the
conversation harder for individuals who are clearly “guilty”, specifically individuals who might
be convicted of possession with intent to distribute or face charges related to weapons possession.
John Pfaff notes that drug decriminalization risks creating a “Squeeze the Balloon” effect where
even as states reduce penalties around drug possession, the increase charges for crimes related to
accusations of violence, writing:
“In reality, only about 16 percent of state prisoners are serving time on drug charges—
and very few of them, perhaps only around 5 or 6 percent of that group, are both low level
and nonviolent. At the same time, more than half of all people in state prisons have been
convicted of a violent crime. A strategy based on decriminalizing drugs will thus
disappoint—and disappoint significantly.”...
At the same time, for all the talk of “low-hanging fruit,” there doesn’t
appear to be anyone building ladders to pick the fruit higher up the tree.
Prison reform has been on the political radar since about 2000, and it has
been taken seriously since about 2008; that’s somewhere between nine and
seventeen years. Yet reform efforts are still aimed entirely at this “lowhanging
fruit,” and there seems to be no effort to move the discussion on to
tougher issues.
In fact, the situation is arguably worse that this makes it sound. It isn’t
just that reform bills focus only on those convicted of nonviolent crimes,
but that, as we’ve seen, reform options, such as drug diversion, often
explicitly exclude those convicted of violence. Even more troubling, many
states generate the political support for lessening property and drug crime
sentences in part by toughening those for violent crimes. To belabor the
metaphor, far from building taller ladders, we seem to be burning the wood
we need to build them. If the goal is real, substantial reform, this approach
is untenable. The sheer volume of violent offenders in prison acts as a
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