Sep 3, 2016 3 min read

How much marijuana should the average Pennsylvanian be allowed to possess without risking a jail term? That seems to be the next question to be answered now that our state lawmakers finally have approved medical marijuana.

Gov. Tom Wolf spoke up on the issue Monday, saying the state should decriminalize possession of small amounts of the drug. However, he stopped short of calling for complete legalization of recreational use of marijuana, something that has been done in several other states.

Wolf cited the desire to see fewer people in jail for relatively minor marijuana offenses.

“I think we need to do that in a more systematic fashion,” said Wolf, in an interview on WITF-FM’s “Smart Talk” show. “There are too many people who are going to prison because of the use of very modest amounts or carrying modest amounts of marijuana, and that is clogging up our prisons, it’s destroying families and it’s hurting our economy, so I think decriminalization is the first step.”

An Associated Press report, citing figures from the marijuana advocacy group NORML, said 20 states have taken steps to decriminalize certain marijuana offenses, either by turning them into something akin to minor traffic infractions or making them misdemeanors that do not result in jail terms.

Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association does not oppose a move such as the one the governor is supporting, but Ed Marsico, the district attorney in Dauphin County, said people really aren’t going to jail in significant numbers for minor marijuana offenses.

“That’s far from clogging up our jails,” Marsico told the AP. “There are plenty of people in jail with drug problems, and we realized years ago that treatment is the best way to work with those offenders, but basically nobody goes to jail for possession of a joint.”

The maximum penalty for misdemeanor marijuana possession in Pennsylvania is 30 days in jail, and Marsico said prosecutors are trying to keep people facing those types of cases from doing any time behind bars.

But what of people who have somewhat more marijuana in their possession, or those who are growing marijuana plants for their own use? The real issue is how much marijuana someone can possess before he or she faces the prospect of going to jail.

We have opined before about the terrible waste of time, money and lives in this nation’s hugely unsuccessful war on drugs. Contining to fight marijuana as if it poses a major threat is a foolish pursuit, and the federal government recently compounded that foolishness by refusing to remove marijuana from the category of drugs – for the purpose of enforcement – that includes heroin and LSD.

“President Obama always said he would let science – and not ideology – dictate policy, but in this case his administration is upholding a failed drug war approach instead of looking at real, existing evidence that marijuana has medical value,” said Tom Angell, chairman of the group Marijuana Majority.

Our state and federal governments, and our police and court system, have limited resources. They should abandon the fight against marijuana use and focus on the drugs that are killing people in our communities, those being opioids and heroin. It’s the legal drugs, such as Oxycontin, that have created our current deadly epidemic and led even more people into heroin addiction. That is where a war, if there is to be one, should be waged.