AUGUSTA – The ACLU of Maine will join legislators, the Marijuana Policy Project and other advocates for sensible drug law reform at a press conference today at 12:00 p.m. in Augusta to announce their support for a bill that would regulate the use of marijuana similar to alcohol.
“Arrests for small amounts of marijuana funnel people into the criminal justice system unnecessarily, fill our jails and prisons with nonviolent people and tear Maine families apart for no good reason,” said Shenna Belllows, executive director of the ACLU of Maine. “There are far more important things to focus our limited resources on than locking up people who pose no threat to society.”
The ACLU has long opposed the War on Drugs and its criminalization of marijuana, and played a leading role in the recent successful initiative to legalize marijuana in Washington State. Voters in Washington and Colorado made history on Election Day by passing laws that legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana for adults 21 and over. Washington's law, passed with an 11-point margin, sending a clear message that the public is ready for a change in policy.
“Maine has the opportunity to join a growing movement across the nation that recognizes locking up tens of thousands of Americans for small amounts of marijuana just doesn’t make sense,” said Rachel Healy, communications director at the ACLU of Maine. “It's time to get our law enforcement priorities back in order.”
LR 21, “An Act to Regulate and Tax Marijuana,”
has bipartisan support in the Legislature. The ACLU will join Rep. Diane Russell (D- Portland), Rep. Aaron Libby (R- North Waterboro), David Boyer, political director of Marijuana Policy Project, and Denny Galludet a retired bank president and superintendent at the press conference today.
