Legalizing Drugs: Advocate Addresses Westport Group

Legalizing drugs in Connecticut could save the state between $2 billion and $4 billion, according to Cliff Thorton, the 2006 gubernatorial candidate for the Green Party and the president of Efficacy, an organization dedicated to drug policy reform.

“I don’t condemn nor condone drug use. It’s none of my business,” Thorton told the Westport Rotary on Tuesday. “But what I do say is my business is spending these exorbitant taxes to keep these people in prison.”

Taxing the drugs, eliminating the money spent on enforcing drug laws and lessening the prison population could be a windfall for Connecticut, said Thorton.

With the support of Gov. Dannel Malloy, bills allowing marijuana to be used for medicinal purposes and decriminalizing the drug are being considered by the legislature. If marijuana were decriminalized, possessing less than one ounce would be limited to an infraction. Offenders would be fined up to $90.

These bills are a start, said Thorton, but they don’t go far enough in curbing the economic and social problems surrounding illegal drugs.

“My organization advocates the outright legalization of cannabis, marijuana and hemp,” he said. “We advocate the medicalization of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamines and ecstasy and the decriminalization of all the other drugs for future debate and true and honest medicinal study.”

Thorton cited nations such as Portugal, which have heroin maintenance programs for addicts. In these programs, addicts are given lesser amounts of heroin from health centers, which stamps out the unwieldy black market for drugs. He said Switzerland had success with this method when they tested it on 10,000 “hardcore heroin addicts.”

“Within a 30 day period, within a 30 mile radius of each clinic, 80-85 percent of the crime associated with heroin was gone. Why? Because now, the drug dealer can no longer make a profit and they have to move out.”

State Sen. Toni Boucher, R-26, who represents Westport, has spoken decriminalizing marijuana or allowing medicinal marijuana.

“We must not give Connecticut a ‘soft on crime’ reputation where it becomes easy to obtain a get out of jail free ticket,” Boucher said in a press release issued by her office Monday afternoon. “Marijuana is a harmful, Schedule I, federally illegal drug that does not save or improve lives. It can undermine the seriously ill’s best prospect of recovery and is the wrong prescription for Connecticut.”

One person told Thorton that if Connecticut legalized drugs, drug tourists would flock to the state and ruin some of the towns. She said she’s seen that happen to cities in the Netherlands. Thorton replied that Connecticut would not be alone if drugs were legalized.

“If Connecticut legalized cannabis tomorrow, then we would look at New York, Massachusets, the whole thing. There would be a domino-type effect,” he said.

One person told Thorton about a recent visit to Venice Beach in Los Angeles, where he witnessed a devolution of the area. He said that there were people hawking medical marijuana on the street.

Thorton replied, “Medical marijuana has served has a wedge issue to get us in the door of all drugs and these are the stages you’re going through. I would much rather see in Connecticut the outright legalization as opposed to medical marijuana.”