JOHN PERKINS
Standing on Cargill’s soccer field 1B with a group of soccer dads back in 2008, talk turned from presidential politics to raising young athletes in the new century. One conservative dad said something that I had never heard before. “The biggest danger to our boys from marijuana is getting arrested and thrown in jail,” he noted. That was 2008. Some of those young athletes grew up and got into a little bit of trouble with marijuana. Many of the families have since moved to other states for better opportunities.
This week in Baton Rouge, the House Administration of Criminal Justice Committee passed House Bill 524 by Republican Rep. Richard Nelson of Mandeville on to the full House for consideration. House Bill 524 would legalize recreational use of marijuana in Louisiana. Rep. Nelson was joined by two other Republicans on the committee voting to advance the bill out of committee in a 7-5 vote.
Today, 17 states across the U.S., and Washington, D.C., and Guam have legalized recreational marijuana use. Polls of Louisiana citizens indicate widespread popular support for legalizing recreational marijuana use here. Louisiana could use the tax revenues generated by the new marijuana industry that would spring up here as it has recently in Oklahoma. Jobs created when the Republicancontrolled legislature there listened to their constituents and changed the status of the marijuana in dustry from an illegal endeavor that cost tax dollars to police to a legal endeavor that licensed citizen growers, transporters and distributors, as well as collecting sales taxes on the medical product.
Some years after that soccer dad conversation at Cargill, I began to hear from dads whose kids had moved away after high school and lived in states where recreational marijuana use was legal. Some of the young people had taken good paying jobs in the industry. Meanwhile here in Shreveport, our council has recently decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana. We have stopped arresting and jailing young people for possessing 14 grams or less of the plant. Instead, a ticket will be issued, and a $50 fine or community service will be the only penalty.
Black people in Louisiana are three times more likely to be arrested in Louisiana than whites, even though the plant is used by equal percentages of both groups. Young people who are arrested can lose their TOPS scholarships and lose job opportunities as a result of arrests and jail time. Meanwhile, their friends in other states can enjoy the plant without fear of punishment. As one young-at-heart friend said, “Why do we still live here?”
I support House Bill 524. Shreveport has a long history of offering tourists an opportunity to enjoy things here that they could not enjoy or would not want their pastor to see them enjoying back home. From the entertainment offered in Shreveport’s once flourishing red light district to parimutuel wagering on horses and even casino gaming (gambling is unconstitutional here). Let me know what you think: PerkWrites@gmail.com
THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN THE April 30 ISSUE OF FOCUS SB - THE INQUISITOR.