Chemerinsky, High-Profile Law Profs Sign Petition Backing Pot Decriminalization
A proposal to decriminalize private use of small amounts of marijuana in California is getting the backing from the dean of the University of California’s law school at Irvine and several high-profile law professors.
The Wall Street Journal Law Blog says law professors “across the political spectrum” are supporting California’s Proposition 19.
The law dean, Erwin Chemerinsky, is joined by high-profile profs such as Harvard Law’s Alan Dershowitz, UC Irvine’s Elizabeth Loftus, and Cardozo’s Barry Scheck on the the petition in support of Yes on 19. According to the Volokh Conspiracy, others who have signed the list include blog contributors Jonathan Adler, Randy Barnett, David Bernstein, David Post, Sasha Volokh and Ilya Somin.
The profs’ petition says they endorse the “wholesale rethinking of marijuana policy in this country.”
“Our communities would be better served if the criminal justice resources we currently spend to investigate, arrest, and prosecute people for marijuana offenses each year were redirected toward addressing unsolved violent crimes,” the petition says. “In short, the present policy is causing more harm than good, and is eroding respect for the law.”
