Introduction
This paper proposes a policy that the government may adopt to reverse marijuana conviction among those who were sent to prison for distribution or possession of marijuana. There is a need to create this policy to comply with the marijuana legalization laws. The paper proposes the PREPARE and IMAGINE model as described below.
PREPARE and IMAGINE Model
PREPARE
- P- The main problems to address are the rehabilitation of the social challenge and the best alternative to ensure that the released persons comply with the requirements of the current laws on marijuana usage and possession.
- R-There are many minority races within the US who are currently incarcerated for offenses related to marijuana. Besides, the government may not have the capacity to create a dynamic selection and rehabilitation system, considering the large numbers involved. As a result, the freed inmates may “be discriminated against (when it comes to) employment, housing, access to education, and public benefits” (Alexander, 2014, par. 7).
- E-The primary goal of this policy is to rehabilitate and release the previous inmates who were convicted of marijuana-related offenses since it has been legalized.
- P-The relevant persons to enforce this proposed policy are the community social workers, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the local judicial system, and the police.
- A-The main asset cost would be creating marijuana case review centers across the US. The benefits of these centers would be systematic and timely justice to the inmates, especially the blacks.
- R-The drug traffic syndicate or network is very complex and difficult to contain since it changes frequently. Therefore, there is a high possibility of releasing inmates who belong to such syndicates. As a result, the policy might actually reverse the current gains by law enforcement agencies on drug use and trafficking.
- E-The potential success is very high since the majority of the current marijuana-related inmates are petty or minor offenders who are not a real threat to the law enforcement authorities. In fact, these “youths are arrested most often for nonviolent first offenses that would go ignored in middle-class white neighborhoods” (Alexander, 2014, par. 9). Besides, the majority of the offenders are young people who will get a second chance to reform.
IMAGINE
- I-The primary idea is releasing the marijuana-related offenders within the current judicial system as a policy for proactive enforcement of the marijuana legalization laws. This will protect the youths who would previously get “prison time for selling weed, and their families and futures destroyed” (Alexander, 2014, par. 6).
- M-The targeted stakeholders for the proposed policy are the police (incarceration officers), judiciary, the local community social system, and the general public. It is important to muster support from these stakeholders to ensure the optimal success of the policy.
- A-The primary assets for the policy are reforms implementation, proactive rehabilitation, and continuous evaluation of the previous offenders who will benefit from the freedom from the incarceration centers (Pacula, Chriqui, Reichmann, & Terry-McElrath, 2009).
- The G-The goal of the policy is to implement the law legalizing marijuana as backdated guidelines for securing the release of previous criminal activity. Besides, the policy target to rehabilitate the inmates back into society as free citizens.
- The I-The plan will be implemented through a public-private partnership between the judiciary-police system and the social community network. This will create a proactive atmosphere for the consistent, continuous, and beneficial implementation of the marijuana legalization law.
- N-In order to neutralize opposition, the policy will secure the support of different law enforcement agencies and the general public.
- E-The progress will be evaluated through a proactive release-rehabilitation feedback program. The program will run concurrently with the new laws that have legalized marijuana (Jacques & Luling, 2014).
References
Alexander, M. (2014). White men get rich from legal pot, black men stay in prison. Web.
Jacques, T., & Luling, V. (2014). This is why marijuana should be legal everywhere. Web.
Pacula, R. L., Chriqui, J. F., Reichmann, D. A., & Terry-McElrath, Y. M. (2009). State medical marijuana laws: understanding the laws and their limitations. Rand Corporation. Web.