Clearly something is broken when a Missouri man named Jeff Mizanskey can be sentenced to die in prison for purchasing seven pounds of marijuana . With two nonviolent marijuana convictions already on his record , Jeff received life without parole under Missouri 's three strikes law . The punishment of growing old and dying behind bars for offenses like Mizanskey 's is extreme , tragic , and inhumane . This should outrage us , but it should not surprise us . This country has spent 40 years relentlessly ratcheting up the number of people going to prison and dramatically expanding the time we hold them there . We 've spent decades criminalizing people with drug dependency , passing extreme sentencing laws , and waging a war on drugs that has not diminished drug use . Small wonder , then , that even less serious crimes like Mizanskey 's marijuana purchase result in costly and cruel sentences . And Mizanskey is hardly the only one . Just as he fell into the abyss of our nation 's failed drug policies and excessive sentencing laws , millions more have sat in jails and prisons , often for years , even decades on end , for low-level drug and property offenses . While many of the lawmakers who passed harsh sentencing laws thought they were doing the right thing , the results are now in : This approach has devastated families and communities , generated high recidivism rates , drained state budgets from more productive investments , and has reinforced generations of poverty and disadvantage that disproportionately fall on communities of color . There were ways to hold Mizanskey and others like him accountable for their actions short of sentencing them to die in prison . We can and must do better . It 's time for states to end the costly criminalization of marijuana and recalibrate sentencing laws so that the punishment actually fits the crime as opposed to a politician 's reelection agenda . Public attitudes toward marijuana are rapidly evolving , and a Gallup poll last year found for the first time that a majority of Americans now favor legalization as a better course than criminalization . Unfortunately , laws and police practices that enforce them are out of step with public opinion . Nationally , nearly half of all drug arrests are for marijuana offenses . At least one person is arrested for marijuana possession every hour in Mizanskey 's home state of Missouri , which also wasted nearly $ 50 million on marijuana enforcement in 2010 . Although black people and white people use marijuana at about the same rate , a black person in Missouri was 2.6 times more likely to be arrested for having marijuana than a white person . The solution is clear . Instead of taxpayers spending millions of dollars on this unnecessary enforcement and keeping folks like Mizanskey in prison for the rest of their lives , states could follow Colorado and Washington by taxing and regulating marijuana and investing saved enforcement dollars in education , substance abuse treatment , and prevention and other health care . But even if states are not ready to expand their tax base in this manner , state lawmakers need to take a good , hard look at their sentencing laws and eliminate penalties that far outweigh the crimes they seek to punish . It is tempting to think that Mizanskey 's case is an anomaly , but that is not the case . According to a report released by the American Civil Liberties Union last year , there are currently 3,278 people serving life sentences without parole for nonviolent crimes , including marijuana offenses . Many of them , like Mizanskey , are there because of three-strikes laws and mandatory sentencing regimes . These policies force judges to impose excessively cruel sentences and forbid corrections officials from granting early release or parole , even despite exemplary records in prison . The good news is that there is a growing bipartisan consensus all over the country that our criminal justice system has gone too far and that we can and must safely downsize our prison population . Missouri recently reformed the three strikes law that sentenced Jeff to prison for life . If he were sentenced today , he could have received a significantly shorter sentence and be eligible for parole . As states like Missouri make these kinds of reforms , we must not forget the people who languish behind bars because of old sentencing laws now thought to be excessive . Smart reforms that correct past injustice should be made retroactive , and governors must use their clemency powers more frequently . Missouri Gov . Jay Nixon should grant clemency to Jeff Mizanskey . Public safety is not served by having him die in prison . We 're not stuck with the criminal justice system that sentenced Jeff -- a system that too often is unproductive , wasteful , and unfair . Bad policies are made , and bad policies can and should be changed . Join us on Facebook.com/CNNOpinion .
A Missouri man received a life sentence for possessing marijuana . Vanita Gupta : The country has spent decades ratcheting up penalty for minor crimes . She says states must change sentencing laws so punishment fits the crime .