| July
26, 2002
Seattle
Times
Brian
Moore
Some
state and local officials say a proposed initiative intended to free
police resources for serious crime by relaxing marijuana-law enforcement
would do just the opposite, creating burdensome reporting requirements
for possession laws that already receive low priority.
"The implication is that there are hundreds of thousands of people in
jail because they smoke a joint on Friday night," Lt. Gov.
Brad Owen said.
"I have confidence that law enforcement has not made marijuana arrests
of casual pot smokers a high priority in the city of Seattle."
Owens speculated the initiative could also create legal hurdles for
prosecutors, giving suspected marijuana offenders a legal loophole by
pleading that police placed too high a priority on their case.
Members of the Sensible Seattle Coalition filed 19,600 signatures Monday
in support of Initiative 75, about 2,400 more than it needs to go before
Seattle voters on the Nov. 5 ballot.
The proposed measure does not call for a change in marijuana laws but
for law-enforcement officers to make personal marijuana possession by
adults their lowest priority.
It also would require police and the City Attorney's Office to report
marijuana prosecutions to a Marijuana Policy Review Panel. The
11-person panel, proposed to be created by the Seattle City Council,
would evaluate the effects of the ordinance after five years.
The group's campaign manager, Dominic Holden, who has long supported
relaxing marijuana laws in Seattle, believes this is the closest that
such an initiative has come to reaching the city ballot.
The signatures are now in the hands of the King County Elections office,
where they are being screened to ensure they are from registered voters.
The initiative would then need City Council approval before landing
on the ballot.
At least some council members are already showing support.
Councilman Nick Licata has endorsed the initiative, saying it would
help educate the public that marijuana is not as dangerous as some in
law enforcement make it out to be.
Licata argues that data support that marijuana is not an addictive drug.
Sara Nelson, legislative aide for Councilman Richard Conlin, who was
out of town, said Conlin has not read the initiative but, in general,
supports decriminalization of marijuana use.
Other City Council members did not respond to requests seeking comment
yesterday.
Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske was reviewing the initiative yesterday
but was not prepared to comment.
The initiative is unlike most others passed in the United States because
it does not limit itself to the use of marijuana for medical reasons.
The Oakland, Calif., City Council passed a resolution in 1996 requiring
police to make enforcement of possessing, selling or cultivating marijuana
for medical use its lowest priority.
But Lt. Benson Fairow of the Oakland police vice-narcotics section
said the city directive has had virtually no effect on law enforcement.
Like most agencies, Fairow said, Oakland police weren't placing great
emphasis on marijuana users to begin with.
There has not been any indication that the resolution has been effective
in shifting police resources toward more serious crime, Fairow said.
"We're not interested in the AIDS patient that is growing a couple of
plants, and we never have been," Fairow said.
"Weed has not been a priority for many years, and this resolution didn't
really change that."
The Seattle City Attorney's Office reports that less than 150 of its
17,000 misdemeanor criminal cases last year were for the possession
of marijuana. That's an indication that police do not place priority
on marijuana laws, said Kathryn Harper, spokeswoman for the city attorney.
Licata agrees that police don't put excessive resources into marijuana-possession
arrests but likes that I-75 would reinforce its low priority.
"I think that it's better to have our limited funds for public safety
being directed toward car prowlers and home burglaries, rather than
arresting adults for smoking marijuana," Licata said.
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