Posted on 10/02/2010 1:31:18 AM PDT by South40
Starting in January, getting caught with an ounce or less of marijuana in California will be an infraction on par with jaywalking and littering — and not a misdemeanor that can tie up juries and show up on criminal background checks for job applicants.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the law Thursday, but said it doesn’t change his opposition to Proposition 19, the Nov. 2 ballot measure that would legalize possession and personal use of up to an ounce of marijuana.
Reaction was predictably divided Friday. Both sides of Proposition 19, which voters will settle on Nov. 2, tried to use the signing of Senate Bill 1449 to their advantage.
Supporters said it would save the state millions of dollars in court and prosecution costs at a time the money was sorely needed and shows momentum is on their side.
“Our movement is shaping policy in California and beyond,” proponent Jeff Jones said in a statement. “Ideas once considered radical are now completely mainstream.”
Opponents noted that a central argument for the proposition — that minor marijuana possession cases occupy too much of the legal system’s time — had evaporated.
Said No on 19 campaign manager Tim Rosales: “This new law takes away the last reason anyone would have to vote for Prop. 19.”
In a statement released by the governor’s office, Schwarzenegger said, “In this time of drastic budget cuts, prosecutors, defense attorneys, law enforcement, and the courts cannot afford to expend limited resources prosecuting a crime that carries the same punishment as a traffic ticket.”
He noted that under the current law, jail time cannot be imposed, probation cannot be ordered and fines cannot exceed $100, meaning that possession of an ounce or less of marijuana is “an infraction in everything but name.”
In San Diego, the reclassification of possession from a misdemeanor to an infraction could mean hundreds of drug cases a year get resolved without the involvement of lawyers and jury trials.
Since January 2008, the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office has handled more than 1,930 limited marijuana possession cases, some of which involve other crimes, while filing about 41,000 cases a year.
District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and longtime public defender Larry Beyersdorf agreed the infraction designation would reduce the time and effort lawyers on both sides spend on such cases.
Dumanis, who opposes Proposition 19 but worked to pass the bill signed by the governor, said: “It will mean that there will be less court appearances like any kind of ticket.”
Beyersdorf lauded the law’s broader effects.
“Right now any misdemeanor conviction stays on your record forever,” he said. “We’re constantly getting calls from people who are having trouble getting a job because 10 years ago they were convicted of a very minor offense. We don’t need to brand people for life with this kind of stuff.”
Similar legislation failed on the Assembly floor in the 2001-02 and 2005-06 legislative sessions.
In Ocean Beach, Seth Norman, a 20-year marijuana smoker, called the new law “awesome” and said it would lead more people to light up.
“The lesser the laws get, the more it’s going to go up,” he said as a man walked by holding a cardboard sign emblazoned with “just need some weed.”
Other Ocean Beach residents said they didn’t think the change would drastically affect marijuana use around the state. They said if a marijuana user has done it long enough, the consequences, regardless of how strict or lax they may be, are not a concern.
“People do it anyway,” Dave Powell said.
Feelings about Proposition 19 are also unlikely to change as a result of limited possession becoming an infraction, Powell said.
Lee Lambert of Vista has lived in North County since 1986 and is active in the campaign against Proposition 19. He was upset when he heard what Schwarzenegger and the state Legislature had done.
“With a budget deficit of $20 billion almost, why are they working on this?” he said. “This is mind-boggling to me.... Where are their priorities?”
He also criticized the change because it “sends the wrong message” by encouraging youngsters that marijuana use is OK and not as serious a crime as it should be.
A spokeswoman for San Diego Superior Courts, contacted late Friday afternoon, said she couldn’t immediately get the information to explain how marijuana infractions would be handled next year.
No, it is not nonsense.
I have first hand experience of it happening to people I know, quite a few in fact. Most people I know who do or did drugs at one time have a story about getting something laced, myself included.
It isn’t an every day occurrence, but it is common enough that just about everyone has a story.
You still didn’t answer the simple question of whether or not you think it is a realistic consequence. Answer Yes, or no instead of changing the subject like a liberal who doesn’t want to answer.
I know people who have had things dropped into their legal alcohol...
There are lots of stories out there about women who have had “date rape” drugs slipped into their Coca-Cola.
I don’t see how giving government more police state control over marijuana is going to change that behavior...
Koalas are not mean.
I have met dozens, and there wasn’t a nasty one on the bunch.
They’re just very slow. On two fronts.
If you love Koalas so much, why not get one from Australia and grow some eucalyptus for them?
You went from marijuana to koalas, ferrets and rattlesnakes...
But, you didn't justify why growing and feeding government intrusion is a good idea...
Who said it would?
I was just making a simple statement of fact regarding black market drugs.
You seem to have a knee-jerk defensiveness about this, and you really only shoot your own argument in the foot.
If pot was legal and regulated, as all things under the FDA are, then there wouldnt be any more laced pot. Bizzarely, you made the argument that unregulated black market drugs are 100% safe and clean. It undermines your case, and your credibility, because everyone knows that’s not true.
Because the Australian government outlawed owning koalas.
It used to be legal, but no more.
The exportation of koalas has always been tightly controlled.
The San Diego Zoo is the only place in the entire US that has some.
But you don’t get to meet them there like you do at any given animal sanctuary in AU.
You must not be aware that the FDA refuses to approve a drug that has been proven to reduce tumors in breast cancer patients because it is "too expensive."
You must also not be aware that the FDA is wanting to approve genetically modified salmon as a consumer product...
More government is not the answer.
No, I don't think that making Marijuana legal will cause smugglers to move to other drugs. Its capitalism, pure and simple.
If anything making marijuana cheaper should reduce the demand, and thus the price of other drugs. Without the profit motive, drug smuggling will be reduced.
Why is it you Liberal Peabrains don't understand capitalism?
“Californians are about to vote on Proposition 19 which, if passed, would legalize marijuana use.”
At the state level. Federally it’s still very much illegal.
Yep, I also declare nonsense.
I know a lot of folks who have smoked on an off for many, many years and not one bad experience among them.
Seriously, why would any grower, distributor, or seller of marijuana spend $$$ to lace their already high profit margin product with another product?
I suspect you didn’t get pot laced with anything; rather, you smoked pot with a high THC content.
Both sides of the marijuana issue is all about the addiction people have for more government control of something you should be able to grow in your garden like a tomato or cucumber.
“Tax, control and regulate” as the Prop. 19 proponents have adopted as their motto is just more police state politics that does nothing for anyone’s good...
You have the real world problem then that under Proposition 19, government actually becomes far more involved with marijuana, not less.
Right now, they just slap you with an infraction and a fine. Under Prop 19, there would be a massive regulatory beauracracry, taxation, licensing, etc.
So does this mean you oppose Prop 19?
How does making marijuana cheaper reduce the price and demand of OTHER drugs? I guess by that logic, orange juice is also cheaper when milk goes on sale?
If government wasn’t involved at all, the potheads would just dry up and blow away, but since people can’t give up having more control over others, the police state continues to grow,,,
A nearly identical decriminalization of marijuana has been “on the books” for two years in Massachusetts. There hasn’t been a corresponding increase in the abuse of other drugs as a direct effect of this law.
It’s a traffic ticket and it probably shouldn’t even be that.
I oppose the sleight of hand on this issue...
Prop. 19 is just plain asinine.
If states cannot enforce legitimate federal laws on immigration, how can states repeal unconstitutional federal laws on vegetables?
It makes marijuana a cheaper high. Why spend big bucks for other illegal drugs?
Its the same with alcohol. Legal and relatively cheap. Make it illegal and expensive and users will move to other sources.
More social engineering through government...
Tax the crap out of tobacco "for the children" and health care instead of tackling the addiction...
Tax the crap out of alcohol and have government controlled liquor sales (like Utah and Oregon) instead of completely revoking all driving privileges of drunk drivers for life.
Drunk driving is the rationale for such "control" but yet if you have enough money and insurance you can be a repeat offender with little consequence... Look at a late senator from Massachusetts...
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