Posted on 05/20/2006 10:50:46 AM PDT by Wolfie
Activists Pushing To Relax Marijuana Enforcement
Oregon -- A marijuana advocacy group wants Portland police to get their priorities straight. Introduced by the Citizens for a Safer Portland in early February, a new citywide initiative is aimed at reducing adult marijuana-related offenses to be the “lowest law-enforcement priority.”
Chris Iverson, chief petitioner of the initiative and campaign manager for CSP, is confident Portland voters will approve the measure if it gets on the ballot.
About 56 percent of city voters endorsed the failed statewide medical marijuana expansion initiative two years ago, which he said was “under-funded and not well-organized.”
“Because of the high yes vote in Portland with Measure 33 in 2004, we feel that we have a good chance to win,” said Iverson.
Past low-priority proposals like Seattle’s Initiative 75, passed in 2003, and Oakland, Calif.’s Proposition Z, passed in 2004, seem to have spawned greater support for drug law reform. Other similar measures may be headed to the November ballot in several California cities as well as Missoula, Mont.
The Portland initiative defines marijuana-related offenses as any “in which possession, delivery or manufacture of marijuana is an element.” It declares that “law enforcement activities related to all offenses other than marijuana-related offenses shall be a higher priority than all law enforcement activities related to marijuana-related offenses.”
Sales, cultivation, distribution, and possession of pot by minors or adults on public property and use in connection with the operation of a vehicle aren’t covered by the initiative directive.
Supporters say the initiative is a good first step toward focusing law enforcement more on real threats to the community, like crimes against people and property.
Portland police officials reported 799 adult arrests last year for marijuana-related offenses. According to one study, the average cost of sending an offender through Multnomah County Drug Court is about $6,000, meaning that taxpayers spent about $4.8 million to prosecute adult pot possession offenses in 2005.
The initiative also contains restrictions on the Portland police department’s relationship with federal and state authorities as well, stating that local officials “shall not accept formal deputization or commissioning by a federal law enforcement agency to the extent that such deputization or commissioning will include investigating, citing, arresting, or seizing property from adults for marijuana- related offenses.”
Some supporters of the measure say this part of the initiative is important to keep local officials from joining with federal agents to bust medical marijuana collectives.
“This really strikes at the heart of the issue with regard to local law enforcement cooperating with the Drug Enforcement Administration against medical cannabis dispensaries,” said Nikos Leverenz, acting director of the California office of the Drug Policy Alliance.
Cutting off funds that contribute to law enforcement activities for marijuana-related offenses is a unique part of the Portland initiative; of the six proposals introduced this year and the two past successful ones, only the Portland and Missoula initiatives specify that city officials cannot “accept any funds from any source, organization or individual, including federal funds or state funds.” The present California initiatives only prohibit federal funds.
Of course, marijuana possession of any amount and for any purpose remains a federal crime. And advocates for the measures don’t expect the DEA to be particularly mellow about any effort seen as undermining the drug war. They anticipate a federally-backed “smear campaign” against the Portland initiative if it makes it to the ballot.
On May 6 CSP representatives attended the Million Marijuana March, hosted by Oregon NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), to gather signatures and raise support for the initiative with the 300 or so marchers in attendance.
However, signature-gathering for the measure has been a little lethargic thus far. With the signatures due on July 7, the CSP is only about half-way to the 26,691 they need to make the Nov. 7 ballot, according to the CSP website - http://www.makeportlandsafer.org
The group also claims it is short on campaign funds. Even after a grant from the Marijuana Policy Project for $120,000, local organizers say they need an additional $20,000 for advertising and campaigning.
Despite these hurdles, Iverson is optimistic that with more people out gathering signatures and more public events planned they will raise the support needed to move the initiative forward.
High yes vote. Get it? High? Marijuana. hehe. I tell you what though. Portland is a total commie sewer. Yucko. I'd rather smoke illegally elsewhere than smoke legally in Portland.
I bet if we legalized drugs and turned all the narcs into la migra that we could catch and deport 12 million.
The "war on drugs" is the single largest waste of money in the history of law enforcement. Billions of dollars are spent every year in an effort criminalize addiction. The laws don't stop people from using or buying. Want to wipe out gangs? Legalize drugs. Want to solve prison overcrowding? Legalize drugs. Prohibition didn't stop alcohol abuse, and it won't stop drug abuse.
I wonder why, in Portland, no less.
We've got 20 million illegal "immigrants" living in the U.S. and you actually believe that?
You got my vote. The war on drugs is a farce and is the way for the government to violate our rights and to seize or property, that is why this war continues.
ping
You are right....seems anybody, especially a denizen
of Washington, who comes up with a figure..it is then
spouted over the airwaves....right or wrong...and then when CIA ,,tells Bush..WMD are in Iraq..It's a "slam
dunk" accusation...he repports it.....and then he is
lying??????? I like to hear ...Mike Savage rant and
rave about everything, including this drug thing...Jake
Billions are spent each year for federal, state and municipal law enforcement agencies and we still have crime. Murder, rape, robbery, etc. continues. We have definitely failed in our war on crime. The cops gotta go.
"Murder, rape, robbery, etc. continues."
Comparing a violent crime where there is a perpetrator and a victim
whose rights have been violated to the possession of an herb gifted
by God to man and beast alike at the beginning of time is a stretch.
I see what drug abuse does to individuals and families everyday in my job. "Victimless?" I don't think so.
Nice.
As a libertarian, I STRONGLY identify with that view.
But I confess I have moments of doubt and weakness when I think about, say, Heroin. Marijuana is a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned. But when it comes to heroin and the like, I find I have a strong temptation to be inconsistent.
Out of curiosity, do you ever find yourself feeling the same sense of struggle?
I'd be interested in hearing from other libertarians that do.
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