Pubdate: Wed, 17 Jul 2002
Source: Times-Picayune, The (LA)
Copyright: 2002 The Times-Picayune
Contact:  http://www.nola.com/t-p/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/848
Author: James Gill
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

ARREST WEEDS OUT POTHEADS' BEST HOPE

We don't know which of the candidates to succeed retiring New Orleans DA 
Harry Connick will get his endorsement, but we do know it won't be criminal 
defense lawyer Gary Wainwright.

One of Wainwright's first acts, were he to be elected, might be to nol-pros 
his own case; he was picked up on a marijuana charge at an Algiers Carnival 
parade this year. He is highly unlikely to get the chance, however.

Because Wainwright advocates decriminalization of marijuana possession, he 
was originally declared persona non grata when Connick, with his 
conventionally stern views on drugs, announced a briefing for candidates. 
Connick relented, however, and Wainwright duly turned up last week, seizing 
the opportunity at a subsequent press conference to spout what his host 
will have regarded as hippy heresy.

None of the other candidates present at the briefing -- Civil District 
Court Clerk Dale Atkins, former U.S. Attorney Eddie Jordan and lawyers 
James Gray and Michael Darnell -- cared to address the topic. If they had, 
they would hardly have agreed with Wainwright. Although his theories make a 
certain amount of sense, espousing them is no way to be elected DA. Those 
theories are, however, gaining ground elsewhere.

Nevada is about to hold a referendum on a proposition to legalize 
possession of up to three ounces of marijuana, which would be taxed and 
sold in state-licensed stores.

Canadian Justice Minister Martin Cauchon wants fines instead of prison for 
users.

And British Home Secretary David Blunkett announced last week that 
possession of marijuana will, in most circumstances, no longer be grounds 
for arrest, although at the same time the penalty for dealing will be 
increased from five to 14 years in prison.

Blunkett must be in a muddle of five-joint proportions to conclude that it 
should suddenly be less wrong to possess marijuana, but almost three times 
as wrong to sell it. Dealers will naturally be encouraged to push more 
lucrative, and dangerous, hard drugs if they are liable to a long stretch 
regardless.

The Nevada proposition makes much more sense by putting the illegal pot 
dealers out of business and generating a few bucks for the government. 
Perhaps that will raise moral objections, but what is good for alcohol and 
tobacco ought to be good for such a comparatively benign drug as marijuana.

Wainwright, though a lonely voice in the DA's race, would find plenty of 
support among the police in this and other countries for the view that an 
inordinate amount of time and money is wasted on penny-ante drug cases. 
Britain's Association of Police Chiefs agrees with that proposition, 
although Blunkett's announcement caused the resignation of drug czar Keith 
Hellawell.

If it is true, as hard-liners argue, that marijuana users are liable to 
graduate to heroin and crack cocaine, it cannot be said that strict 
prohibition has helped. Heroin is making a big comeback on the streets of 
New Orleans right now, and it may be that legalizing marijuana and 
regulating its sale would separate users from purveyors of the hard stuff.

Since the Dutch government adopted such a policy, far fewer marijuana users 
are reported to have made the switch to hard drugs. In Holland heroin is 
the province of old timers; in New Orleans youngsters continue to become 
addicted.

It is at least arguable that the legalization of marijuana would make New 
Orleans safer by freeing the police to concentrate on crimes, often 
committed by hard drug users, that threaten life and property. Any debate 
on the subject would certainly be germane in a DA's race, but the only 
politic course for candidates is to denounce drugs as a scourge and oppose 
any move to relax the laws.

A liberal candidate for DA seems, after 30 years of Connick, almost a 
contradiction in terms. A candidate for DA who is awaiting trial takes a 
bit of getting used to as well. That Wainwright may not agree with the law 
he is accused of breaking does not make his candidacy any less incongruous.
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