Pubdate: Fri, 26 Aug 2005
Source: Lawrence Journal-World (KS)
Copyright: 2005 The Lawrence Journal-World
Contact: http://www.ljworld.com/site/submit_letter
Website: http://www.ljworld.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1075
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

WHITE HOUSE BLASTS LAWRENCE POT PROPOSAL

Police Chief, However, Says Idea May Have Merit

Lawrence's police chief thinks it could have "great merit." The mayor 
supports it, and so does the county's top prosecutor.

But George Bush's White House says a proposal to take a streamlined 
approach to marijuana-possession crimes in Lawrence is a dangerous idea.

Rafael Lemaitre, a spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug 
Control Policy in Washington, D.C., told the Journal-World on Thursday that 
marijuana was a "harmful drug" that should be strictly regulated.

"Marijuana is a great source of ignorance for many people," Lemaitre said. 
"They think that it's a soft drug or harmless drug, that law enforcement is 
wasting its resources by prosecuting these cases. That's not true."

A newly formed group, Drug Policy Forum of Kansas, is asking the City 
Commission to start sending marijuana-possession and drug-paraphernalia 
cases from District Court into the more informal Municipal Court. The group 
argues the change is needed to cut prosecution costs and keep college 
students from being denied financial aid under a 1998 federal law.

Lemaitre, the White House spokesman, said most efforts like the one in 
Lawrence weren't grass-roots, but were part of a national campaign funded, 
in part, by activists such as billionaire George Soros. Soros sits on the 
board of directors of the Drug Policy Alliance, which is working to 
liberalize drug laws.

The local group's director, Laura A. Green, said that, so far, the group 
was using a combination of personal money and volunteer work for its 
efforts. But she said the group was seeking funding from national groups.

Marijuana enforcement is seen as an increasingly high priority for the 
federal government, according to a study released in May by The Sentencing 
Project, a think tank based in Washington, D.C.

The study found that marijuana arrests grew by 113 percent between 1990 and 
2002 -- while overall arrests decreased by 3 percent -- and that the 
country spends an estimated $4 billion each year on arresting, prosecuting 
and incarcerating marijuana offenders.

During an online Journal-World chat on Thursday, Police Chief Ron Olin 
indicated he wasn't opposed outright to the local proposal and said that, 
if done well, it could have "great merit."

"I don't want to see anything that's contrary to state law or somehow 
implies that we are some sanctuary that has legalized marijuana," Olin said 
after the chat. "I want to see exactly what the proposal is."

Olin said officers routinely happen upon small amounts of marijuana by 
chance. When that happens, he said, they must go through the trouble of 
making an arrest, filling out an evidence sheet, writing police reports and 
writing affidavits for court.

If the city changes the procedure, officers likely would be required only 
to issue the suspect a notice to appear in municipal court: a piece of 
paper similar to a traffic ticket. Olin said the change could give "more 
latitude in the enforcement action than we have at the present time."

Bruce Beale, director of DCCCA, a drug and alcohol treatment program in 
Lawrence, said he would have no problem changing how drug violations are 
adjudicated, as long as the change didn't make it easier to get away with 
marijuana use.

Marijuana and alcohol, he said, are "gateway drugs" to more dangerous 
substances.

"Prosecutions are typically a deterrent," Beale said.

The City Commission is expected to discuss the idea at a Sept. 6 meeting. 
Olin said the city's legal staff and members of a city-county 
drug-investigation unit were still looking into the details of how the 
proposal might work.

City prosecutor Jerry Little has said that penalties in municipal court 
would be comparable to those in District Court and, if convicted, the 
defendant still would be guilty of a misdemeanor. Little said he's asked 
Dist. Atty. Charles Branson to send him information about how marijuana 
cases are typically handled in District Court.

- - Staff writer Joel Mathis contributed to this report.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman