Pubdate: Sun, 17 Apr 2005
Source: Columbia Daily Tribune (MO)
Copyright: 2005 Columbia Daily Tribune
Contact:  http://www.columbiatribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/91
Author: Chuck Adamson, of the Tribune's staff
Note: Prints the street address of LTE writers.

POT LAW RETURNS TO ARENA

NORML student objects to repeal

A University of Missouri-Columbia student who supports more lenient
marijuana laws plans to speak to the Columbia City Council tomorrow in
opposition to the Columbia Police Officers Association's efforts to
repeal a voter-approved marijuana ordinance.

The ordinance, one of two marijuana-related proposals voters approved
last year, decriminalizes possession of small amounts of pot. It
reduces the penalty to a fine without offenders getting a criminal
record.

Bailey Hirschburg, president of the University of Missouri-Columbia
chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws,
said he plans to tell council members to "clearly think about the issue."

"I don't have a problem with" police "as citizens acting to change the
law. That's what we did," Hirschburg said. "But I think they are
judging far too quickly that this law is a failure. It's only been in
place for six months."

Hirschburg, 21, is an MU sophomore from Cape Girardeau. He said he
smokes marijuana recreationally.

"I do enjoy it from time from time," he said. "We're talking about
use, not abuse. And even if you do abuse it, it's not as harmful as
alcohol or cigarette abuse."

Hirschburg said he plans to tell the council that he is afraid the
Columbia Police Officers Association, or CPOA, is trying to
disenfranchise college students by pushing for repeal on a summertime
ballot.

CPOA President Sterling Infield said Hirschburg need not worry because
the police group won't make the deadline for the August ballot anyway.

As for Hirschburg's planned comments to the council, Infield said,
"It's his constitutional right."

The CPOA has been gathering signatures to repeal the law. It is not
trying to repeal a second law that decriminalizes marijuana use when
prescribed for medicinal purposes.

Infield said the association and its supporters are pressing toward
their goal of 2,900 signatures.

The CPOA has maintained that marijuana is a gateway drug and that the
new law sends a message that it's OK to sell and smoke marijuana.

Infield said one of the major arguments made for the new law's passage
- - that a pot conviction can disqualify a college student from
financial aid - is not supported by data.

"We looked and researched. No one has ever lost student financial aid,
ever, from a city drug conviction," Infield said. "I'm a little
confused as to why they are pushing this issue."

He said they discovered just four students locally who temporarily
lost financial aid after a marijuana conviction in state court.

A similar marijuana reform measure failed to win voter support in
April 2003. The new law passed in November 2004 with 61 percent of the
vote.

Hirschburg said the current law, which imposes a $250 fine, is
reasonable.

"It's clearly what the city wants," he said. "We think they are
completely reasonable laws. I couldn't afford one $250 fine."
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MAP posted-by: Derek