Pubdate: Sun, 20 Jan 2013
Source: Herald Bulletin, The (Anderson, IN)
Copyright: 2013 The Herald Bulletin
Contact:  http://www.theheraldbulletin.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3877
Authors: Maureen Hayden and Scott Smith

IN INDIANA, BOTH PARTIES CALL FOR LIGHTER POT PENALTIES

Mistakes As Teens Haunt Adults, Legislator Says

INDIANAPOLIS - On the subject of Indiana's marijuana laws, state Sen.
Karen Tallian may be in the minority for the present, but even on the
other side of the political aisle, she's gaining some allies.

The Michigan City Democrat has been in the media for her marijuana
bill, which proposes turning most possession offenses into an
infraction, the same as a speeding ticket. The law doesn't consider an
infraction to be a criminal offense.

Tallian talks about a female constituent who, as a teen, was convicted
of marijuana possession. Five years later, the young woman is being
told her past offense disqualifies her for a teaching assistant
position, Tallian said.

"Is this the kind of message we want to send to our kids? You make a
mistake one time, and it can negatively affect your career for the
rest of your life?" Tallian asked.

The idea of decriminalization, as opposed to outright legalization,
appears to be gaining traction in Indiana. A 2012 survey by the Bowen
Center for Public Affairs at Ball State University found 53 percent of
Indiana residents support the idea of a ticket for possessing small
amounts of marijuana, with 41 percent in opposition.

But the idea of decriminalization has found little traction in the
General Assembly, replaced instead by a push to bring down penalties
for pot and other drug crimes.

Under major legislation backed by prosecutors and police groups, the
penalties for most felony-level marijuana crimes would be reduced to
misdemeanors. And people caught possessing or selling the drug would
no longer automatically lose their driver's license.

The bill, put forward by state Sen. Brent Steele, R-Bedford, would
roll back Indiana's marijuana laws - some of the toughest in the
nation - that make possession a felony unless it's a first-time
offense or the amount is less than 1 ounce.

That's significant, because in Indiana, unlike many states, the threat
of prison still hangs over marijuana possession. The Indiana prison
system processed more than 400 inmates in 2011 whose most serious
offense was a felony possession charge.

Making laws more fair

The proposed changes are contained in a 422 page proposed overhaul of
Indiana's criminal code, a document arrived at through four years of
summer study sessions, failed legislation and research - a bill with a
stated the goal of making punishment more proportionate to the crime.

Its backers say the goal is to reserve prison for the most serious
offenders, while getting drug addicts and low-level offenders into
treatment to reduce recidivism.

"What's fair is what's right, and this bill makes our laws more fair,"
Steele said.

Steele, the influential conservative chairman of the Senate courts and
corrections committee, made headlines late last year when he called
for decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana.

Steele still supports the idea, saying it would save courts and
prosecutors money by not having to go after small-time users. But he
decided it wasn't politically palatable to his conservative colleagues.

So he pulled back on language he wanted to see in the larger,
criminal-code reform bill that would have made possession of 10 grams
of marijuana or less just a Class C infraction, punishable with a $500
fine and no jail time.

"Where I come from, $500 is serious money," said Steele. "Maybe to the
big boys here Indianapolis it's not much, but down home it is."

Could drop to misdemeanor

Like Steele, Tallian questions the need to treat possession of small
amounts of marijuana as a criminal offense, saying each year, Indiana
courts have to process between 12,000 and 15,000 marijuana possession
cases.

She questioned how valuable those prosecutions are to society, when
studies show essentially no change in the past 40 years in marijuana
use by college students.

"Every one of those cases requires the original arrest, the booking,
the bail, a first court appearance and probably two more court
appearances, prosecutorial review of the case and the sentence,"
Tallian said. "It costs a tremendous amount of time and money."

Steele said he doubts Tallian's bill will get out of committee, but
some of its language could end up in an amendment to a larger,
criminal-code reform bill.

Steele's bill deals with a host of drug offenses, not just with
marijuana. For example, it proposes to change laws which punish
someone caught near a school with a few grams of cocaine with a
harsher penalty than a rapist. 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D