Pubdate: Wed, 05 Feb 2014
Source: Washington Times (DC)
Page: A1
Copyright: 2014 The Washington Times, LLC.
Contact:  http://www.washingtontimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Author: Andrea Noble

POT POSSESSION VS. PUBLIC USE DEBATED

D.C. Council Moves Uneasily Toward Decriminalization

The D.C. Council on Tuesday approved a watered-down version of a bill
decriminalizing marijuana possession in the nation's capital, adding a
last-minute amendment that would ensure pot smoking in public
continues to be illegal.

The bill, which passed by a 11-1 vote and faces a final count as soon
as Feb. 18, went into the session with 10 co-sponsors on the 13-member
council. But it nearly fell apart in the hours before the vote amid
objections from the mayor and the police chief and squabbling among
council members who seemed uncertain of its scope and effects.

The final product makes possession of an ounce or less of marijuana
punishable by a civil fine of $25, yet preserves laws making the
public smoking of marijuana a criminal offense. But the bill also
reduces penalties for marijuana - up to a year in jail and a $1,000
fine - to a punishment of up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.

The difference between the penalties in use and possession of
marijuana make the District's proposal distinct from states that have
decriminalization statutes on the books, analysts say. Sixteen states
have some form of marijuana decriminalization laws, according to the
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

"The vast majority of states treat public use the same as possession,"
said Karen O'Keefe, director of state policies at the Marijuana Policy
Project.

While decriminalization statutes and fines vary from state to state -
with some including graduated penalties for repeat offenders - only
New York creates a similar distinction for the public view or
consumption of marijuana, Ms. O'Keefe said.

"Some states, like California, don't distinguish between possession
and smoking," said Bill Piper, director of national affairs at the
Drug Policy Alliance.

Marijuana laws diverge dramatically across the country, with Colorado
and Washington having outright legalized recreational use of the drug
that the federal government still considers illegal.

The wide spectrum of laws on the subject has left lawmakers plenty of
room to craft legislative solutions suited to their own
jurisdictions.

Mayor Vincent C. Gray wrote in a letter submitted to the council
Tuesday morning that it was necessary to keep public use a criminal
offense so Metropolitan Police Department officers would have the
ability to keep drug use on city streets at bay.

"The legislation as drafted will have the effect of removing any
deterrents from persons smoking marijuana in parks, school grounds,
sidewalks, and in front of their homes," he wrote, comparing the
previously proposed $100 fine for public marijuana use to a littering
fine.

He said Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier shared his concern,
and he invoked the imagery of the drug wars that ravaged the city in
past decades. If the bill passes, he said, police "will have very
little ability to combat open-air drug markets except through
undercover operations."

"Those of us who remember the days when open-air drug markets plagued
our neighborhoods do not want to see them or the violence that all too
often accompanies them return," he said.

But carving out an exception for public pot smoking to remain a
criminal offense undercuts the original purpose of the bill, which was
to reduce the racial disparities in the arrest rates for marijuana
possession, according to activists and the bill's chief sponsor,
council member Tommy Wells.

"I am extremely disappointed that my colleagues, Mayor Gray and Chief
Lanier would choose to continue the pattern of injustice by supporting
these amendments," said Mr. Wells, Ward 6 Democrat, who pledged to
continue working on the bill ahead of the next vote.

Before voting on the bill Tuesday, council members said they wanted to
balance concerns over the potential for rampant drug abuse on city
streets with that of the lopsided enforcement - which leaves blacks
eight times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than
whites, though rates of use among both races are thought to be
relatively similar.

Lawmakers approved an amendment to clarify that police can continue to
use the smell of marijuana as probable cause to search a vehicle but
shelved another that would address whether employers could test for
marijuana. By the end of the debate, virtually all council members
found common ground behind the analogy of liquor laws - which also
prohibit public consumption.

"It's a quality-of-life issue," said D.C. Council Chairman Phil
Mendelson, noting he was not pleased when during a recent outing with
his daughter at the Verizon Center he caught a whiff of marijuana
being smoked nearby.

Mr. Mendelson first signaled late Monday that he planned to introduce
the amendment that would keep criminal penalties for public marijuana
smoking intact.

Advocates say that, by carving out the distinction, the city will
perpetuate arrest disparities that have been cited as the chief reason
for reform.

"Our concern is if you're making public consumption a criminal
arrestable offense, that is going to leave the racial disparities
intact," Mr. Piper said.

Disparate enforcement has led to outcry over New York's marijuana
laws, which make possession of a small amount of the drug in a private
home a civil violation but on the street makes it an arrestable
offense, as the New York Police Department's stop-and-frisk policies
came under attack. Under the laws, officers will ask people they have
stopped to empty their pockets, only to arrest them if marijuana is
found "in public view" once the person takes it out of a pocket, Ms.
O'Keefe said.

"The exception has been so abused," she said.  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D