Jacob Bell
New Member
Come Election Day, Tacoma voters will decide whether city police and prosecutors should continue to pursue pot crimes — or simply blow them off altogether.
Initiative No. 1 asks voters to make "marijuana or cannabis offenses ... the lowest enforcement priority of the City of Tacoma."
If approved, the measure would, in theory, allow city police and prosecutors to cast a blind eye toward most marijuana crimes, giving discretion to Tacoma's police chief and city attorney to define what "lowest enforcement priority" means.
I-1 is modeled after a law passed by Seattle voters in 2003. Its supporters contend the measure would free onerous amounts of public resources from being wasted in pursuit of what's largely a low-impact personal choice.
It would also allow sick people in Tacoma with valid marijuana prescriptions to use their medicine of choice without fear of legal consequence, supporters say — just as the state's medical marijuana law purportedly allows.
"This isn't about legalization. If you're a drug dealer, you're still going to jail," said Sherry Bockwinkel, a co-petitioner of the measure.
"What this is about is enforcement priorities. If you're an adult making adult decisions about personal use, we're saying city government shouldn't be wasting public resources to go after you. They've got more serious crimes to deal with."
There is no organized opposition to I-1, but local police and prosecutors say the initiative isn't necessary. They point to statistics showing pot crimes already are low priority.
"Frankly, it's not going to make a whole lot of difference in what we do," said Deputy City Attorney Jean Hayes, who heads criminal prosecutions. "Prosecution of marijuana is not a high priority right now for us. I don't know how we can make it any lower."
Police Chief Don Ramsdell added that he doesn't envision changes in how his officers work, either.
"Are we going to take the discretion away from our officers to enforce the law?" he said. "No. The law is the law. If you're smoking marijuana in public, that's illegal. As long as our officers are faced with situations where there's probable cause to make an arrest, then they have a right to take enforcement action."
A RESPONSE TO VETO
Supporters say they pushed to take I-1 to voters after a gubernatorial veto left standing only some of the changes state lawmakers made to the medical marijuana law this year.
"The amendments made it worse," said Bockwinkel, who is a medical cannabis card holder.
Local medical marijuana patients and proponents also feared legal consequences.
"You'd hear stories about people's medicine getting confiscated by police," said Don Muridan, a prostate cancer patient who operates the Rainier Wellness Center, a medical cannabis dispensary. "As a taxpayer, that's not how I want our law enforcement resources used."
In April, activists submitted a petition for Tacoma's measure based on language borrowed from Seattle's Initiative 75. Supporters easily obtained the 3,858 signatures required to place the issue on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. The Auditor's Office stopped counting signatures once officials were sure the measure had qualified, though Bockwinkel estimates about 10,000 people signed the petition.
If approved by voters, I-1 specifically calls to add four new sections to the Tacoma Municipal Code's chapter on public safety. It would provide that "the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of cannabis (marijuana) offenses be the lowest enforcement priority of the Tacoma Police Department and the Tacoma City Attorney's Office."
The chief of police and the city attorney "may define" what the term "lowest enforcement priority" means in their policy and procedure manuals.
As it stands now, the city prosecutes two crimes related to marijuana, Hayes said. Both misdemeanors, one deals with possession of 40 grams or less, while the other involves a drug paraphernalia charge that's more often tied to methamphetamine or crack cocaine use, she said. (Felony cases — those involving manufacturing and distribution — are dealt with at the county and federal levels.)
The possession charge accounts for most of the city's marijuana prosecutions, Hayes said. From Oct. 1, 2010, to Sept. 30, 2011, the city charged a total of 223 cases, she said.
"That's not even one a day," Hayes said. "And I can also tell you that charging has dropped off in the last six months."
One reason for the decline, Hayes said, is because of recent changes in case law that limit police searches. Cases that are charged are overwhelmingly settled before trial through "a slow dismissal" process, which eventually drops the charge if a defendant complies with certain conditions.
"We're giving the best deals we possibly can right now," Hayes said. "They just are not a priority for us."
Ramsdell agreed, contending that his officers typically make marijuana cases only as a "secondary offense" — say, when they arrest a suspect for a more serious crime and find pot in his pocket.
"If we come across an individual who has a medical marijuana card or has an affirmative defense, we're not going out of our way to make arrests," the chief added.
"That's fantastic to hear," Bockwinkel said. "But sometimes actions speak louder than words — so let's just put this into law to give them some direction."
As example, she points to Tacoma's Hempfest this summer — a festival of all things marijuana. Police cited several vendors for hawking marijuana paraphernalia and threatened to arrest them if they continued selling the products.
Kent Underwood, a Tacoma lawyer who represents some medical marijuana dispensary operators, added police have frequently raided medical cannabis growers and other personal users, leading to tens of thousands of dollars in property destruction.
"People lose their houses, their finances are destroyed and these cases drag on for years — and really, for what gain?" he asks. "The cost of enforcing marijuana-related crimes is not proportionate to the negative impact it has on society."
Authorities contend they still have a responsibility to uphold the law.
"I have an obligation, and this (initiative) doesn't change that (marijuana possession) is a crime," Hayes said. "So, I still have to charge it if a crime is committed."
Not so, contends Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes.
"If that was taken to its extreme and we were to prosecute everything that came through the door," Holmes said, "we would quickly fill up jails and exhaust all of our resources."
SEATTLE'S EXPERIENCE
In 2009, when Holmes challenged incumbent Tom Carr for Seattle's elected city attorney job, he made I-75 a campaign issue.
The law had been in place for six years, and pot prosecutions had fallen under Carr.
"But there was still some debate over what the numbers actually meant," Holmes said.
Holmes won the election and quickly took a zero-tolerance approach to marijuana cases.
"Other than one plea deal that slipped by during my first week in office, there've been zero cases," he said.
Prosecutorial discretion and the law itself give Holmes all the guidance he needs, he said.
"I think I-75 means what it says — it is to be the lowest law enforcement priority," he said. "Unless the law changes, I'm not going to charge a marijuana case."
Part of Seattle's measure stipulated that once it was approved, a task force would be formed to analyze I-75's impacts. In late 2007, the panel released findings that showed since I-75 took effect, police referrals, prosecutions and administrative costs of marijuana cases had fallen. The study also found no evidence of increased crime, adverse public health impacts or marijuana use among young people.
Tacoma's I-1 doesn't provide that such an analysis take place, so nothing will gauge how it's working. "We didn't think it was necessary to spend resources on that," Bockwinkel said. "Seattle already showed this is good public policy."
But if current statistics are any indicator, Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said, they already show marijuana enforcement is a low priority.
"The way I understand this initiative, it's akin to making homicides a high priority," Lindquist said. "They already are. But this is a democracy, and I respect people who want to express their opinion."
News Hawk- Jacob Ebel 420 MAGAZINE
Source: bellinghamherald.com
Author: Lewis Kamb
Contact: Contact Us
Copyright: The Bellingham Herald
Website: Initiative 1 would relax pot policing in Tacoma
Initiative No. 1 asks voters to make "marijuana or cannabis offenses ... the lowest enforcement priority of the City of Tacoma."
If approved, the measure would, in theory, allow city police and prosecutors to cast a blind eye toward most marijuana crimes, giving discretion to Tacoma's police chief and city attorney to define what "lowest enforcement priority" means.
I-1 is modeled after a law passed by Seattle voters in 2003. Its supporters contend the measure would free onerous amounts of public resources from being wasted in pursuit of what's largely a low-impact personal choice.
It would also allow sick people in Tacoma with valid marijuana prescriptions to use their medicine of choice without fear of legal consequence, supporters say — just as the state's medical marijuana law purportedly allows.
"This isn't about legalization. If you're a drug dealer, you're still going to jail," said Sherry Bockwinkel, a co-petitioner of the measure.
"What this is about is enforcement priorities. If you're an adult making adult decisions about personal use, we're saying city government shouldn't be wasting public resources to go after you. They've got more serious crimes to deal with."
There is no organized opposition to I-1, but local police and prosecutors say the initiative isn't necessary. They point to statistics showing pot crimes already are low priority.
"Frankly, it's not going to make a whole lot of difference in what we do," said Deputy City Attorney Jean Hayes, who heads criminal prosecutions. "Prosecution of marijuana is not a high priority right now for us. I don't know how we can make it any lower."
Police Chief Don Ramsdell added that he doesn't envision changes in how his officers work, either.
"Are we going to take the discretion away from our officers to enforce the law?" he said. "No. The law is the law. If you're smoking marijuana in public, that's illegal. As long as our officers are faced with situations where there's probable cause to make an arrest, then they have a right to take enforcement action."
A RESPONSE TO VETO
Supporters say they pushed to take I-1 to voters after a gubernatorial veto left standing only some of the changes state lawmakers made to the medical marijuana law this year.
"The amendments made it worse," said Bockwinkel, who is a medical cannabis card holder.
Local medical marijuana patients and proponents also feared legal consequences.
"You'd hear stories about people's medicine getting confiscated by police," said Don Muridan, a prostate cancer patient who operates the Rainier Wellness Center, a medical cannabis dispensary. "As a taxpayer, that's not how I want our law enforcement resources used."
In April, activists submitted a petition for Tacoma's measure based on language borrowed from Seattle's Initiative 75. Supporters easily obtained the 3,858 signatures required to place the issue on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. The Auditor's Office stopped counting signatures once officials were sure the measure had qualified, though Bockwinkel estimates about 10,000 people signed the petition.
If approved by voters, I-1 specifically calls to add four new sections to the Tacoma Municipal Code's chapter on public safety. It would provide that "the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of cannabis (marijuana) offenses be the lowest enforcement priority of the Tacoma Police Department and the Tacoma City Attorney's Office."
The chief of police and the city attorney "may define" what the term "lowest enforcement priority" means in their policy and procedure manuals.
As it stands now, the city prosecutes two crimes related to marijuana, Hayes said. Both misdemeanors, one deals with possession of 40 grams or less, while the other involves a drug paraphernalia charge that's more often tied to methamphetamine or crack cocaine use, she said. (Felony cases — those involving manufacturing and distribution — are dealt with at the county and federal levels.)
The possession charge accounts for most of the city's marijuana prosecutions, Hayes said. From Oct. 1, 2010, to Sept. 30, 2011, the city charged a total of 223 cases, she said.
"That's not even one a day," Hayes said. "And I can also tell you that charging has dropped off in the last six months."
One reason for the decline, Hayes said, is because of recent changes in case law that limit police searches. Cases that are charged are overwhelmingly settled before trial through "a slow dismissal" process, which eventually drops the charge if a defendant complies with certain conditions.
"We're giving the best deals we possibly can right now," Hayes said. "They just are not a priority for us."
Ramsdell agreed, contending that his officers typically make marijuana cases only as a "secondary offense" — say, when they arrest a suspect for a more serious crime and find pot in his pocket.
"If we come across an individual who has a medical marijuana card or has an affirmative defense, we're not going out of our way to make arrests," the chief added.
"That's fantastic to hear," Bockwinkel said. "But sometimes actions speak louder than words — so let's just put this into law to give them some direction."
As example, she points to Tacoma's Hempfest this summer — a festival of all things marijuana. Police cited several vendors for hawking marijuana paraphernalia and threatened to arrest them if they continued selling the products.
Kent Underwood, a Tacoma lawyer who represents some medical marijuana dispensary operators, added police have frequently raided medical cannabis growers and other personal users, leading to tens of thousands of dollars in property destruction.
"People lose their houses, their finances are destroyed and these cases drag on for years — and really, for what gain?" he asks. "The cost of enforcing marijuana-related crimes is not proportionate to the negative impact it has on society."
Authorities contend they still have a responsibility to uphold the law.
"I have an obligation, and this (initiative) doesn't change that (marijuana possession) is a crime," Hayes said. "So, I still have to charge it if a crime is committed."
Not so, contends Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes.
"If that was taken to its extreme and we were to prosecute everything that came through the door," Holmes said, "we would quickly fill up jails and exhaust all of our resources."
SEATTLE'S EXPERIENCE
In 2009, when Holmes challenged incumbent Tom Carr for Seattle's elected city attorney job, he made I-75 a campaign issue.
The law had been in place for six years, and pot prosecutions had fallen under Carr.
"But there was still some debate over what the numbers actually meant," Holmes said.
Holmes won the election and quickly took a zero-tolerance approach to marijuana cases.
"Other than one plea deal that slipped by during my first week in office, there've been zero cases," he said.
Prosecutorial discretion and the law itself give Holmes all the guidance he needs, he said.
"I think I-75 means what it says — it is to be the lowest law enforcement priority," he said. "Unless the law changes, I'm not going to charge a marijuana case."
Part of Seattle's measure stipulated that once it was approved, a task force would be formed to analyze I-75's impacts. In late 2007, the panel released findings that showed since I-75 took effect, police referrals, prosecutions and administrative costs of marijuana cases had fallen. The study also found no evidence of increased crime, adverse public health impacts or marijuana use among young people.
Tacoma's I-1 doesn't provide that such an analysis take place, so nothing will gauge how it's working. "We didn't think it was necessary to spend resources on that," Bockwinkel said. "Seattle already showed this is good public policy."
But if current statistics are any indicator, Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said, they already show marijuana enforcement is a low priority.
"The way I understand this initiative, it's akin to making homicides a high priority," Lindquist said. "They already are. But this is a democracy, and I respect people who want to express their opinion."
News Hawk- Jacob Ebel 420 MAGAZINE
Source: bellinghamherald.com
Author: Lewis Kamb
Contact: Contact Us
Copyright: The Bellingham Herald
Website: Initiative 1 would relax pot policing in Tacoma
