cannabisnews.com: New State Law Eases Penalties on Marijuana





New State Law Eases Penalties on Marijuana
Posted by FoM on September 30, 2001 at 07:56:29 PT
By Ed Vogel, Donrey Capital Bureau
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal 
Nevada's reputation as the state with the toughest marijuana penalties ends Monday when a state law goes into effect that makes possession of small amounts of pot a misdemeanor offense. Police throughout the state are gearing up to hand out citations when they catch people with an ounce or less of marijuana. These people face fines of $600 for the first two times they are caught with small amounts of marijuana. 
"I don't believe we should be arresting people for misdemeanors," Nevada Highway Patrol Chief David Hosmer said. Hosmer will advise his officers to decide case by case whether to ticket or arrest people with marijuana in their cars. In Las Vegas, Clark County Deputy District Attorney Dave Barker is advising police to consider issuing tickets rather than busting users and hauling them off to jail. Las Vegas police Lt. Stan Olsen added casual users may be given a "Class 2 booking," meaning they will be taken to jail, booked and fingerprinted, and then sent on their way. If a driver caught with marijuana is not in an impaired state, Hosmer said, troopers should confiscate the pot and issue a ticket. Troopers also will hand the driver a card with telephone numbers of organizations that help people with drug problems. Hosmer said drivers who are under the influence will be arrested, as would be any other intoxicated driver. Judges can sentence misdemeanor offenders to six months in jail, although that rarely is the practice. Barker said before making the decision to issue a citation, police in Clark County should take into account a number of factors such as whether the person has a current residence or the likelihood they will show up in court. "We will treat it like any other misdemeanor," Barker said. "It's the officer's discretion." The change in approach comes as a result of Assembly Bill 453, which decriminalizes marijuana possession. Until now, Nevada was the only state with a law that made possession of even a small amount of marijuana a felony. State records show nearly 4,500 people were arrested last year in Nevada for felony possession of marijuana. In virtually every case, their charges were reduced to misdemeanors and the users paid fines. No current inmate in the Nevada State Prison system is serving time for possession of marijuana. "I don't think the law changes much," District Judge Jack Lehman said. "If someone is picked up now for a small amount of marijuana, the police and DA generally treat it as a misdemeanor. They haven't been charged with felonies for a while." Lehman runs the drug court program in Clark County. The court offers treatment to drug users who, upon successful completion of the program, have their criminal charges dropped. He said it's methamphetamine and cocaine users -- not small-time pot users -- who make up most of the drug court participants. Reno lawyer Carter King said for marijuana users the misdemeanor law is a change for the better, both in terms of potential criminal sanctions and financially. King charges people $1,500 to have their charges in minor marijuana cases reduced to misdemeanors. Now, users may decide against hiring lawyers and simply pay the $600 fines. King said the felony law has been applied selectively. In Clark and Washoe counties, users had their charges reduced, but that hasn't always been the case in rural Nevada. The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws has hailed Nevada's decision to decriminalize marijuana. "We were perplexed that a state with gaming and prostitution in some places would have legislation against marijuana," said Allen St. Pierre, executive director of NORML, which supports laws to make marijuana a controlled drug like alcohol that could be used by adults. "We need to put marijuana where it should be, in the public nuisance area, like ripping off a tag on a mattress." Marijuana laws will now be stricter in Utah and Idaho than in Nevada, according to St. Pierre. In Idaho, the vehicle of a minor marijuana user can be confiscated and sold, he said. In Utah, students convicted of possessing one marijuana cigarette lose student loans. In its summer newsletter, NORML acknowledged Nevada's change by featuring Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, in a front-page article. Giunchigliani said the new law doesn't give the state's "blessing" to the use of marijuana, but recognizes the reality of current legal practices. "Even police officers said we were wasting our time because the felony offenses were all pleaded down," she said. Giunchigliani said Nevada might have kept its felony marijuana law for so long to give the nation a "false image" that a state with gaming and legal prostitution still could be tough on crime. Nevada's medical marijuana program is being administered through the state Department of Agriculture. The initial applications to people interested in participating in the program were sent out last week. Patients suffering from AIDS, cancer, glaucoma and other illnesses can use marijuana as long as they have the written permission of their doctors. Use of marijuana remains a federal crime, but there has been no federal prosecution in states where individuals grow their own marijuana for medical purposes. About 200 people are expected to receive approval to use marijuana during the program's first year of operation. Those with medical marijuana ID cards, however, risk arrest if they decide to use the drug in their vehicles or in public. Although he hesitates to second-guess the Legislature, Hosmer opposed the decision to decriminalize marijuana. "I don't think it is the right thing," he said. "It sends the wrong message to our youth, the message that using drugs is OK." But St. Pierre said four federal studies have shown there was no increase in marijuana use in states that reduced marijuana penalties. He added that as long ago as 1972 a federal commission recommended the decriminalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana. The Nevada fine for marijuana possession is really a "left-handed tax," St. Pierre said, that will produce a windfall for the state since police and prosectors no longer need to waste time and money on minor marijuana cases.Note: Minor possession becomes misdemeanor.Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)Author: Ed Vogel, Donrey Capital BureauPublished: Sunday, September 30, 2001 Copyright: 2001 Las Vegas Review-JournalContact: letters lvrj.comWebsite: http://www.lvrj.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:NORMLhttp://www.norml.org/Medicinal Cannabis Research Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/research.htmMarijuana Program Draws Steady Stream Of Callshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11002.shtmlStill Federal Crime: Marijuana Use Forms in Mailhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10967.shtml
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #4 posted by Vaporizer on October 06, 2001 at 20:33:50 PT
Have alcohol laws applied to pot
Legalize small amounts with an age limit. Then the state can tax the hell out of it like booze and cigarettes. They will make more money than $600 a pop for a possession offense. I don't see any victims. The users just pay another vice tax.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by Cannabis Dave on October 01, 2001 at 13:51:15 PT
So much hypocracy!!!
David Hosmer, chief the the state highway patrol, says that he is against decriminalizing marijuana, because it would send the wrong message to youth. In other words: he thinks that the acceptance of LEGAL alcohol and gambling and prostitution in Nevada are OK, but pot use is not. Nobody said marijuana should be LEGALIZED, just DECRIMINALIZED, but the chief cop is against even that. Alcohol is LEGAL but cannabis shouldn't even be decriminalized?! What that tells the youth in Nevada, is that their laws are hypocritical. By keeping marijuana illegal they cause INCREASED use of it by their youth, because it's been proven that prohibition actually greatly increases the amount of use. Cops like David Hosmer are what is wrong with this country, and he makes the drug problem much worse by his ignorant and hypocritical opinions!!!
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by dddd on October 01, 2001 at 01:17:47 PT
SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS
....$600.00,,,for a misdemeanor offense!...An "offense",that has no victim.......No,,,,there is a "victim",and that is the "offender"!!!...The "offender",has been robbed of $600.00,for a crime that only exsists in the twisted,lunatic world of drug war absurdities!......Who,and how,justifies a $600.00 fine for Marijuana possession?,,,,,Jaywalking???$300.00????....Doing 45 MPH in a 35 MPH zone,,,$432.50?...Failure to Brown-nose a Cop,$845.32??????????dddd
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by mayan on October 01, 2001 at 00:45:25 PT
Message?
 Oh no, we're sending the wrong message! Our youth's will think that it is not alright to lock someone up because they choose to ingest a substance which harms nobody else's person or property! God forbid that we live by the libertarian, God-fearing principles that our country was founded upon!Has anyone else lost faith in all of man's institutions? I wan't to believe in myself but I can only lean on God now. I never imagined there would be such a lack of sanity in this world.
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment