cannabisnews.com: Drug-Zone Law Fails Court Test Drug-Zone Law Fails Court Test Posted by FoM on October 18, 2001 at 09:24:28 PT By Spencer Hunt, Enquirer Columbus Bureau Source: Cincinnati Enquirer The Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down a 1996 Cincinnati law intended to keep drug offenders out of Over-the-Rhine. The court ruled 6-1 that the city's drug-exclusion zone ordinance violates a person's basic right to travel Ohio's public roads, sidewalks and highways. Though the court agreed Cincinnati has a compelling interest to keep neighborhoods and parks drug-free, it said city officials went too far. “The ordinance also attacks conduct that is completely innocent,” wrote Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer. “A person subject to the exclusion ordinance may not enter a drug-exclusion zone to speak with counsel, to visit family, to attend church, to receive emergency medical care, to go to a grocery store, or just to stand on a street corner and look at a blue sky,” he wrote. City Council passed the drug exclusion law in 1996 as another tool to reduce the flow of illegal narcotics in neighborhoods such as Over-the-Rhine. The law allowed city police officers to arrest anyone recently convicted of a list of drug offenses as a trespasser if caught within a drug exclusion zone. Councilman Phil Heimlich, author of the ordinance, wants the city to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. “This law was the best tool our police officers had to combat the drug traffic in Over-the-Rhine,” Mr. Heimlich said. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled in the case of George Burnett, a neighborhood resident who was convicted in February 1988 on a misdemeanor charge of possessing drug paraphernalia. Excluded from Over-the-Rhine for a year, Mr. Burnett was arrested in the zone five months later and convicted of criminal trespass. The court's decision echoes oral arguments from Bruce F. Thompson, a Hamilton County public defender who took on Mr. Burnett's case. Mr. Thompson urged the high court to throw out the law as a violation of First Amendment rights. Six justices decided the law violated a person's right to travel within the state, saying it is a natural extension of the right to freely travel between states. The court also ruled the law violates the Ohio Constitution because it exceeds punishments for drug offenses set by the General Assembly. The drug exclusion zone has not been enforced since last year, when the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio declared it unconstitutional in a separate case. The sole dissenter on the Ohio Supreme Court, Justice Deborah Cook, disagreed the U.S. Constitution provides a right to travel, but agreed that the law violated the state constitution. Note: Cincinnati saw it as tool.Newshawk: puff_tuffSource: Cincinnati Enquirer (OH)Author: Spencer Hunt, Enquirer Columbus BureauPublished: Thursday, October 18, 2001 Copyright: 2001 The Cincinnati EnquirerContact: letters enquirer.comWebsite: http://enquirer.com/today/CannabisNews Justice Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/justice.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #4 posted by Cannabis Dave on October 18, 2001 at 15:24:02 PT "Drug Exclusion Zones" lead to police abuse. We have "Drug Exlusion Zones" here in Portland OR, and all it does it push the problem around, sort of like squeezing a balloon. All it does is lead to police abuse, and unfairly exludes many innocent citizens who thought they were living in a free country. I've never been excluded myself, but if I was it would serious trouble me. Who are they to tell me I can't come into their part of town? Those zones lead to fascist police tactics, and it has gotten much worse here since the new Chief "Krocker" from Los Angeles came in with his big city tactics. Poor little peaceful Portland is now in the hands of a man who thinks we need the radical tactics used in L.A. I'm from Los Angeles originally myself, and I was amazed at how much less the crime rate is here when I moved to Portland. Now we have this new chief from LA sending in the riot squad every time there is a little demonstration, or even when there are community "family" events. I don't think parents want to take their children places where riot-police are standing around menacing people. I noticed when I first moved here about 9 years ago, that the police here didn't look like police. They didn't have that "Nazi" look at all, and some of them died their hair, had piercings and tattoos, etc. A lot of them were openly gay, and they were a fair representation of the community at large. Now Krocker has come in from LA, and he established a new dress-code while abolishing the requirement of having a college degree. As a result, he has hired a bunch of mercinary punks, and now he wants us to "trust" him with sweeping new powers. After what his department has done here recently, I pray NOT! [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Lehder on October 18, 2001 at 12:58:53 PT riots Incompetent and harassing police work created the riots in Cincinnati. http://www.thenewrepublic.com/050701/cottle050701.html People want drugs. Laws won't change that. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by null on October 18, 2001 at 11:19:02 PT Dissenter >The sole dissenter on the Ohio Supreme Court, Justice >Deborah Cook, disagreed the U.S. Constitution provides a >right to travel, but agreed that the law violated the >state constitution. If Deborah Cook felt that the law violated the state consitution, how could she vote to uphold that state law??? Fortunately the other judges have more lucid power of logic.-null [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by GOD-MAN on October 18, 2001 at 11:00:23 PT Somewhere, deep inside... ... you have a dream. Live it. http://www.neo-tech.com/finalevo [ Post Comment ] Post Comment