cannabisnews.com: Berkeley May Relax Drug Law!





Berkeley May Relax Drug Law!
Posted by FoM on July 04, 1999 at 10:02:09 PT
City considers ordinance to ignore most MJ Laws!
Source: Hot CoCo
BERKELEY -- It could become a whole lot easier to get away with smoking marijuana in Berkeley.The city is weighing an ordinance that would all but legalize marijuana by telling the police to ignore most laws against it. If adopted, the law would allow medicinal users to have more than one pound of the stuff on hand, and smoking it in public wouldn't land users in jail.
The proposal, dubbed "The Kinder and Safer Streets Act of 1999," is still a long way from becoming law, and it remains unclear how much Berkeley would relax its marijuana law enforcement. The City Council, noting a big jump in marijuana arrests last year, recently told the city manager and police chief to weigh in on the issue, but it will probably be several months before it comes to a vote."The goal is to stop subjecting people to the pain of being criminalized and make sure Berkeley honors the spirit and the letter of Prop. 215," said Councilman Kriss Worthington, who sponsored the ordinance with Councilwoman Linda Maio.Police question the need for the law because arresting people for smoking marijuana has never been a high priority."In terms of the great scheme of things and all the things we have to do as police officers, it's not high on the list to go out and enforce marijuana laws," said police Capt. Bobby Miller.Most Berkeley residents support the medicinal use of marijuana -- 81 percent approved Prop. 215 -- and the council is widely expected to do something to make it easier for the sick to obtain the drug. Less clear is whether the council is willing to allow the same latitude for those who get high just for fun."People who benefit from it should be allowed to use it," said Councilwoman Betty Olds. "But it should be restricted. My concern is that it will open the floodgates." Passed Prop. 215 derailsCalifornia voters approved Prop. 215 in 1996, allowing the seriously ill to use marijuana with a doctor's prescription. The initiative has largely failed because of the federal government, which has shut down marijuana "clubs" in San Francisco and other cities.Although many Bay Area cities, including Oakland and San Jose, allow the operation of such clubs, Berkeley is believed to be the first to consider easing restrictions on recreational marijuana use as well."There's no other city that's taken as bold a stand," said Don Duncan of Berkeley's Cannabis Action Network, which helped write the proposed ordinance. "Berkeley is leading the charge on this issue."The new law would update a 20-year-old ordinance that made enforcement of marijuana laws a low priority by discouraging police from arresting people for possessing or using the drug.The updated law allows the greatest leeway to medicinal marijuana users by prohibiting police from arresting or citing patients, their caretakers or medical marijuana clubs. Patients would be allowed to possess as much as 1.5 pounds of marijuana or cultivate as many as 30 plants.The law also calls for protecting recreational users by creating three enforcement "priority levels" reflecting the severity of the offense. For example, selling marijuana to a child or driving while stoned would be a "high-priority" crime that would land the offender in jail.Arresting people for smoking marijuana outside a cafe would be a moderate priority, in which police might ask the people to abstain and, if they refuse, cite them for disorderly conduct. The idea is to minimize the number of felonious marijuana arrests, which carry stiffer penalties, including the loss of a driver's license, student financial aid and government assistance benefits."It's inequitable and excessive punishment," said Dale Gieringer, coordinator of the state chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "This will get the police to focus on more serious crimes and not waste such resources on what is a petty offense."The lowest priority -- meaning police should ignore the offense -- would be arresting someone for using or possessing marijuana at home."We've tried to take the middle ground and set some guidelines that spell out when it is appropriate to enforce marijuana laws and when it's not appropriate," Duncan said.Miller argues that the police have always followed such guidelines."This ordinance apparently talks about assuring that marijuana enforcement be one of the lowest priorities," he said. "But that's no change from what has always been done." Arrests nearly tripleThe drive to reform the city's drug enforcement policy is fueled by alarm over an almost threefold increase in marijuana arrests by Berkeley police last year. Police attribute the jump to a crackdown on drug dealing around Telegraph Avenue, but critics worry that medicinal marijuana users are being unjustly punished.One case Worthington and others found particularly troubling was October's arrest of Buzz Linhart, who uses marijuana to relieve glaucoma and other ailments. He has a doctor's prescription for marijuana and grew the substance in the back yard of his south Berkeley home."It was what we considered to be a legal medicinal garden," Linhart said.Linhart declined to discuss specifics of the case because of possible litigation, but according to news reports, police seized 13 marijuana plants even after Linhart showed them a prescription. The plants were confiscated and held for seven months until a judge tossed out the arrest and ordered police to return the plants.Linhart was one of 109 people arrested on felonious marijuana charges between July and December 1998 -- up from just 38 during the same period in 1997, police records show."What we're seeing in Berkeley, even in the aftermath of Prop. 215, is arrests for medical and nonmedical use of marijuana are increasing dramatically," Duncan said.There were 305 felony and misdemeanor marijuana offenses in Berkeley last year, police reported. That represents less than one-half of 1 percent of the 68,164 cases the department investigated, police said.As of Wednesday, there had been 139 marijuana arrests this year, police said.Miller said that many of last year's arrests came during two drug crackdowns in the Telegraph area. Both followed complaints from the City Council, merchants and residents about loitering and drug dealing, he said."People were peddling all kinds of drugs, but there was more marijuana being sold and passed than even we realized at the time," he said.By Chuck SquatrigliaTIMES STAFF WRITERPublished on July 4, 1999Chuck Squatriglia covers Berkeley.Reach him at 510-262-2723or csquatriglia cctimes.com. 
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on July 04, 1999 at 10:14:13 PT:
Here's the direct link to the article!
Happy Fourth of July Everyone!http://www.hotcoco.com/news/eastbay/ebaystories/ni100462.htm
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