Pubdate: Fri, 24 Jan 2003
Source: Maneater, The (Columbia, MO Edu)
Copyright: 2003 The Maneater
Contact:  http://www.themaneater.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1283
Author: Aidian Holder

POT INITIATIVE WILL BE ON APRIL BALLOT

The Columbia City Council declined Tuesday to support a proposal to 
liberalize marijuana laws in the city, instead slating the initiative for 
public consideration on the April 8 ballot.

The proposed ordinance, written by MU law student Anthony Johnson and local 
attorney Dan Viets, seeks to decriminalize medical marijuana and mandate 
all misdemeanor marijuana possession cases be handled as municipal 
infractions instead of state criminal offenses.

Since the enactment of 1998's Higher Education Act, students arrested on 
suspicion of any criminal drug offense have been tried in state court. If 
convicted, students lose their federal financial aid eligibility for at 
least one year. Keeping MU's student marijuana users from suffering the 
loss of eligibility is one of the primary goals of the initiative's backers.

By classifying marijuana possession as an infraction rather than a 
misdemeanor, college students arrested for possession of less than 35 grams 
of marijuana will be prosecuted in municipal court and not be in danger of 
loosing their federal student aid.

"Over 90,000 students have lost their financial aid since the Drug Free 
Student Aid Act of 1998 began being enforced," said Amy Fritz, president of 
Students for Sensible Drug Policy, an MU-based organization. "At least 27 
of them were MU students."

Missouri Students Association Senator Joshua Judy said the student aid 
policies are fundamentally unfair because they penalize students convicted 
of marijuana possession twice; first with criminal sanctions and then by 
threatening to "ruin their lives" by denying them an education.

"If you commit murder you go to jail, but you don't lose your aid," Judy 
said. "If you get caught with pot you suffer the penalty, but then you're 
penalized again."

The council was legally required by the city's charter to either approve 
the ordinance or put it to a vote on the April 8 ballot.

The only council member to support the proposal was outgoing Sixth Ward 
councilman John Coffman.

Mayor Darwin Hindman said an issue as volatile as marijuana law reform 
should be decided directly by the voters.

"Despite the faith they place in the council," Hindman said, "I'm inclined 
to believe this is one case where the voters will want to participate."

Waldo Palmer, a 90-year-old Columbia resident, was unmoved by the 
supporters' arguments.

"I must be from a different generation," Palmer said. "If we're going to 
finance them they should follow the law."

Columbia Police Chief Randy Boehm said his officers already have the 
discretion to send cases involving possession of small amounts of marijuana 
to either state or municipal courts. Boehm said he doesn't see a need for 
the ordinance.

While student activists were the original organizers of the proposal, they 
are not its only backers. Columbia attorney David Evans took the time to 
speak because he "didn't want the council to think it was just a bunch of 
young people who were in favor of this ordinance."

Under current law, possession of 35 grams or less of marijuana is a 
misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine. The 
ordinance would reclassify it as an infraction punishable by fines starting 
at $25 for a first offense and ranging upward to $500 for a fourth or 
subsequent offense.

Judy said he's optimistic about the ordinance's fate with the voters, but 
"the question is what'll happen in the courts."
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MAP posted-by: Alex