Pubdate: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 Source: Good 5 Cent Cigar (U of RI: Edu) Copyright: 2005 Good 5 Cent Cigar Contact: http://www.ramcigar.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2599 Cited: SSDP http://www.ssdp.org Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?219 (Students for Sensible Drug Policy) MARIJUANA POSSESSION IS NO LONGER A CRIME? Contrary to popular belief, marijuana is not legal. It is still a crime to be in possession of marijuana. Therefore, it seems asinine to tell the police not to arrest people for breaking the law. Asking police to exercise judgment regarding arrests flaunts the will of the people. Politicians who are elected by the people create laws. If there is enough support for anti-marijuana legislation, URI Students for Sensible Drug Policy should work on fostering legislative support to change the laws. The police enforce the laws, not what they personally think the laws should be. From reading police reports and write-ups in the Cigar, the campus police do not seem to be on a righteous crusade against marijuana smokers. In Wednesday's edition of the Cigar, there were four possession arrests reported. However, all four occurred after routine traffic stops and were spread out over the course of a month. People can be nervous when pulled over by police; it's safe to assume most are. It is up to the discretion of an officer whether to ask for consent to a search. Consent was given in two of the three cases. In the third, a beer was spilled on the floor, which is a clearly justifiable cause for a search. These searches all seem justified because they did turn up illegal substances. Also, before these four men are portrayed as innocent students who are having their entire lives ruined, it should be noted that they did commit a crime and only one was a URI student. If you are committing a criminal act, even one as simple as jaywalking or speeding, you have to be prepared to deal with the consequences if you are caught. The idea that the police are missing "real crimes" by arresting students for marijuana possession is not supported by the facts. URI is not a hot bed for violent crime, unless the police, the Cigar and other state media somehow missed a secretive crime wave of murders and rapes on campus. If URI SSDP wants to reduce the number of marijuana arrests on campus, perhaps they should tell people to stop smoking marijuana. Four arrests in the span of a month does not seem an unreasonable amount for a community the size of URI. Placing the blame on police or the administration only shifts it from the people actually committing the crime. Dean of Students Fran Cohen shouldn't feel guilt about the "harsh penalty" for possession. Rather, these students should take responsibility for their own actions and realize even a "harmless" crime like marijuana possession has consequences. Finally, the Cigar is printed on gray paper, not off-white. Occasionally it is printed on white paper though. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh