Pubdate: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 Source: Iowa City Press-Citizen (IA) Copyright: 2006 Iowa City Press-Citizen Contact: http://www.press-citizen.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1330 Author: Brian Morelli, Iowa City Press-Citizen Cited: Students for a Sensible Drug Policy http://www.daregeneration.com Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) WHITE RESPONDS TO MARIJUANA IDEAS County Attorney: Reducing Penalties Would Send Wrong Message Johnson County Attorney J. Patrick White said Thursday reducing penalties for marijuana would send people the wrong message. His comments were in response to two of county Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek's recommendations to a legislative sentencing reform panel Wednesday. Pulkrabek suggested decreasing the penalty for small amounts of marijuana from a serious to a simple misdemeanor and a locked detoxification center for those charged with public intoxication. The effect would be a cite-and-release policy and would help alleviate jail crowding, Pulkrabek said. "I don't agree with Lonny's apparent position on marijuana," White said. "I think (changing marijuana laws) sends exactly the wrong message. We've spent years telling people not to get into the drug culture." White said he recommends that officers arrest and book for indictable level offenses, and that while a detoxification center is a good idea, it is not financially feasible. "If officers choose to cite and release someone for possession, that is at their discretion. It wouldn't take a legislative change to do that," White said, adding that a change would not substantially relieve the attorney's office workload. "All of us said for years and years that if a detoxification center was in place, it would be used. Not for all offenses, but it is a tool law enforcement would like to have," he said. The Johnson County Jail has 92 beds plus a 10-person holding cell. In addition to his recommendations, Pulkrabek also said he still thinks the county needs a new jail. "I am always looking to bring debate and attention to the jail overcrowding issue -- always. The whole purpose of my testimony was to stir debate," he said Thursday in a telephone interview. "A lot of resources are spent on processing ... and releasing them the next day," he said. "Someone could end up spending quite a while in jail because they can't post bond. I'd rather save the space for someone who has committed a more serious crime." While people have taken many sides on the issue, jail crowding rests at the base. Nick Philipp spent four days in the general population of Linn County jail in 2004 stemming from what he said amounted to a partial joint. Philipp, 25, of Coralville, said he had been arrested twice within six months, once for being in a car with someone with marijuana, and then again for having part of a marijuana joint. "What I did was wrong. I accept that. But I was in jail with someone moving 150 pounds of marijuana, someone with a meth lab and people in for serious domestic abuse," Philipp said Thursday. "Because the jail was so crowded, I got put in with those convicted of felonies." Todd Versteegh, chairman of the Johnson County Republicans, said he thought Pulkrabek was just pandering to his base. He said the county needs a new jail, not a loosening of current laws. He also noted that Johnson County spends a lot of money to send people to other jails. Pulkrabek told legislators it was $2 million since 2001. "I am surprised a law enforcement official would advocate for relaxing laws," Versteegh said. "It is a very serious issue. Because of type of town Iowa City is, alcohol enforcement is one of the biggest issues." Rep. Vicki Lensing, D-Iowa City, was part of the panel Pulkrabek spoke to. She said she was unsure what changes would occur or how quickly they would happen, but that it was important to get the viewpoint from a law enforcement official. "It raised a red flag that this is something we have to deal with. I understand they have some things they really struggle with, especially in Iowa City. If they don't bring it to our attention, how are they ever going to get changes?" Lensing said. Matt Georges, president of the University of Iowa chapter of Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, said he was encouraged that a police officer recognized that "in some cases the punishment no longer fits the crime." "I think think it speaks volumes that an officer of the law, who deals with this issue on a daily basis, realizes that there is a need to revisit the way we enforce our drug laws. "I don't think a police department can do its job serving and protecting the whole community if they are instead made to sit back at the station and look after intoxicated people that pose little or no threat to anyone else," Georges said in a statement. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake