Pubdate: Mon, 05 Nov 2007
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2007 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Dan Frosch
Cited: Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation 
http://saferdenver.saferchoice.org
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)

IN DENVER, A BALLOT FIGHT OVER MARIJUANA ARRESTS

DENVER -- In 2005, voters here approved a measure making it legal for 
an adult to possess an ounce or less of marijuana. But arrests for 
misdemeanor marijuana possession have risen since then.

Now, voters are to decide on a ballot measure that would make 
possession of small amounts of marijuana the lowest enforcement 
priority for the police.

"People didn't want anyone arrested," said Mason Tvert, executive 
director of Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation, a 
pro-marijuana group that sponsored the 2005 measure and is sponsoring 
the latest one. "That's what they voted on."

Proponents of the measure, which is similar to regulations in Seattle 
and Missoula County, Mont., contend that the police have more 
pressing matters to attend to and that the use of marijuana by adults 
is less harmful than alcohol.

But, it is unclear how the authorities will react if the measure 
passes. The 2005 measure garnered 54 percent approval. But city 
officials have ignored it, choosing instead to keep enforcing 
superseding state laws, which stipulate that a marijuana offense of 
an ounce or less, considered a Class 2 petty offense in Colorado, is 
punishable by a $100 fine. Misdemeanor marijuana arrests for people 
over 21 have risen to 1,347 last year, from 1,168 in 2005.

Sgt. Ernie Martinez of the Denver Police Department said that the 
police do not single out marijuana smokers and that such arrests 
often occur when officers respond to other crimes.

Sergeant Martinez, the president of the Colorado Drug Investigators 
Association, said even if the latest ballot measure passes, he cannot 
envision ordering his officers to stop arresting people for marijuana.

"They essentially want to promote self-indulgence of marijuana use at 
the risk of the public," he said of Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation.

Mayor John Hickenlooper is against the initiative and says that 
marijuana enforcement is already a low priority for the police.

"It is not something the police specifically target for enforcement, 
or to which they deploy a significant amount of resources," said Sue 
Cobb, a spokeswoman for Mr. Hickenlooper.

Local officials elsewhere have abided by similar ballot measures. 
Officials in Missoula County have heeded a 2006 decision by voters to 
make adult marijuana possession of any amount a low priority for the 
police. But the county commission, believing that such a sweeping 
measure was not actually the voters' true intention, narrowed the 
scope of the law so to make only possession of small amounts of 
marijuana a low enforcement priority.

In Seattle, misdemeanor marijuana citations have dropped off since 
voters approved a similar measure in 2003. In August, two Seattle 
city council members sent a letter to Denver officials praising the 
Seattle initiative, calling it a sensible drug policy.

But even in that city, where an oversight panel will issue a report 
on the effects of the law, opinions are sharply divided.

The Seattle city attorney, Thomas Carr, said the data on the 
ordinance was inconclusive and noted that arrests have dropped 
citywide, not just those for marijuana. He said voters in Denver 
should judge the measure for themselves rather than holding Seattle 
up as a model.

"What I think bothers the police here is the message that marijuana 
smoking is O.K.," he said. "And that bothers me as well." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake