Pubdate: Fri, 14 Sep 2012
Source: Kalamazoo Gazette (MI)
Copyright: 2012 Kalamazoo Gazette
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/vggfBDch
Website: http://www.mlive.com/kzgazette/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/588
Author: Emily Monacelli

KALAMAZOO CITY ATTORNEY PROPOSING ORDINANCE, LOWER FINE FOR MARIJUANA 
POSSESSION

KALAMAZOO, MI -- Kalamazoo's city attorney wants city commissioners 
to pass an ordinance making possession of marijuana enforceable by an 
appearance ticket instead of an arrest.

The ordinance also would lessen the fee or jail time offenders would 
serve, and would free up police officers for other matters.

Kalamazoo City Attorney Clyde Robinson wants the Kalamazoo City 
Commission to offer for first reading Monday an ordinance that would 
make marijuana possession -- except as permitted by law -- a 
misdemeanor enforceable by the use of an appearance ticket.

Kalamazoo does not prosecute marijuana use or possession as an 
ordinance offense, Robinson said in a memo to the city commission. As 
a statutory offense, marijuana is a misdemeanor. It carries a penalty 
of one year imprisonment, a $2,000 fine, or both.

Robinson proposes the misdemeanor offense would carry a 93-day jail 
term, a $100 fine, or both.

"Enforcement of the statutory offense, particularly for small amounts 
of marijuana, requires an inordinate amount of (Kalamazoo Department 
of Public Safety) resources to catalogue and test marijuana held as 
evidence," Robinson wrote in a memo. "The KDPS believes that 
enforcing the offense as an ordinance with a lower penalty and 
permitting issuance of an appearance ticket in lieu of making an 
actual custodial arrest will be a better use of law enforcement resources."

He said Thursday the ordinance could not only save officers time, but 
could be a benefit to people who are arrested. Custodial arrests 
could take at least an hour between the arrest, transporting and processing.

"A citation can probably be issued in 10 to 15 minutes," he said.

Besides the significant drop to the fine the individual would face if 
convicted, officers wouldn't have to expend resources storing 
evidence, he said.

"If you're caught with the drugs and you want to come to court and 
you want to pay your fine and be done with it, that means any 
marijuana that's confiscated can be immediately destroyed," Robinson said.

The ordinance would parallel a state provision that someone who pleas 
guilty who has never been convicted of a controlled substance offense 
could be placed on probation and have the case dismissed upon 
completion of probation, without a conviction on his or her record. A 
person could only have one of these dismissals, Robinson wrote.

"This is in particular for young people who might have been arrested 
for the first time and they don't want a black mark on their record 
in terms of getting a job," Robinson said. The ordinance notes a city 
charter amendment passed last November which makes possession by 
someone 21 years or older of one ounce or less of marijuana the 
lowest priority for law enforcement.

The City of Portage in District Court has enforced a similar 
ordinance since 1992, and this year the City of Chicago adopted an 
ordinance making possession of 15 grams or less of marijuana 
enforceable through a citation instead of an arrest.

Robinson estimates KDPS will save time through not having to process 
arrestees and money in lab and evidence expense. "The significance of 
having officers freed up to respond to calls of service instead of 
being tied up processing an arrest cannot be understated," he wrote.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom