Pubdate: Mon, 13 Jan 2014
Source: U.S. News & World Report (US)
Copyright: 2014 U.S. News & World Report
Contact: (202) 955-2685
Website: http://www.usnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/464
Author: Steve Nelson

COLORADO MARIJUANA ARRESTS CONTINUE DESPITE LEGALIZATION

Hundreds Were Charged For Possession Of Less Than 2 Ounces Of Weed In 2013

Coloradans voted to legalize marijuana in November 2012 and
pot-related arrests plummeted in 2013. Despite the decline, more than
1,000 people were charged in Colorado last year with possession of
less than 2 ounces of the drug.

Voter-approved Amendment 64 legalized possession of 1 ounce of
marijuana, effective Dec. 10, 2012, for adults over age 21. Residents
can legally grow six plants and gift 1 ounce to friends. Medical
marijuana patients can possess 2 ounces.

A year-to-year comparison of marijuana-related charges in the first
nine months of 2012 and 2013 wasreported Sunday by The Denver Post,
which acquired the data from the Colorado Judicial Branch.

Between January and September 2013, 1,194 people were charged in
Colorado with possession of less than 2 ounces of marijuana, a
misdemeanor. During the same period a year earlier, 6,422 people were
charged with petty possession, meaning charges for that offense
declined by 81 percent.

[DEBATE CLUB: Should Marijuana Be Legalized?]

It's unclear, however, why there remained a substantial number of
busts for small-scale possession.

Many, but not all, of the petty possession charges listed in a
spreadsheet of cases from the Colorado Judicial Branch were filed
against adults between the ages of 18 and 21. Some of the charges were
filed against juveniles and some against adults over 21.

Rachel Gillette, executive director of Colorado NORML - a chapter of
the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws - says
charges for possession of less than 2 ounces may in part "be the
result of confusion about the law by some people." For more than a
decade, she notes, Colorado has permitted medical marijuana patients
to possess 2 ounces.

"Generally we're very pleased" with changes to policing, she says. The
group currently is more focused on the state's drugged driving law and
working to limit the possibility of felony charges for residents
exceeding the law's allowable possession and plant limits.

[RELATED: Critics Predict 'Hogwild' Colorado Trainwreck]

Although the advocacy group's board hasn't discussed a position on
legalization for 18- to 21-year-olds, Gillette believes "there's no
reason we should be ruining a young person's life because they are
possessing some amount of marijuana."

Diane Goldstein, a board member of Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition, says it's also possible some police officers are
"intentionally undermining the law" by using their discretion to make
arrests.

"The problem with statistics is you lose the context of the arrest,"
Goldstein says. "Police have a wide latitude in discretion."

Goldstein, a retired police lieutenant commander from Redondo Beach,
Calif., points out that judges dismissed 84 percent of petty
possession charges filed during the month of September 2013, which she
sees as a sign cops also may not have received proper training on
implementing the law. In September 2012, the dismissal rate for petty
possession was lower, at 79 percent, the Post reports.

[READ: Several States, D.C. May Legalize Marijuana in
2014]

Goldstein says some of the charges likely are filed because of
probation or parole violations.

The total number of marijuana-related criminal charges in Colorado
state courts was 1,674 in the first nine months of 2013. In the same
period in 2012, there were 7,274 such charges. The Post reports the
number of charges for possessing more than 12 ounces declined 73
percent while the number of charges for possession with intent to
distribute less than 5 pounds fell 70 percent. The number of citations
for public consumption dropped 17 percent. Police try to stop a
student as he runs through a barrier on April 20, 2012, at the
University of Colorado in Boulder, Colo. He was run down by police and
arrested. Police blocked off the Norlin Quad to prevent a 420
marijuana smoke out.

Police try to stop a student as he runs through a barrier on April 20,
2012, at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colo.

State-licensed recreational marijuana stores opened in the state on
Jan. 1. Local communities have the power to block stores and the city
council of Colorado Springs, the state's second-largest city, voted in
July to prevent the opening of one there.

Mason Tvert, co-director of the Amendment 64 campaign and current
spokesman of the Marijuana Policy Project, says the significant
decline in marijuana charges is evidence that police are properly
adjusting to legalization.

"Law enforcement officials surely have better things to do with their
time than arresting and prosecuting adults for using a less harmful
substance than alcohol," he says. "Adjusting to new laws is not a new
concept for police and prosecutors, and it appears they are doing it
successfully in this case."  
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