MO: Police Launch Petition Drive Against Pot Law

By Mike Wells of the Tribune's Staff
Source: Columbia Daily Tribune


Blustery winds outside the Boone County Courthouse carried harsh words today against the city's new marijuana ordinance by those who say it reduces possession of a small amount of the drug to "less than a parking ticket."

Sterling Infield, president of the Columbia Police Officers Association, or CPOA, led a news conference announcing a petition drive to reverse the ordinance passed in November. City voters also approved a separate law decriminalizing marijuana prescribed for medical purposes, which CPOA does not oppose.

Officers plan to go door-to-door in neighborhoods to gather signatures, which will be presented to the Columbia City Council. "If that doesn't work," Infield said, "we'll take the issue back to the ballot."

Proponents needed 2,275 signatures for each of the marijuana measures to place them on the ballot.

Under the ordinance, possession of less than 1¼ ounces of marijuana earns a ticket and subjects the offender to a fine of up to $250. The offender is not arrested, and a criminal record is not created. The wording suggests suspending a fine for community service or counseling and prohibits the city prosecutor from referring the case to another prosecutor or agency unless it's committed with a felony. The election results caught CPOA by surprise, Infield said. "We were asleep," he said.

In a letter last month, Infield asked city leaders for help. "They don't want to take a stance at this time as far as what we're doing," he said.

The letter garnered criticism for referencing the death of Officer Molly Bowden and the wounding of Officer Curtis Brown by a gunman with a record of misdemeanor marijuana possession.

Infield said CPOA wasn't putting its fight on the backs of officers shot in January by Rick Evans.

"At the same time, he had drugs in his car - the same drugs we're facing today," he said.

CPOA fears that people on parole for violent crimes would be treated like first-time offenders, he said.

Department of Corrections rules for parolees, however, consider possession of any amount of illegal drugs a violation of parole and subject offenders to revocation. A criminal charge or conviction isn't required. However, it isn't clear how the Board of Probation and Parole would learn about a parolee's marijuana ticket in Columbia, corrections spokesman John Fougere said.

Eleanor Wickersham of the League of Women Voters said it's wrong for Infield's group to use parolees as a scare tactic.

"He's trying to associate it with rape and murder," she said.

Source: Columbia Daily Tribune (MO)
Author: Mike Wells of the Tribune's Staff
Published: Friday, March 11, 2005
Copyright: 2005 Columbia Daily Tribune
Contact: editor@tribmail.com
Website: http://www.columbiatribune.com/
Link to article: http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread20349.shtml

 

By Tony Messenger
Source: Columbia Daily Tribune

The whisperer wanted me to ask a question. It was a good question, but I ignored him. We were standing outside the Boone County Courthouse on a frigid Friday morning listening to Columbia police Officer Sterling Infield announce a petition drive to try to overturn the marijuana decriminalization ordinance that voters overwhelmingly approved in November.

The whisperer was one of those who helped pass the ordinance last fall. The law refers all adult pot possession cases of fewer than 35 grams to municipal court rather than state court. In effect, it says to the police we don't think this crime is a big deal.

The police, or many of them anyway, disagree. About 15 cops from Boone County police organizations stood behind Infield on the courthouse steps to show their opposition to the law that Columbians have voted on twice in the past few years. The first time it lost. Last year it passed.

And what will happen this time?

That depends on the answer to the whisperer's question.

The question the man wanted me to ask Infield was whether his group of anti-pot cops had been in touch with the Department of Justice. The implication, of course, is that big bad anti-pot feds are going to interfere with our electoral process in Columbia.

That's what happened in 2003 when assistant White House drug czar Scott Burns came to Columbia to talk about the dangers of pot. I happened to agree with Burns' message. Pot is a gateway drug, and decriminalizing it does a disservice to our city. It's worth taking a stand and teaching young people smoking dope isn't a harmless affair. But like many others, including the whisperer, I'm assuming, I was offended by Burns' attempt to say that his visit wasn't directly tied to the impending election.

This is a common federal trick. Bureaucrats and elected officials use their bloated budgets to swoop into local jurisdictions under the guise of "previously scheduled" trips or constituent visits to use their rather significant influence to sway voters.

I don't know whether Burns' visit affected Columbia voters in April 2003.

But I know the whisperer and his cohorts used the same trick last year.

In winning huge support for the pot ordinance in November, the pro-pot crowd depended on $50,000 in donations from the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project. The whisperer didn't mention that fact when asking me to make a point for him at Friday's news conference.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander, I suppose.

In fact, the pot debate is just another in a long line of national agendas being pushed on places such as Columbia by forces outside Missouri. It's no different than the anti-smoking debate or similar debates about gay marriage, abortion or tort reform. Powerful national interests with money to burn and lawyers on retainer target cities such as Columbia and states such as Missouri to build support for their cause.

Money matters in elections, so in a case such as pot, money and national influence talk. That was true in 2003 when the issue failed, and it was true last year when it passed.

This year, we ought to agree to a fair fight.

Ordinance supporter Eleanor Wickersham, a member of the League of Women Voters, told me at the news conference Friday that she was "disturbed" by the process Infield's group has mapped out, and yet the cops are merely using the same process the pro-pot forces used last year. They smartly showed up Friday in civilian clothes, not wearing their publicly supported uniforms or badges or guns. They're holding a petition drive. They'll present that petition to the council. The council will likely vote against them, and if they have enough signatures on their petitions, city charter will call for a citizen vote.

The whisperer will allege that vote will be unfair if there are outside influences, and on this point I agree, as long as the rules apply to both sides.

Infield believes the vote would have been different in November if his group wasn't "caught sleeping." They're awake now, and I believe they'll get the signatures they need to force a vote. Let's make this one stick. Neither side can decide for national groups how they're going to spend their money, but they could agree to not accept money from any group or citizen who doesn't live in the state of Missouri.

They also should agree to separate the decriminalization issue from the medicinal issue that helped carry the vote in November. Leaders on both sides of the issue should meet on the courthouse steps again and vow together that, this time, Columbia decides on its own whether or not we want pot crimes to be taken seriously.

What do you say?

Let's let local voters decide and leave the whisperers behind.

Tony Messenger is a columnist at the Tribune. His column appears on Sunday and Tuesday through Thursday.

Complete Title: Round 3 of Pot Debate Should Stay Away from National Money

Source: Columbia Daily Tribune (MO)
Author: Tony Messenger
Published: Sunday, March 13, 2005
Copyright: 2005 Columbia Daily Tribune
Contact: editor@tribmail.com
Website: http://www.columbiatribune.com/
Link to article: http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread20354.shtml

 

By Joe Meyer
Source: Columbia Missourian



Although Columbia police officers have made plain their disapproval of the city's new marijuana ordinance, they are enforcing the law with zeal, and the numbers show it. Columbia police have ticketed more people per month for misdemeanor possession of marijuana since voters approved Proposition 2 in November, but most are not being prosecuted. First-time offenders are given a second chance as part of the municipal court's marijuana deferral program.

The way the court is handling the cases prompted the Columbia Police Officers Association to start a petition drive to ask the City Council to repeal the ordinance. The ordinance passed with 61 percent support on Nov. 2.

During a news conference held Friday to announce the drive, CPOA President Sterling Infield said the organization was caught sleeping before the election. It did not organize any opposition, because it did not think the proposition would pass, Infield said.

Police Chief Randy Boehm said officers will distribute the petitions during off-duty hours and when they are not wearing their police uniforms. Police officers must enforce the law, he said, even though most do not approve of it.

“My job, whether I like the ordinances or not, is to make sure that our officers are following the law, and we are,” Boehm said.

But recent talk of the marijuana ordinance has dominated discussion on CPOA's online message board. The conversation stems from a letter Infield wrote to Assistant City Manager Paula Hertwig Hopkins last month to voice the concerns of the police organization. In that letter, he connected the marijuana ordinance with the murder of Officer Molly Bowden.

“To stop this ordinance would bring a small degree of justice back to Officer Molly Bowden and Officer Curtis Brown, who risked all to protect their community,” Infield wrote.

On Friday, Infield backed away from that assertion, saying that the association is not trying to relate the two incidents, but that police continue to deal with drugs every day.

From November to February, Columbia police wrote 141 tickets for misdemeanor marijuana possession and possession of drug paraphernalia. That number increased from the 100 arrests police made in the same time period a year ago. The number of arrests in the period was 69 two years ago.

In February, police issued 44 tickets, the biggest monthly total in the last 10 years.

Boehm said police are not going out of their way to enforce the ordinance. In nearly every case, a ticket is issued when an officer discovers the marijuana during other law enforcement activities, such as traffic stops.

Proposition 2 made marijuana possession a municipal charge handled by the municipal court instead of a state charge handled by state court. Before the new ordinance was adopted, the municipal court handled only cases involving first-time offenders. All other cases were sent to state court.

Under the marijuana deferral program, the municipal prosecutor's office defers prosecution of first-offense marijuana cases. If the person who is ticketed stays out of legal trouble for a year after he or she is ticketed, the charge will never be filed.

“It's like a freebie,” City Prosecutor Rose Wibbenmeyer said. “It's like it doesn't exist, but I reserve the right to file within the statute of limitations, which is a year.”

More than 200 defendants have been put on the deferral list and been kept out of the courtroom since November.

Columbia lawyer Dan Viets, who campaigned for the ordinance, said he is happy with the way the city is handling the cases. He said the deferral program is consistent with the language of the ordinance.

It could be considered the equivalent of unsupervised probation, Viets said.

“It leaves the defendant on notice,” Viets said. “It's not a freebie. It's not as if there are no consequences. It's exactly what is appropriate and reasonable.”

Wibbenmeyer said that when her office receives a ticket for marijuana possession, the person's name is added to a spreadsheet that has been kept since Election Day. The ticket is filed.

The ticket stays in the file for a year unless the person is caught violating any laws other than minor traffic offenses. If the person violates another law during the deferral period, city prosecutors may decide to file the original charge.

One reason Viets pushed for the law was so someone would not lose educational or employment opportunities because of a misdemeanor marijuana conviction, he said.

But Wibbenmeyer said deferring prosecution for first-time violators makes her a little uneasy.

“The whole idea is kind of strange to me,” she said. “Under the new ordinance, marijuana is the lowest law enforcement priority - lower than parking tickets. We have trials for parking tickets. We make people pay for parking tickets.”

The seconds time a person is ticketed for marijuana possession, whether during or after the one-year deferral period, the person will be charged, Wibbenmeyer said.

If someone is convicted, the court has many sentencing options outlined by the ordinance, including assigning community service, drug treatment programs and a fine of up to $250.

The only glitch created by the new program so far is that it has complicated a storage problem for the police department. The evidence for deferred cases has to be kept for the entire year in case the person ticketed violates the terms of the deferral and the charge is filed.

Police Capt. Tom Dresner said the evidence from misdemeanor marijuana cases is being stored at an off-site storage unit to make room for evidence from other cases. Room in the Evidence Storage Unit has always been limited, he said.

In November, when city prosecutors purge the first tickets for deferred cases, they will also have to get court orders to destroy the evidence for those cases.

“We're going to have a huge amount to deal with in November,” Wibbenmeyer said. “I'm sure it's going to hit in a big way.”

Missourian reporter Ben Welsh contributed to this report.

Note: Police are enforcing the ordinance many want to see repealed.

Source: Columbia Missourian (MO)
Author: Joe Meyer
Published: March 14, 2005
Copyright: 2005 Columbia Missourian
Contact: editor@digmo.com
Website: http://www.columbiamissourian.com/
Link to article: http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread20356.shtml