Senator Seeks To Penalize City for Marijuana Laws

By Kelly Wiese, Associated Press
Source: Associated Press

Jefferson City, Mo. -- Columbia will pay a price for easing restrictions on marijuana prosecutions if one lawmaker gets his way. Sen. Chuck Gross, a St. Charles Republican, proposed legislation Wednesday that would prohibit public schools from holding athletic tournaments in Columbia. It's a response to two measures the city's voters OK'd in November. One makes marijuana arrests the lowest priority of city law enforcement, and the other allows marijuana to be used in the city for medical reasons.

The legislation by Sen. Chuck Gross, R-St. Charles, would bar schools that receive state money from participating in "sporting events or athletic tournaments" in cities that have soft marijuana laws.

The intent is not to prohibit Columbia schools from taking part in sports but to block regional or state tournaments from being held in the city, Gross said.

"I think it's a bad message to send off to kids - 'Hey, come to Columbia, you can bring your pot with you,'" Gross said.

Athletic tournaments are big business for the city, which also is home to the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Columbia Chamber of Commerce President Don Laird said he doubts the bill will become law. He said sports tournaments generate millions of dollars in economic activity for Columbia.

"Those types of things are very important to us," he said. "It would be very damaging to Columbia."

Laird said the proposal is the first economic fallout he is aware of since the pot proposals passed.

Dan Viets, a Columbia attorney and leading proponent of the new marijuana policies, called the bill "mean-spirited" but said he's not worried.

"I think what he's targeted is every school district in the state of Missouri," Viets said. "I feel sorry for the kids that might lose their opportunity to do what they want to do."

One Columbia ordinance requires that arrests for possession of about 1 1/4 ounces of pot or less be handled in municipal court rather than state court. The maximum penalty is a $250 fine with no jail. In state court, the same charge packs a $1,000 fine and a year in jail.

The other ordinance allows seriously ill patients, with their doctors' permission, to use marijuana.

No other Missouri community has anything similar on the books, and marijuana possession remains a state crime.

Marijuana athletic bill is SB197.

ON THE NET

Legislature: http://www.moga.mo.gov

Marijuana group: http://www.mpp.org/MO

Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Author: Kelly Wiese, Associated Press
Published: January 19, 2005
Copyright: 2005 The Associated Press
Link to article: http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread20140.shtml

 

by Derek Kravitz, (Source:Maneater)
21 Jan 2005

One state lawmaker is trying to penalize Columbia voters for enacting softer marijuana laws in November. Opponents of the bill say it would unfairly punish young athletes and local businesses.

The bill, introduced in the state Senate on Wednesday, would prohibit any public school from participating in a sporting event or athletic tournament in Columbia because of the city's "public policies regarding marijuana."

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Chuck Gross, R-St. Charles, does not explicitly target Columbia in its text but specifies the exact provisions in the Columbia marijuana ordinances that voters passed in November.

"The policies specified within the act include ordinances allowing for the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes or ordinances limiting misdemeanor marijuana possession fines to $250," the bill states.

Gross, who is attending the Presidential Inauguration in Washington, D.C., could not be reached for comment.

Part of Columbia's marijuana law directs misdemeanor marijuana possession charges to municipal court, allowing students convicted of these charges to remain eligibile for federal financial aid. It mandates that anyone charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession cannot be fined more than $250.

The other portion of the law allows the use of medical marijuana for seriously ill patients who have consent from a doctor.

Columbia is the only municipality in the state that meets the proposed bill's guidelines.

Dan Viets, a Columbia attorney and Missouri National Organization for the Reform Laws coordinator, said Gross is trying to score political points for himself without understanding the ordinances.

"Obviously he's engaging in grandstanding and demagoguery by sticking his nose into an issue he really has no business dealing with," Viets said. "He's from St. Charles."

Viets added that the ordinances do not have anything to do with middle or high school children.

"If he knew what he was talking about, he would know the ordinance doesn't even apply to children," Viets said. "It's absolutely irrelevant, which makes me think he has some other motive."

Don Laird, president of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, called the bill "a little vindictive" and said the bill, if passed, could pull sizable revenue away from city businesses, including restaurants and hotels.

"It would be very damaging," Laird said. "It would take away a lot of money from those events that bring a lot of business into Columbia."

Bruce Whitesides, the Columbia School District's director of physical education and athletics, said he was surprised by the proposal.

"Instead of singling us out just for sporting events, he could spend his time helping our education funding," Whitesides said.

Despite the bill's potentially dire implications on the area's economy, Sen. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, wrote off the proposed legislation, adding that he doubted Gross had thoroughly read the city's marijuana ordinances.

"I would put this bill in the category of one of the silly bills," Graham said. "It'll get a lot of attention, but it won't end up on the governor's desk."

Gross' proposed bill comes only weeks after Senate President Pro Tem Michael Gibbons, R-Kirkwood, tapped the two-term senator to lead the Senate's Appropriations Committee, which controls the state's budget. Gross is also vice president for business development for UMB Bank, based in Kansas City, Mo.

[size=-1]Pubdate: Fri, 21 Jan 2005
Source: Maneater, The (Columbia, MO Edu)
Copyright: 2005 The Maneater
Contact: forum@themaneater.com
Website: http://www.themaneater.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1283
Authors: Derek Kravitz and Kate Schuman, Of The Maneater Staff
Cited: NORML http://www.norml.org
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Dan+Viets
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)[/SIZE]

 

(Source:Kansas City Star)
22 Jan 2005

Columbia, Mo., voters eased their marijuana laws last November, making arrests a low city priority and allowing the weed's use for medical purposes. It's a liberal viewpoint, but the voters have spoken.

Now Sen. Charles Gross, a St. Charles Republican, says he will sponsor legislation to deny K-12 schools throughout Missouri the ability to play in sporting events or tournaments in Columbia. Business owners say that would devastate hotels and restaurants.

The city shouldn't send a message of "Hey, come to Columbia, you can bring your pot with you," Gross says.

That's not the message. Marijuana possession still is a state crime.

Rep. Ed Robb, a Republican from Columbia, pooh-poohed the Gross plan as coming from "the cave of the winds over on the Senate side."

If that means the legislation is packed with a lot of hot air, Columbia can take heart that it will deflate.

[size=-1]Pubdate: Sat, 22 Jan 2005
Source: Kansas City Star (MO)
Copyright: 2005 The Kansas City Star
Contact: letters@kcstar.com
Website: http://www.kcstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/221
Link to article: http://www.mapinc.org/norml/v05/n146/a03.htm
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