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Last Updated: Oct 16th, 2008 - 13:33:17 |
Denver police will now treat pot possession like a traffic offense.
Adults caught with less than an ounce of marijuana will no longer have a mandatory court appearance, but rather will receive a mail-in ticket, Assistant City Attorney Vincent DiCroce announced on May 28 at a Denver Marijuana Policy Review Panel meeting.
The panel, consisting of police, city officials, attorneys and marijuana proponents, voted 5-4 to recommend to the City Council that the city attorney stop prosecuting all simple adult possession cases.
Supporters of the new change said they were moves in the right direction, but that the city needed to remove all penalties for possession.
"Denver voters have made it clear on multiple occasions that they do not want adults to be cited, fined or punished in any way for using a less harmful drug than alcohol," panelist Mason Tvert said.
Tvert is also executive director of Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation, or SAFER, which spearheaded the city's pro-pot initiative.
An amendment to legalize possession of less than an ounce of marijuana for those 21 and over first passed in 2005. Arrests didn't stop, however, because police continued to enforce state laws.
A statewide campaign failed in 2006. However, approximately 55 percent of voters in Denver were in favor of the amendment.
In 2007, more than 57 percent of Denver voters approved Initiative 100, making adult marijuana possession of amounts less than an ounce the city's lowest law enforcement priority.
Part of the law required the mayor to appoint the 11-member review panel, which met for the first time in January.
The panel reports to the City Council and will provide each year's statistics on Denver arrests for marijuana possession and the number of prosecutions conducted by the city attorney's office.
The review panel will give the 2008 numbers and their recommendation to the City Council first in 2009.
DiCroce, who is also a panel member, voted against the resolution, saying it was too soon for the panel to make recommendations when it hasn't collected the statistics.
Mayor John Hickenlooper and other city officials had declared November's initiative unenforceable and noted that small amounts of marijuana already was one of the city's lowest law enforcement priorities.
But supporters of the change point to the 2007 Denver Police Department data showing that the city made 1,912 non-felony marijuana arrests in 2004, more than 2,000 in 2005 and a total of 2,446 in 2007.
"They can say what they want," Tvert said. "But don't drink the Kool- Aid, man, the fact of the matter is they are still arresting people."
The continuing arrest rates, which were almost 20 percent higher the year after the initiative was passed, motivated pro-legalization organization SAFER Colorado to submit the ordinance to create a study group, Tvert said.
Tvert is happy with the panel's recent action, but still sees room for improvement.
"It is certainly a step in the right direction," Tvert said. "But at the same time it is not nearly good enough - it simply makes it easier for people to plead guilty to the crime, a crime that the people of this city have said that should not be a crime."
By making the accused pay fines, Tvert said, they still have to admit guilt.
And the law will not change concerning students dependent on financial aid who plead guilty to possession.
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, asks if the applicant has ever been convicted of drug possession, and those ticketed will still have to mark yes, automatically disqualifying them from receiving federal funds.
"Overall, it's a good step in the right direction because it demonstrates that the city recognizes that it's not worth its time and resources to worry about cases of adult marijuana possession," Tvert said. "But it doesn't go nearly far enough ... it needs to change."
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