Denver officials meet to work out pot enforcement rules

Denver voters said marijuana possession arrests should be a low police priority, but exactly how to implement that mandate is problematic

by Laura Main, News2

January 28, 2008

DENVER (KWGN) — Last November, Denver voters approved a measure to make adult possession of less than an ounce of marijuana the lowest law enforcement priority in the city. To make sure that happens, Mayor John Hickenlooper created a review panel made up of citizens, police, prosecutors and city council members.
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The panel has until the end of March to establish a police reporting system to make sure marijuana possession of less than an ounce is treated less seriously than say jaywalking. But this first meeting was largely about trying to sort out bigger issues.

Panel member Brian Vicente started the meeting off by saying, "Our job, according to this, is to make sure that the law is implemented to the greatest extent possible and that's what the voters want us to do."

But some members questioned the panel's usefulness at all. "I mean, we're just wasting our breath. [Denver Disrtict Attorney] Mr. [Mitch] Morrissey has refused to be even on this panel, so I don't know that anything we do is going to have impact on his office's policy decisions," said Public Defender Frank Moya.

Morrissey was invited to be on the panel, but he declined for legal reasons. His spokesperson, Lynn Kimbrough, said, "Participating in a panel whose objective is to dictate a priority in criminal prosecution simply goes against both the constitutional oath and the oath of office that he has sworn to uphold."

Since marijuana possession is still illegal under state law, police and prosecutors say they're obligated to uphold the law, which conflicts with the city ordinance. But they point out, being caught with less than an ounce is a $100 fine -- that's less than the fines for driving without insurance or speeding. So, they say, it's already considered the lowest law enforcement priority. Sergeant Ernie Martinez with the Denver Police Department says, "Marijuana to this degree has always been a so-called low priority because there are other crimes we want to take care of," said Denver Police Sergeant Ernie Martinez.

And both prosecutors and defense attorneys on the panel point out that they see very few of these cases in court.

But panel member Mason Tvert, whose pro-pot organization, SAFER (Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation), was behind the original ballot initiative, said statistics prove otherwise. "They say it's not a blizzard of enforcement here, but it's clearly a far greater storm than it is in many other major cities in this country. In Seattle for example, that's a city with a greater population than Denver yet they only had 125 marijuana citations last year versus Denver that had 2,400-plus."

Over the next few weeks, the panel wants to get good, hard statistics about marijuana arrests and convictions in the city from both the police department and the City Attorney's office. Then they'll come up with recommendations to send on to the City Council.

Copyright © 2008, KWGN

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• denver
• marijuana
• safer
• cannabis
• legalization
• pot
• hickenlooper

[Alxscode]

Congratulations Denver!

[growguyuk]

they say its only 100 dollar fine-but i bet it isnt for ppl who dont want to involve themselves with dealers and grow their own-they still get screwed im sure

[thevillage88]

No, she said it was illegal to ignore the law.

[budmanonetwo123]

Did that dumb bitch just say that it goes against the contitution for a representitive democraticlly elected to listen to the people?