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Published: West
Contra Costa Times, Oct. 12, 2004
Bruce Gerstman, Staff Writer / bgerstman@cctimes.com
Marijuana
issues raised in Measure Z
Originally from The Montclarion (Oakland,
CA)
Oct. 12, 2004
By Bruce Gerstman
Voters in Oakland
will soon decide how they want the city to
treat marijuana.
Dale Gieringer,
the California coordinator for NORML, the
National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws and a hills resident, says
Oakland should give marijuana use the
lowest law enforcement priority.
"It's more
economical and would do more to control
crime," said Gieringer, who lives in the
Panoramic neighborhood near Claremont
Canyon.
Voters citywide
can vote for or against this view on Nov.
2. Ballot Measure Z calls for Oakland --
which now permits some use of medicinal
marijuana -- to treat recreational
cannabis use with leniency. The measure
also calls for Oakland to lobby the state
to legalize marijuana use (by adults in
private places only), to allow for
marijuana to be sold in licensed stores,
and for taxes to be collected on these
sales.
Supporters such
as Gieringer say the proposed law should
reduce crime and save money. Opponents,
though, say it would do just the opposite.
Drug policy experts remain divided on the
issue.
If passed, the
law calls for the Oakland police to treat
the enforcement of marijuana laws as the
department's lowest priority. It also asks
the City Council to lobby the state to
legalize the private use of marijuana for
adults 21 and over and to legalize the
sale of marijuana at licensed outlets.
Supporters say
that this will cut down on how much time
police spend busting marijuana dealers and
users -- and give the police more
taxpayer-funded resources for other law
enforcement priorities.
Oakland police
made about 600 arrests this year through
August on marijuana-related crimes,
according to the police department.
"It will redirect
efforts to stop violent crime," said Joe
DeVries, a representative for the Oakland
Civil Liberties Alliance, who helped draft
the proposal and debated the measure on
Thursday at City Hall.
The measure may
also save the taxpayers money in the
future, DeVries said, since it could
reduce the number of non-violent criminals
in prison. Eventually, it may also help
end the cycle of poverty and despair for
those non-violent convicts who are in and
out of jail, DeVries said.
But critics say
taxpayers should expect to pay more for
law enforcement over time if Measure Z is
passed. Relaxed enforcement of marijuana
laws would attract people who grow or sell
it, as well as those who also deal "hard
drugs," like heroin, said City Councilman
Danny Wan (District 3, Grand-Lake), during
the public debate.
"I'm worried
about the unintended, negative effects,"
Wan said.
Reducing crime is
a strong argument for legalizing heroin
and cocaine -- but not necessarily
marijuana, said Robert MacCoun, a
professor at UC Berkeley's Richard and
Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy and
Boalt Hall School of Law. Keeping "hard
drugs" illegal influences the market by
keeping prices for them high, he said.
Addicts, in turn, often commit crimes to
support their habits.
Marijuana use is
not linked to violent crime, he and other
experts say.
But if local or
state agencies were to regulate marijuana
sales, people seeking it would no longer
buy it from dealers who often sell drugs
associated with violent crime, DeVries
said.
"It reduces the
public's exposure to harder drugs," he
said.
UC Santa Cruz
sociology professor Craig Reinarman
agrees. The "separation of markets" could
reduce crime. "At present, people often
have to go to scary places (to buy
cannabis) and deal with risky people," he
said.
If marijuana
sales became legal and taxable, such a tax
could produce significant revenues for
Oakland, proponents of Measure Z argue. A
federal marijuana tax might raise from
$2.2 billion to $6.4 billion a year,
according to a study conducted by
Gieringer, who has a Ph.D. from Stanford
University in engineering and economic
systems.
Critics of
Measure Z, though, say they don't expect
the state to ever legalize marijuana. And,
if legalization did occur, the federal
government would move to override it, they
add.
But the
legalization effort must start someplace,
DeVries said. San Francisco voters adopted
Proposition P in 1991, which made the use
of medicinal marijuana legal, he
explained. Five years later, California
voters agreed with San Franciscans and
passed Proposition 215.
"Yes, we're
starting a trend," said DeVries. "And
we're starting in Oakland."
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