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Published:
Seattle Times, August 18, 2004
Copyright: 2004 The
Seattle Times
Company /
Contact: opinion@seattletimes.com
Marjuana
Measure Called Effective by Supporters and
Foes
Author: Bob
Young, Seattle Times staff reporter
Seattleites
aren't going to pot -- or jail -- since
voters passed I-75, the initiative that
made marijuana the city's lowest
law-enforcement priority.
The number of
people prosecuted for pot possession has
plummeted, and despite predictions of
naysayers, there is no evidence of
widespread public pot consumption as a
result of the measure, which voters
approved last year.
To Dominic
Holden, spokesman for the I-75 campaign,
that means Hempfest this weekend will
likely be more fragrant than last year, as
attendees at the annual pro-pot event will
have yet another reason to whoop it up --
and light up.
Approved by 58
percent of Seattle voters in last
September's election, I-75 relaxes
enforcement against adults possessing 40
grams or less of pot for personal use. The
measure did not change city policies
toward sellers or minors.
The initiative
appears to be working as intended,
according to Holden and City Attorney Tom
Carr, an outspoken opponent of I-75.
Statistics for
the first six months of 2004 show that the
city has prosecuted just 18 cases of
marijuana possession compared with roughly
70 during the same time period last year.
"The early
indication is that I-75 has been highly
effective. That seems the only way you
could explain the drastic reduction in
cases," said Holden, a member of the
city-sanctioned Marijuana Policy Review
Panel created by the initiative.
Carr agreed. "I
think police received the message that
they are not supposed to emphasize
enforcement," he said. In the state of
Washington, possession of 40 grams or less
of marijuana is a misdemeanor punishable
by a maximum 90 days in jail and a $1,000
fine.
The success of
I-75 has put Seattle on the cutting edge
of national marijuana-policy reform,
Holden added. Activists in other cities
such as Oakland, Calif.; Tallahassee,
Fla.; and Columbia, Mo., are preparing
similar measures, and advocates in Seattle
are talking about the possibility of
liberalizing marijuana-possession laws on
a statewide level.
Keith Stroup,
founder of the National Organization for
the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said
initiatives such as I-75 help police
chiefs and elected leaders focus on
more-serious crimes without worrying about
the political backlash of appearing soft
on pot.
"With the support
of a majority of the voters, it makes it
far easier for the chief to lower the
priority given to minor marijuana
offenses, which apparently has already
begun to occur in Seattle," Stroup said.
Meanwhile, some
Seattleites may be enjoying another
benefit of I-75 -- less paranoia.
"People no longer
feel they need to close the blinds when
they do a bong hit after work," said
Holden, 27, a waiter.
Dangers predicted
by I-75 critics have not materialized.
White House drug czar John Walters came to
Seattle last year and warned about
increased pot use among teenagers.
Carr voiced a
similar concern, worrying that high-school
students would misunderstand the measure,
think pot was entirely legal and smoke it
in public. But that hasn't happened, he
acknowledged.
"I'm glad I was
wrong," he said. "There is nothing to
suggest I-75 has caused widespread use of
marijuana in Seattle."
Still, Carr isn't
sure the I-75 data is as rosy as Holden
suggests. The city attorney said he
couldn't draw firm conclusions from a data
sample that represents a fraction of the
15,000 total cases filed by his office
each year.
He also stressed
that marijuana enforcement was already a
low priority for Seattle police before
I-75 passed -- his office prosecuted 196
cases in 2000, 138 in 2001, 161 in 2002
and 144 last year.
The impact of
I-75 will be better understood as more
data -- including the race of those
arrested for possession -- is delivered to
the city's 15-member pot panel, which is
chaired by Councilman Nick Licata, and
includes Carr and representatives from the
police department and the King County
Prosecuting Attorney's Office.
As part of I-75's
mandate, the panel must write reports in
2006 and 2007 on the effect of the
measure. Licata agrees with Stroup that
I-75 may help Seattle focus on
more-serious drug issues.
"If you adopt a
minor reform and the sky doesn't fall, it
opens up broader discussions about how to
deal with our drug problem, which isn't
marijuana; it's crack,
meth[amphetamine] and heroin," he
said. In the meantime, Holden predicted
that people will more relaxed at this
year's Hempfest and "there might be more
smoking."
Carr said he
didn't know how police would treat public
pot smoking at Hempfest, but he did note
that marijuana possession remains a state
and federal crime.
So, when it comes
to bong hits in front of a window, Carr
offered this advice: "If I was doing that,
I'd close the blinds."
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