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Marijuana: West Hollywood Passes "Lowest Priority" Resolution

By Mikki Norris for the Oaksterdam News

It's official. On June 19, 2006, the West Hollywood City Council passed a resolution that declared it policy that “ the City of West Hollywood does not target marijuana offenses” and directs the public safety commission to review narcotics-related law enforcement statistics annually.

In effect, this policy directs the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which is contracted with the City to handle its policing (it does not have its own police force) to make marijuana laws regarding adult, personal use a “low priority.”

The Council voted yes by 4-0 with one abstention. The ordinance was proposed by Councilmember John Duran to save the city the expense of an election and to gain more control over its language. The West Hollywood Civil Liberties Alliance (WeHoCLA) was engaged in a signature drive for an initiative similar to the current Santa Cruz effort, when Duran approached the group offering to support a city ordinance deprioritizing marijuana offenses. WeHoCLA agreed to pull the plug on their initiative effort to work with Duran's office to come up with an acceptable policy that would save the group the expense of a campaign.

West Hollywood is the first city in California to pass such a resolution regarding non-medical marijuana use since Oakland voters passed Measure Z in 2004 with 65% of the vote, and the 1970s when Berkeley and San Francisco passed resolutions to stop the arrest of marijuana users. This effort is the first success of the California Cities Campaign aimed at passing initiatives and ordinances across California in 2006, to end the waste of tax dollars and police resources criminalizing cannabis consumers, and to enable law enforcement to focus on violent and serious crime instead.

On Nov. 7, 2006 voters in the cities of Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and Santa Monica passed lowest-law-enforcement-priority ordinances, and on Nov. 14, 2006, San Francisco County Supervisors adopted a measure similar to that of West Hollywood, with the support of the city's narcotics enforcement office.