MEASURE WOULD SET STAGE FOR LEGAL POT

Oakland voters will have a chance Tuesday to set the groundwork for
decriminalizing marijuana and making private, adult cannabis use the
lowest enforcement priority for police.

Supporters say Measure Z will allow Oakland police to focus on
fighting violent crime and reducing the homicide rate instead of on
nonviolent marijuana offenses.

Opponents say the measure would weaken Oakland's ability to maintain
peace in neighborhoods where young men often lose their lives over
drug sales. Most of the 72 homicides recorded this year were
drug-related, police said.

Beyond making pot enforcement the lowest police priority, Measure Z
would require the city to lobby the state to legalize adult marijuana
use and allow local government to tax the drug. If marijuana use ever
becomes legal, Measure Z would require Oakland to develop a plan for
licensing and taxing its sale, use and cultivation.

In a September poll commissioned by the measure's backers, 65 percent
of 400 likely voters said they probably would vote for Measure Z, and
70 percent of respondents supported legalization.

"Oakland voters clearly understand the war on drugs has been a failure
and detrimental to our community," said Judy Appel, staff attorney
with the Drug Policy Alliance Network. "Criminalizing marijuana has
unfairly imprisoned thousands of nonviolent offenders, including a
disproportionate number of people of color. Meanwhile, our police are
wasting time and energy they could be using to focus on violent crime."

But opponents say Measure Z will only increase Oakland's reputation
for crime. They note that suburbanites already come to Oakland to by
drugs. Svea O'Banion, a native of Germany who lives on a Fruitvale
District street that's seen three drug-related homicides this year,
said drug legalization worked in Europe but Oakland, with its violent
drug wars, is the wrong place to experiment with it in America.

"I for one do not want to be a guinea pig," she said. "Oakland simply
does not have the luxury to volunteer their town as a test case for
the big social experiment. And of course, the brunt of the new measure
will mostly impact citizens in the flatlands and already-destitute
neighborhoods."

If Measure Z passes, it could be tied up in court challenges. The city
attorney already has ruled that some of its provisions appear to be
unconstitutional.

Much of the initial impact of Measure Z will be symbolic. Police Chief
Richard Word, who opposes the measure, said private marijuana use is
- -- by necessity -- already a low priority, because officers are busy
fighting violent crime and arresting street-level drug dealers. Police
said that although marijuana users are largely nonviolent, dealers
have been known to shoot one another over lucrative drug turf.

Cannabis advocates said the war on drugs, particularly marijuana, has
been a costly distraction for law enforcement, which should instead
focus on protecting people from violence and property from theft. They
cite FBI statistics that show 755,000 people were arrested for
marijuana violations in 2003, 88 percent of them for simple
possession. In Oakland, there were about 5, 000 marijuana arrests
between 1999 and 2003