JUDGES PUSH TO MAKE MARIJUANA POSSESSION A CITATION INSTEAD OF A CRIME

LA CROSSE, Wis. -- County judges are locked in a dispute with the
district attorney over whether first-offense marijuana possession
should be reduced to a local ordinance violation.

The La Crosse County Board and La Crosse Common Council will consider
a request for the change from five circuit court judges. It would
allow local police and sheriff's deputies to either issue a citation
or arrest the suspect under state law for a first-time possession.

La Crosse County District Attorney Scott Horne, who opposes the
change, is pushing an alternative education and treatment program that
would maintain existing misdemeanor marijuana laws.

State law allows counties and municipalities to pass their own
ordinances for some crimes and traffic violations, including
first-offense possession of a gram or less of marijuana. Violators are
prosecuted by a city or county lawyer rather than a district attorney.

Attorney Steve Doyle said the penalties are similar whether they are
for a state or local offense, but local government keeps the fines for
ordinance violations rather than sending 90 percent of the fine to the
state.

Police in Onalaska have written tickets for first-time offenders for
more than 10 years, but in other parts of La Crosse County, people
caught with marijuana or marijuana paraphernalia for the first time
are arrested and booked in jail.

They usually are charged with misdemeanor possession, which carries a
penalty of up to six months in jail for a first offense.

First-time drunken driving is considered a local ordinance violation
and marijuana possession should be, too, said Judge John Perlich, who
is spearheading the proposal.

"The punishment ought to fit the crime, and I don't think it does,''
he said.

It could be months before the board and council decide on the
proposal.