INITIATIVE 2 WOULD MAKE MARIJUANA LOWEST PRIORITY

A ballot initiative that aims to make marijuana crimes the single
lowest priority for Missoula County authorities - pegged below even
jaywalking on the hierarchy of enforcement - has met heavy opposition
from adversaries who argue the drug would become more available to
young people.

But proponents of the measure, dubbed Initiative 2, have accrued an
authoritative advocate who recently showed his support in Missoula.

Norm Stamper's credentials are impressive. A 34-year veteran police
officer with a Ph.D. in behavioral psychology, Stamper served as
chief of the Seattle Police Department from 1994 until 2000, and made
international headlines during the WTO-related demonstrations, which
he says weren't his proudest moments.

But Stamper's new book, "Breaking Rank: A Top Cop's Expose of the
Dark Side of American Policing," has painted him in an entirely new
light - as an apostle for the legalization of drugs.

Stamper is also plenty familiar with the nuts and bolts of Missoula's
Initiative 2 because Washington voters passed a similar measure
affecting Seattle's police department several years ago - Initiative 75.

In Missoula, like Seattle, the measure strives to place increased
emphasis on crimes that threaten people's lives and property and on
other, more pressing drug issues. A clause in the measure leans on
local law enforcement to make "citations, arrests, property seizures
and prosecutions for adult marijuana offenses Missoula County's
lowest law enforcement priority."

"It puts marijuana crimes on par with a minor traffic offense," Stamper said.

That means county law enforcement officers would be encouraged to
dispense a finger wagging instead of a citation to someone caught
with a dimebag of pot.

But the measure would not include marijuana sales or drug use by
minors as low-priority offenses, and would in no way legalize the
drug, according to Angela Goodhope, a spokeswoman with Citizens for
Responsible Crime Policy, the group that proposed the measure and
landed it on the ballot.

"I am not an advocate of substance abuse. I do believe that anyone
who furnishes a drug to a child needs to pay a painful price,"
Stamper said. "Anyone who drives under the influence needs to be made
accountable and we have to make certain that young people are free of
intoxicating substances."

And while the initiative is a mere suggestion to law enforcement and
not a law, the proposal does call for a Community Oversight
Committee. The committee would consist of community members, criminal
defense attorneys and a drug rehabilitation counselor who would
investigate marijuana arrests and produce a report on the
initiative's effects seven months after its passage.

Although Stamper gave the measure his approval during an interview
last week, local law enforcement officials are balking at Initiative
2, describing it as another furtive step toward the legalization of marijuana.

"They know that putting a legalization initiative on the ballot would
probably go down in defeat, so they want to get people used to the
idea in digestible increments," said Missoula County Sheriff Mike
McMeekin. "Folks, if you want to legalize marijuana, then put it on
the ballot in plain terms and change the statutes."

Stamper says he's heard almost every argument challenging his line of
reasoning.

"I've got cop friends who think I'm crazy," he said. "But I've got a
lot more cop friends who see eye to eye with me. Many cops truly
believe that marijuana enforcement is hurting their credibility
because they realize marijuana is a less harmful drug than regulated
drugs like alcohol."

Seeing eye to eye with Stamper means agreeing with a philosophy that
the enforcement of overzealous narcotics laws diverts officers'
attention from violent crimes that adversely impact communities.

"My first 'ah-ha' was at 22," Stamper said. "One evening as a rookie,
I arrested a 19-year-old in an affluent part of San Diego. The kid's
neighbor smelled some pot and called the cops. When I got there, the
kid was clearly getting stoned, so on the strength of the burning
marijuana, which is probable cause, I kicked in the door, scooped
some pot out of his toilet and arrested the guy. It wasn't until we
were on the way to jail that I realized 'this is a waste of time.' I
was going to be out of service for several hours and it occurred to
me that I could be doing real police work. Not to overdramatize, but
I could possibly be saving a life."

As an officer, Stamper began winching marijuana offenses lower and
lower on his list of priorities. And even though Stamper was three
years removed from the Seattle Police Department when the city's
Initiative 75 passed, he believes his relationship with the community
improved upon developing his personal philosophy.

"Almost 100 million Americans have tried pot at least once," Stamper
said. "Throughout my career, I was seen as a trusted and respected
public safety officer. That's why I signed on - not to alienate young
people and adults who smoke marijuana."

Missoula County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg, however, isn't buying
into these notions.

Initiative 2 would create a citizen oversight committee to track and
report to taxpayers how much local government resources are annually
spent on adult marijuana offenses as compared to other law
enforcement issues. And although proponents of the initiative promise
the landscape of county law enforcement won't be dramatically
impacted, Van Valkenburg expects it will beg a great deal of time
from both the sheriff's department and the county attorney's office.

"First and foremost is the problem of dealing with this advisory
committee," Van Valkenburg said. "We'd be providing them with data
and justification for the arrests and prosecutions of adult
offenders, which would be extremely onerous. We're going to have less
time to deal with other crimes because we'll be dealing with these people."

Van Valkenburg also says the philosophy behind Initiative 2 is half-baked.

"I hope Missoula County voters will reject this initiative," Van
Valkenburg said. "I think it will make the job of law enforcement
much more difficult, and it's not likely to accomplish the goals
proponents have of somehow legalizing or decriminalizing the use of
marijuana to focus on other issues. People shouldn't assume that this
will not have a serious impact on the way business is done in Missoula County."

Pointing to statistics from the Montana Board of Crime Control,
Goodhope says Missoula County spends too much time processing
marijuana offenses.

According to Goodhope, in 2005, Missoula County made an arrest for 28
percent of the reported rapes, 23 percent of the vehicle thefts and 8
percent of burglaries. But 57 percent of drug reports led to an
arrest, and the county initiated a marijuana possession
arrest-and-conviction process 261 times, on average of every 33 hours.

"You can make statistics tell any story you want," said McMeekin.
"That stuff is just plain misleading. It's a smokescreen."

Van Valkenburg views the measure as superfluous, given county law
enforcement's realistic attitude governing misdemeanor drug offenses.

"Right now, possession of misdemeanor amounts of marijuana is an
extremely low priority, if not already the lowest," he said. "But the
sale and possession of large amounts of marijuana are central to the
overall problem with drug abuse, and our law enforcement officers
need the ability to treat that problem without having to comply with
an oversight committee. We put a very strong emphasis on violent
crimes already, but we would have to spend a lot more time dealing
with the advisory committee, which we just shouldn't have to do."

Know before you vote

Read Initiative 2 in its entirety at:
www.co.missoula.mt.us/election/Nov2006ElecInfo.htm.