POLICE CHIEFS PROPOSE STRICTER PENALTIES FOR MARIJUANA POSSESSION

A quarter of a century after Gov. Tom McCall and the Oregon Legislature
decriminalized possession of marijuana, voters will be asked Nov. 3 if
those caught with small amounts of the drug should face stiffer penalties.

Measure 57 would make possession of less than an ounce marijuana a criminal
misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a maximum fine of
$1000. Currently it's a non-criminal violation on the same level as a
traffic ticket.

Lawmakers last year passed a bill to recriminalize marijuana and Gov. John
Kitzhaber signed it into law. Petitioners gathered more than 90,000
signatures blocking the bill from becoming law and giving voters a chance
to weigh in on the issue this fall.

Current law allows a first-time offender to have the charges dimissed by
completion of a diversion program. Under Measure 57 diversion, those facing
a misdemeanor charge would be required to admit they were in possession of
marijuana before they could qualify for diversion.

The intent of the bill as presented by the Oregon Association of Chiefs of
Police, the sponsor of the measure, is two-fold: to send a message to
children that marijuana is harmful and to create ways to get people the
prevention and intervention they need, said Rob Elkins, Molalla police
chief and spokesman for Oregonians Against Dangerous Drugs, the political
action committee in support of the measure.

" We need to stop minimizing the effect that marijuana has on our society
and come up with new ways to intervene so that we can alter the path that
these people are on." Elkins said, noting that Oregon statistics are much
higher for drug use.

But the No on 57 Committee, the political action committee opposed to the
measure, says the law is too spendy, would cause jail crowding and would
have no effect on the use of marijuana.

" Our question is where's the additional money going to come from to pay
for this," said Geoff Sugarman, a spokesman for the committee. " We just
don't think it's a wise use of tax dollars."

Lawmakers allocated $ 600,000 in state funds for two years to implement the
law. That would allow just $300,000 for the first year of the law, which
state officals estimate will cost the state and counties combined $ 1.4
million the first year. Opponents fear the measure could cost upward of $ 3
million in the future, Sugarman said.

" If indeed it costs more, we're talking about the state picking up the
cost for a measure that's not going to do anything to halt the use of
marijuana." Sugarman said.

Opponents claim there is no evidence that throwing people in jail or
increasing the severity of penalties for marijuana will reduce pot smoking.

Rather than locking people up , opponents believe that resources should be
used for treatment programs that emphasize prevention and intervention.
Under current law, juveniles who are charged with the same criminal act are
required to enter a teatment program. If the juvenile fails to complete the
program, Measure 57 would enable the state to suspend the juvenile's
driving priviledges for six months.

According to testimony from Oregon district attorneys, few would ask judges
to impose jail sentences longer than a day for anyone in possession of less
than an ounce of marijuana.

" We tried our hand at decriminalization and saw failure," Elkins said. "
We need to try a new route."

Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson