MARIJUANA ADVOCATES TO PUSH INITIATIVE

Springfield Seen As Potential Campaign Ground For Group .

Marijuana advocates are setting their sights on several Missouri
cities -- including Springfield -- as possible battlegrounds next year
in the debate over decriminalization of the recreational drug.

A 2008 effort to collect enough voter signatures for a
decriminalization initiative in Joplin fell about 1,000 names short.

Now organizers of that effort are looking at several possible
locations to try again in 2010.

Joplin activist Kelly Maddy says the National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws is eyeing Springfield, Blue Springs and Cape
Girardeau for future campaigns.

"We want to make it a high-impact city where we can have the greatest
impact on the state," Maddy said.

A final decision isn't expected until later this year.

The renewed interest in changing marijuana laws in Missouri comes as
national discussions about easing prohibitions on pot increase.

Maddy told the News-Leader that Springfield is a possibility because
of the relatively low number of signatures needed to get a proposal on
the municipal ballot: just 10 percent of the number who voted in the
last mayoral election, he said.

On the other hand, Maddy said NORML does not have any polling data
from various cities to know how much support may be present for reform
proposals.

In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently suggested that his
cash-strapped state consider legalizing marijuana and then taxing
sales to boost government revenue.

And recent surveys by Zogby and ABC/The Washington Post show that
roughly half of those polled favor legalization.

"It's a topic that has been suppressed for too long," said Allen St.
Pierre, NORML's executive director. "We have turned a cor ner now."

Voters in the Missouri college town of Columbia turned that corner in
2004, handily approving a measure that classifies possession of 35
grams of marijuana or less as a low-level misdemeanor offense subject
to municipal court fines of no more than $250, similar to the type of
punishment one might receive for a speeding ticket. The conviction is
dropped if the offender stays out of legal trouble for another year.
Repeat offenders and those with felony convictions are exempt.

A related measure that allows seriously ill patients to use medical
marijuana within the city limits was approved by nearly 70 percent of
Columbia voters.

Elsewhere in Missouri, the tiny town of Cliff Village near Joplin
approved a medical marijuana ordinance earlier this year in a largely
symbolic gesture.

And activists in St. Louis are working to collect the 25,000
signatures needed to put a decriminalization measure before that
city's voters.

Organizers may also soon target University City, a St. Louis suburb
near Washington University, said Joseph Welch, a criminal defense
attorney leading the effort.

Across the border in Arkansas, voters in Fayetteville (2008) and
Eureka Springs (2006) passed variations of marijuana decriminalization
laws.

That precedent has Maddy convinced that outwardly conservative
communities such as Springfield or Cape Girardeau would similarly
endorse pro-pot measures.

"This is not a liberal or conservative issue. It's not a rural versus
urban issue," he said.

In Springfield, possession of 35 grams or less of marijuana is already
a low-priority misdemeanor offense, said Johnnie Burgess, the city's
chief municipal prosecutor.

In 2008, more than 800 people were charged with simple possession,
according to city records. Of that number, 543 were convicted of
violating the city ordinance, with 124 receiving suspended sentences.

The change occurred in 2004 after Greene County prosecutor Darrell
Moore said his office would no longer prosecute such cases in state
court.

Still, that doesn't mean police will ignore the law when faced with
potential marijuana offenses.

"The police officers are not going to look the other way," Burgess
said. "They're going to arrest people for possessing marijuana."