SOMETHING ABOUT PETITION STINKS

Santa Monica voters will likely be asked to weigh in on the issue of
adult marijuana use this November. On Wednesday, members of a movement
called Santa Monicans for Sensible Marijuana Policy (SMSMP) turned in
more than 8,000 gathered signatures -- only 5,580 were required -- in
efforts to put a proposal on the ballot that would make the
enforcement of marijuana use in the home the police department's
lowest priority.

While voters might be tempted by the wording of the measure "to stick
it to the man" in a sense, they might just be cutting off their noses
to spite their faces.

Rampant, small-time marijuana busts have never been a hallmark of the
Santa Monica Police Department, a city renowned for its left-leaning
politics, tolerant mindset and bohemian roots.

While commerce and growth have certainly altered the landscape of this
beach town over the years, much of that alternative perspective still
pervades the collective consciousness.

Ultimately, it appears more than a little undefined just what the
SMSMP initiative would accomplish, and just what battles its
supporters are looking to spark. The measure would essentially
handcuff police in terms of their ability to use discretion in
enforcing marijuana laws, rendering any arrest so complicated and rife
with bureaucratic red tape that they would likely be nonexistent. That
is when it becomes increasingly clear that complete legalization of
marijuana is what the group is really jonesing for, not the supposed
greater good of freeing up police to spend their time on more serious
crimes.

The wording of the initiative being proposed would require that a
police officer file a report with the City Council within seven days
of an arrest, citation or seizure for any adult marijuana offense.

Those who feel officers violated the lowest priority measure could
then file a grievance with City Hall. The measure, which is decidedly
unclear on just what "lowest priority" entails, would likely
accomplish just the opposite of its stated intentions, with a confused
police department wrestling with additional paperwork rather than
patrolling the streets looking for "real" criminals.

Police Chief James T. Butts Jr., who has since announced his intention
to step down this summer, and the Santa Monica Police Officers
Association (SMPOA) have both voiced their adamant opposition to the
initiative, claiming it is unnecessary, as personal, adult marijuana
use is already considerably low on their list of priorities. It is
doubtful a strong contingent of Santa Monica voters would dispute the
claim, despite their potential knee-jerk reaction in an attempt to
legalize pot on the local level if they voted "yes."

Butts had already gone on record saying he would not enforce the
measure unless it was upheld in the courts, while SMPOA president Sgt.
Greg Smiley said they were prepared to campaign against the
initiative, but were hopeful the money could be better spent elsewhere.

Police representatives also contend that the measure would change
little, in terms of cracking down on users in the privacy of their own
homes, while rendering the streets less safe by taking away an
officer's instinctual ability to weed out bigger transgressions that
might have become detectable through the waft of marijuana.

Removing the human element from any profession can be a slippery
slope, which is essentially what this initiative would accomplish
because officers could no longer act upon their instincts to further
investigate a potentially more serious crime.

The effort in Santa Monica is being duplicated in cities across the
state, including West Hollywood, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz, as part
of a larger campaign by the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws, which seeks to fully decriminalize marijuana use by
adults.

At the risk of sounding like a buzzkill, we agree with the police that
the Sensible Marijuana Policy is a bad idea, primarily because it is
inherently disingenuous -- not spelling out directly for voters its
ultimate goals. Any measure based on half-truths is unworthy of
serious consideration.

Despite its reputation as an affluent city, and one in which crime has
steadily declined in recent years, cracking down on the personal use
of marijuana is hardly on the radar of our police department. We
support the spirit of the measure, in that it should be low priority
and we would rather see our police tackling more daunting issues, but
we are not in the smoke circle with the SMSMP and their accompanying
rolling paper trail.