FACING LEGALIZATION MEASURE, SCHWARZENEGGER DECRIMINALIZES POT

In November, Californians will have an opportunity to make marijuana
legal. But a new state law is already doing everything but legalize
it -- making possession of less than an ounce of pot no more serious
than driving faster than the speed limit.

A bill signed Thursday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reduces the
crime from a misdemeanor to an infraction, meaning that those caught
smoking merely need to pay a $100 fine, won't have to appear in court
and won't have a criminal record.

Ironically, the law undercuts a major argument in support of
Proposition 19, the marijuana legalization measure on the Nov. 2
ballot -- that the state spends too much on marijuana enforcement and
prosecutions. Many California district attorneys and judges supported
the new law because they believe minor drug crimes cost too much to
enforce, and clog the justice system.

Schwarzenegger agreed. Noting that California made possession the
most minor of misdemeanors 35 years ago, he wrote that already
"possession of less than an ounce of marijuana is an infraction in
everything but name. The only difference is that because it is a
misdemeanor, a criminal defendant is entitled to a jury trial and a
defense attorney.

"In this time of drastic budget cuts, prosecutors, defense attorneys,
law enforcement, and the courts cannot afford to expend limited
resources prosecuting a crime that carries the same punishment as a
traffic ticket," concluded the governor, who remains a fervent
opponent of legalizing marijuana.

Those prosecution and court costs are a significant part of the
savings Prop. 19's proponents have touted should the measure -- which
would remove all criminal penalties for possession of less than an
ounce of marijuana -- be approved by voters.

Despite the governor's statement, Prop. 19 campaign spokesman Dan
Newman said the new law "reflects the broad and growing consensus
that it's time to control and tax marijuana just like alcohol to
generate billions for local communities."

Some say the proposition forced the governor's hand.

"The signing of this bill is certainly made possible and perhaps made
necessary by the apparent popularity of Prop. 19 "... in the way that
radical proposals sometimes make more moderate reforms not only
possible but necessary," said Stephen Gutwillig, the Drug Policy
Alliance's California director. "Obviously, Schwarzenegger understood
this was more than just an administrative fix."

Regardless of which way voters decide on Prop. 19, California will
now have some of the most lenient pot laws in the country -- but that
is not new.

The state's Moscone Act, effective Jan. 1, 1976, provided that
someone with less than an ounce of marijuana need not even be
formally arrested or booked. The maximum penalty is a $100 fine,
making it the only misdemeanor not punishable by jail time. One study
estimated the state saved $1 billion in arrest, court, prison and
parole costs in the first decade after that law took effect.

Still, authorities made more than 61,000 arrests for
marijuana-related misdemeanors in 2008, the last year for which data
is available.

Some California locales -- including Berkeley, Oakland, San
Francisco, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, West Hollywood
and Mendocino County -- have passed ordinances in recent years to set
marijuana enforcement as their police agencies' lowest priority. That
means simple possession cases without any sales or cultivation are
often largely ignored.

Prop 19 would go even further. Besides legalizing possession for
adults, Prop. 19 also would let them grow their own marijuana in up
to 25 square feet of space and would let cities and counties decide
whether and how to allow, regulate and tax commercial production and sales.

A Field Poll conducted Sept. 14-21 and released last weekend found 49
percent of likely voters in California say they're inclined to vote
for Prop. 19, while 42 percent are inclined to oppose it. A Public
Policy Institute of California poll conducted Sept. 19-26 and
released this week found 52 percent in favor and 41 percent opposed.