NEW POT LAW: CAN IT DERAIL PROP. 19?

For 35 years in California, possession of less than an ounce of
marijuana has been a crime like no other. Although classified as a
misdemeanor, under no circumstance can a conviction result in jail
time or even in a person being placed on probation. It carries with
it only a fine, capped at $100.

When police officers make such an arrest, they often refer to it as a
"marijuana ticket." There's not a lot of hassle involved, other than
processing the evidence. No one gets booked into jail after such an arrest.

For those on the receiving end of such "tickets," however, there are
consequences beyond the $100 fine.

If presented with a job application that asks if they've ever been
convicted of a misdemeanor, they have to answer affirmatively. The
conviction stays on their record at least two years, complicating the
hopes of anyone who wants to pursue nursing, law enforcement or some
other profession for which even a minor drug conviction can
disqualify an applicant.

More than 61,000 such arrests were made in California last year.

These "marijuana tickets" are more trouble than they're worth at
courthouses, so the state Judicial Council has recommended for years
that the crime be reclassified as an infraction -- to make the crime
fit the punishment, as it were.

Three times this decade, proposals in the Legislature to do that
failed. That changed this year with the passage of SB 1449, signed by
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sept. 30.

It will take effect Jan. 1 -- unless voters render it moot between
now and then.

The fact that lawmakers discovered the resolve now to do what judges
have long asked them to do is no coincidence. The action is a direct
response to the presence of Proposition 19, the initiative to
legalize the adult possession of small amounts of marijuana, on the
Nov. 2 ballot.

Some reluctant advocates of the new law hope it will stymie support
for Proposition 19 by blunting the argument that enforcement of the
law against marijuana possession wastes police resources and
needlessly penalizes much of the population.

In a signing message, Schwarzenegger made it clear he was approving
the change "notwithstanding my opposition to Proposition 19."

Standing alone, the new marijuana infraction law would be a pretty
big deal. "It's the most significant step in the direction of
marijuana reform in decades," Stephen Gutwillig, California director
of the Drug Policy Alliance, told me last week.

But contrasted against the imminent possibility of legalization, the
idea of making pot possession a mere infraction seems not very dramatic.

Under the new law, the possession of marijuana by an adult in
California would have consequences no worse than a traffic ticket.
Since the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' most recent
survey shows that 16 million Americans, including 20 percent of
college students, use marijuana at least once a month, the change
might be considered a sensible recognition of reality.

Even with the new law, however, Californians who use marijuana would,
by definition, need either to have a doctor's letter authorizing them
to purchase it from a medical marijuana dispenser or to buy it from a felon.

That's the contradiction Proposition 19 seeks to address by allowing
cities to authorize the production and sale of commercial amounts of marijuana.

But the measure's proposed city-by-city scheme has the potential for
chaos. Say, for instance, the city of Commerce decides to allow
commercial-scale grow houses. And say the city of Pismo Beach decides
to license a couple of club-like establishments at which patrons can
purchase and consume marijuana, but no commercial cultivation.

If the Pismo Beach clubs contracted with the city of Commerce grow
houses to supply pot, the trucks would have to pass through Ventura
County, where possession of large amounts of marijuana might still be
illegal under all circumstances.

The only way to resolve such a mess would be for the Legislature to
adopt statewide regulations for commercial production and transportation.

It's likely that if Proposition 19 were to pass, a period of relative
chaos would follow. Given the Legislature's inability to step up and
adopt regulations for the smooth implementation of the state's
medical marijuana laws, it's possible some of the chaos could extend
indefinitely.

Still, once voters make up their minds on the essential question --
and recent polling suggests they may have -- they are not likely to
be dissuaded by details. If they pass Proposition 19, it would not be
the first time they approved something, dumped the details in the lap
of the Legislature and said, "Deal with it."