TOUGHENED PENALTY FOR POT HAS FOUND SUPPORT

Cincinnati City Councilman Cecil Thomas plans to propose tougher
penalties for marijuana possession - a move that could re-ignite a
debate that stalled a similar proposal last summer.

Thomas, the new chairman of Council's Law and Public Safety
Committee, said stiffening the punishment would give police more
tools to combat the city's drug problem and bring Cincinnati's code
in line with neighboring Indiana and Kentucky, where penalties are
much more stringent.

"It's another tool to make it much tougher for those who want to open
a drug market in Cincinnati," said Thomas, who was a city police
officer for 27 years.

His proposed municipal code change would make marijuana possession a
fourth-degree misdemeanor, which carries a maximum sentence of 30
days in jail and a $250 fine.

Right now, possession of less than 100 grams of marijuana is a minor
misdemeanor under state law, meaning police officers can only write a
$150 citation.

By comparison, people in Indiana with less than 30 grams face up to a
year in jail and a $5,000 fine, said Dearborn County Sheriff
Department Spokesman Bill Ullrich.

"It's a lot tougher over here," he said. "I know just smoking a joint
on the curb in Cincinnati is a pay-out ticket from what I understand,
so people are shocked when they come over here and get busted for
smoking a little weed."

In Kentucky, possessing marijuana carries a maximum sentence of at
least a year in jail and a $500 fine, said Jim Liles, executive
director of the Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force.

"I know that drug dealers are thoughtful about different things,"
Liles said. "I know they are familiar with some aspects of the law."

Thomas said a drug enforcement officer in Over-the-Rhine recently
cited a woman from Kentucky for possession and asked her why she came
to Cincinnati for drugs.

"She said, 'Are you crazy? You go to jail over there,' " Thomas said.

The change in Cincinnati's code would allow officers to make arrests
and perhaps find harder drugs and weapons, Thomas said.

"It would give the officers an additional tool for law enforcement
purposes, one of which may be to search the car when they wouldn't be
able to otherwise," said Guy Guckenberger, presiding and
administrative judge of Hamilton County's Municipal Court.

Thomas' Law and Public Safety predecessor, former Councilman David
Pepper, proposed a similar law in June, but it never got off the
ground because of a lack of support from fellow Council members.

"When David introduced it, he didn't frame it as well as I'd like to
see it framed," said Thomas.

During the single debate on the topic last summer, then-Councilman
Christopher Smitherman argued that targeting the demand side of the
marijuana problem was ineffective.

"I want people in jail who are killing people, I want people in jail
who are raping people - not people who are listening to the Grateful
Dead and eating a Twinkie," he said.

But Smitherman and three other members of Council have since been voted off.

This week, several Council members expressed an interest in
supporting the initiative.

"I would support it," said Councilwoman Laketa Cole.

Council members were in full campaign mode this summer, making it an
inconvenient time to deal with the controversial issue, she said.

"People didn't want to make it a campaign issue," she said. "I think
now is the right time because people are seeing more drug-related activity."

Councilman Chris Monzel said he would also support the initiative.
Newcomer Chris Bortz said he would probably support it as well.

"I trust Cecil Thomas to make the appropriate calls for law
enforcement," Bortz said. "Though marijuana possession in itself
isn't of greatest concern, if increasing the penalty leads to greater
enforcement of the broader drug problem, then it's a positive thing."

Councilman John Cranley's staff said he would also likely support the change.

However, other Council members - including new Law and Public Safety
Committee members Leslie Ghiz and Jeff Berding - are waiting to talk
to Thomas or gauge reaction before commenting.

The proposal has at least one opponent.

"It doesn't get us there," said Councilman Jim Tarbell. "In the case
of marijuana, I just don't think it's an answer."

He suggested more education about drugs and stricter penalties for
selling drugs would be better.

The city would have to pay the county $65 a day per person to house
people charged under the proposed law. The city does not pay to house
offenders accused under state law.

Some have expressed concerns about using already overcrowded jail
space to house pot smokers.

But Hamilton County Sheriff Simon Leis, who operates the jail system,
said through a spokesman he's not concerned about the law's impact on
jail space.

"He doesn't see that being a huge problem," said spokesman Steve
Barnett. "It could be an added tool."

The sheriff could process non-violent offenders under the proposed
law and release them with a court date instead of jailing them, Barnett said.

It would be up to judges whether to just fine those convicted or give
them jail time.

Walter Reinhaus, president of the Over-the-Rhine Community Council,
said he likes the proposal.

"(Drug buyers) come here because they feel like there is no risk," he
said. "If people want to fight for legalization on the state level,
go right ahead. But in the impoverished inner-city communities that
many of them are happy to ignore, we want the problem addressed in a
more holistic and effective way."

A Cincinnati Police investigation of the shooting of two people on
the Withrow High School campus in Hyde Park Jan. 19 turned up one of
the best arguments that marijuana leads to other problems, Thomas said.

"That shooting behind Withrow High School was a marijuana deal gone
bad," he said. "It leads to much more serious kinds of crimes."

Thomas plans to introduce the proposed law change at a Feb. 14
meeting of Council's Law and Public Safety Committee, which he chairs.