PROP. 2 PASSED, IT'S TIME TO LET IT STAND

While we're on the topic of constitutionality and democracy, we'd like to
remind the Columbia Police Officers Association that once an ordinance is
voted on and passed by an overwhelming majority of the population, it is
the law of the land. Or, at least the law of Columbia.

The ordinance created by Proposition 2 limits the punishment for possessing
small amounts of marijuana to a fine in municipal courts and does not strip
students of financial aid on their first offense. All the CPOA has to do is
get 2 percent of registered voters to sign a petition putting Proposition
2's reversal on the ballot. But 61 percent of voters passed the ordinance,
which is a pretty clear testament as to why it should stand. Although
getting the issue back on the ballot is theoretically democratic, the CPOA
is entirely too late in trying to push its agenda.

Democracy is all about the clash of ideas, active petitions, referendums
and protests from all sides of the debate. Like the groups that actively
campaigned and lobbied to get Proposition 2 on the ballot and passed in
November, the CPOA had ample time to push for the ordinance's defeat. But
once it has the stamp of approval from the majority of Columbia's voting
population, and given that there really hasn't been a dramatic increase in
violent crime as a result of the decreased punishment for possession of
small amounts of marijuana, there isn't a logical reason to overturn it.