MARIJUANA ISSUES RAISED IN MEASURE Z

Voters in Oakland will soon decide how they want the city to treat
marijuana.

Dale Gieringer, the California coordinator for NORML, the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and a hills resident,
says Oakland should give marijuana use the lowest law enforcement priority.

"It's more economical and would do more to control crime," said
Gieringer, who lives in the Panoramic neighborhood near Claremont Canyon.

Voters citywide can vote for or against this view on Nov. 2. Ballot
Measure Z calls for Oakland -- which now permits some use of medicinal
marijuana -- to treat recreational cannabis use with leniency. The
measure also calls for Oakland to lobby the state to legalize
marijuana use (by adults in private places only), to allow for
marijuana to be sold in licensed stores, and for taxes to be collected
on these sales.

Supporters such as Gieringer say the proposed law should reduce crime
and save money. Opponents, though, say it would do just the opposite.
Drug policy experts remain divided on the issue.

If passed, the law calls for the Oakland police to treat the
enforcement of marijuana laws as the department's lowest priority. It
also asks the City Council to lobby the state to legalize the private
use of marijuana for adults 21 and over and to legalize the sale of
marijuana at licensed outlets.

Supporters say that this will cut down on how much time police spend
busting marijuana dealers and users -- and give the police more
taxpayer-funded resources for other law enforcement priorities.

Oakland police made about 600 arrests this year through August on
marijuana-related crimes, according to the police department.

"It will redirect efforts to stop violent crime," said Joe DeVries, a
representative for the Oakland Civil Liberties Alliance, who helped
draft the proposal and debated the measure on Thursday at City Hall.

The measure may also save the taxpayers money in the future, DeVries
said, since it could reduce the number of non-violent criminals in
prison. Eventually, it may also help end the cycle of poverty and
despair for those non-violent convicts who are in and out of jail,
DeVries said.

But critics say taxpayers should expect to pay more for law
enforcement over time if Measure Z is passed. Relaxed enforcement of
marijuana laws would attract people who grow or sell it, as well as
those who also deal "hard drugs," like heroin, said City Councilman
Danny Wan (District 3, Grand-Lake), during the public debate.

"I'm worried about the unintended, negative effects," Wan
said.

Reducing crime is a strong argument for legalizing heroin and cocaine
- -- but not necessarily marijuana, said Robert MacCoun, a professor at
UC Berkeley's Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy and
Boalt Hall School of Law. Keeping "hard drugs" illegal influences the
market by keeping prices for them high, he said. Addicts, in turn,
often commit crimes to support their habits.

Marijuana use is not linked to violent crime, he and other experts
say.

But if local or state agencies were to regulate marijuana sales,
people seeking it would no longer buy it from dealers who often sell
drugs associated with violent crime, DeVries said.

"It reduces the public's exposure to harder drugs," he
said.

UC Santa Cruz sociology professor Craig Reinarman agrees. The
"separation of markets" could reduce crime. "At present, people often
have to go to scary places (to buy cannabis) and deal with risky
people," he said.

If marijuana sales became legal and taxable, such a tax could produce
significant revenues for Oakland, proponents of Measure Z argue. A
federal marijuana tax might raise from $2.2 billion to $6.4 billion a
year, according to a study conducted by Gieringer, who has a Ph.D.
from Stanford University in engineering and economic systems.

Critics of Measure Z, though, say they don't expect the state to ever
legalize marijuana. And, if legalization did occur, the federal
government would move to override it, they add.

But the legalization effort must start someplace, DeVries said. San
Francisco voters adopted Proposition P in 1991, which made the use of
medicinal marijuana legal, he explained. Five years later, California
voters agreed with San Franciscans and passed Proposition 215.

"Yes, we're starting a trend," said DeVries. "And we're starting in
Oakland."