MARIJUANA EDITORIAL WAS OUT OF TOUCH

Re: "Reefer Madness (Our Opinion, Sept. 14).

Editors espoused that a court decision about the local marijuana
initiative was accurate without looking at the facts.

Judge Nikki Clark ruled that the Practical Law Enforcement initiative
conflicts with state law by violating the Federal Controlled
Substances Act. The language of the initiative doesn't change the law
or lower current penalties for marijuana possession, but instead
encourages local law enforcement to treat it as the "lowest
enforcement priority." Marijuana possession would still remain a crime.

Clark also ruled on the "contradictory language" in the petition,
which is the result of documentation provided by City Attorney Jim
English in 2002. That the city attorney helped place the very language
that is now said to be "unconstitutional" is a bitter irony for the
volunteers, staffers and thousands of voters who worked to place this
issue on the ballot.

As to whether or not TPLE created a "solution in search of a problem,"
consider the enormous cost to taxpayers and law enforcement resources
when about 90 percent of people arrested in the United States for
marijuana offenses are for possession only.

Lower-income and minority communities are arrested at disproportionate
rates. Furthermore, a person convicted of possession may receive jail
time and fines, face mandatory drug testing, lose public housing and
assistance, federal financial aid, their license and custody rights.

Richard J. Bradford,

Director and campaign treasurer Tallahasseans for
Practical Law Enforcement