A FINE IDEA TO FREE COURTS, BOOST CITY REVENUE

The way we were raised, when a police officer says something, you listen.
This habit was rewarded when we heard the great idea suggested by Sgt. Tom
Donegan, who works in the gritty Wentworth District. Instead of arresting
those found in possession of small amounts of marijuana, he said, using up
precious -- and expensive -- police time, jail time and court time, why not
issue them a ticket?

The immediate objection that will be raised by some goes like this: Drugs
are a slippery slope, and while the city is not exactly devastated by pot
addicts, marijuana is unquestionably the portal to the narcotics that do
indeed have terrible effect on individuals and communities. True enough.

But police, the courts and the jails are finite resources, and every hour
spent arresting, booking, charging and prosecuting a recreational marijuana
user is an hour not spent pursuing more significant crimes, including those
involving more dangerous drugs.

Ask yourself: Are you more worried about being mugged, or about someone
smoking a joint somewhere? And the bottom line, as Sgt. Donegan points out,
is that 94 percent of the 6,954 marijuana cases involving less than 2.5
grams were dismissed in 2003. Issuing tickets that could be paid in traffic
court would replace a costly but empty legal ritual -- the arrest and then
dismissal of pot charges -- with a speeded-up process that results in money
flowing into city coffers. Small-scale pot users also would not be shunted
into the criminal justice system where they don't belong.

A number of nations have decriminalized marijuana -- not just that
traditional pot haven, the Netherlands, but also Spain, Italy and Portugal.
Great Britain has reduced penalties, with Canada on the road to follow.
States have too -- pot has been decriminalized in Ohio for years without
harm to civil society there.

We would like to see fines in the range where the average young smokers can
pay them -- say, $100 or less for a first offense -- than so high that they
would tend to be challenged in court where, as we mentioned, a majority of
the cases are thrown out.

Whether or not his idea is accepted, we applaud Sgt. Donegan for sticking
his neck out to suggest it, and encourage the powers that be to give it
careful consideration. Just as drug addiction throws life out of balance --
discounting the important things such as work, family, health in favor of a
drug -- so legal reaction to a drug can become skewed.

We would suggest that the criminal prosecution for marijuana has gotten out
of balance with the harm it produces.

Sgt. Donegan's idea deserves serious study.

Cops on the street are not known for trying to form judicial policy, but
when they try to, their ideas should be viewed as coming from those who know
the law, know the streets, and have earned the right to make their feelings
known.

Listen to the officer.