BILL WOULD MATCH POT, ALCOHOL PENALTIES

From high school students in his district, Wausa Sen. Doug Cunningham
got the idea of raising the penalty for smoking dope.

Many times when Cunningham visited schools, students would point out
that they have to pay a much heftier fine if they get caught with
alcohol than if they get caught with a marijuana joint. Minor in
possession of alcohol carries a maximum $500 fine, and many judges set
a $200 to $250 fine, explained Cunningham. Possession of less than 1
ounce of marijuana is a flat $100 fine.

Cunningham said students likely thought he would move to reduce the
fine for the booze. But the senator decided it was time to increase
the punishment for marijuana possession. His bill, LB176, makes the
possession of a small amount of marijuana a Class IV misdemeanor,
identical to a minor in possession conviction.

"It didn't seem logical to lower the minor in possession fine." And,
he said, the difference sent the wrong message: that it is less
harmful to smoke marijuana than to drink as a minor.

Even though alcohol is the drug of choice among high school students,
teens point out that it is easier to get rid of a joint than a six-
pack if you are stopped by police, Derlyn Luebbe, Pierce County
attorney, told senators on the Legislature's Judiciary Committee
during a Thursday hearing.

But Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers and several defense attorneys criticized
the proposal.

Twenty-five years ago state senators basically decriminalized
possession of small amounts of marijuana, making it a civil
"infraction" rather than a criminal misdemeanor or a felony, explained
Don Fiedler, an Omaha attorney representing the Nebraska Criminal
Defense Attorneys Association.

Young men and women were unable to get scholarships and were barred
from certain professions because they had drug convictions on their
records. A minor in possession conviction didn't carry the same
lifetime consequences, he said.

That distinction is true today, Fiedler said. "People are more
forgiving of those who use alcohol," he said.

"When you make it (marijuana possession) a crime that has serious
implications for the rest of their lives," he said, suggesting that
senators could make the fine amount similar without upgrading
marijuana possession to a misdemeanor.

Wild parties are generally associated with drinking. Drunken driving
- -- not driving under the influence of marijuana -- is considered a
youth problem, Chambers pointed out through a series of questions.
Alcohol does tend to make people more agitated and aggressive, while
marijuana tends to make them mellow out, according to Chambers.

Alcohol use among teens is more of a problem than marijuana use in
Pierce County, according to Luebbe. But some studies indicate
marijuana is a gateway drug to other illegal drugs.