POLICE SHOULD APPLY CITY'S DRUG ORDINANCE TO ALL

On behalf of the Progressive Dane Drug Policy Task Force, we thank you for
an excellent editorial (Rethink Drug Laws, Aug. 23) regarding our State of
the City Drug Policy Address.

We would like to take this opportunity to commend Dane County District
Attorney Brian Blanchard for his statement to the Wisconsin State Journal
that, at the county level (which is his jurisdiction) police should only
ticket people who have a small amount of marijuana.

Regarding the editorial itself, there is just one clarification that we
would like to make. We are calling for the Madison Police Department to
respect Madison General Ordinance 23.20 regarding casual possession of
marijuana. The ordinance does NOT require a citation for casual marijuana
possession on private property. Instead, it clearly states that casual
marijuana possession (defined as up to 28 grams of cannabis resin or up to
112 grams of marijuana - 1/4 pound) is "not a crime and not subject to
forfeiture." Casual possession on public property without the
recommendation of a practitioner may result in "a forfeiture of up to one
hundred dollars."

The law also states that "a violation of this ordinance is not a crime and
shall not subject a person found in violation thereof to loss of civil
rights or to other disabilities imposed upon a person convicted of a crime.
Not entry or other record may be made which indicates that a person alleged
or found to have violated this ordinance has been arrested for, charged
with, prosecuted for, or convicted of a crime."

To read the complete text of the ordinance, visit the city's website at
http://www.ci.madison.wi.us/, click on "Madison General Ordinances," search
for 23.20, and read the whole thing. Then call your elected officials and
ask them to support uniform compliance.

Police officials are vested with discretion to choose which body of law
(city, county, or state) to apply for specific violations. As Madison
residents and officials have decided that the prosecution of individuals
for casual marijuana possession is a waste of resources and of human
potential, we are calling on the Mayor and/or the Madison Police Department
itself to issue a directive to Madison police that they comply with
Ordinance 23.20 across the board for all Madison residents.

In addition to redirecting valuable police resources to crimes that have
victims, a uniform application of this ordinance in Madison would go a long
way toward reducing the appearance of racial and economic bias in
application of drug laws.

Progressive Dane Drug Policy Task Force Madison