OLSON: LET MEDICAL USERS GROW MARIJUANA

Ald. Judy Olson wants users of medical marijuana to be able to grow their
own plants within the city limits.

"This gives people a source of marijuana," said Olson, who plans to
introduce the proposal to the City Council. "They don't have to interact
with the black market to acquire it."

Under current city law, it's a crime to obtain - but not use - marijuana in
Madison.

Olson said she is still working out the details of the proposal with
members of the Progressive Dane Drug Policy Task Force, which is presenting
the recommendations from its year-and-a-half-long study of local drug
policy at a news conference this afternoon.

In addition to backing Olson's medical marijuana proposal, the Progressive
Dane task force is also recommending that city police officers use their
discretion under city law to issue citations for simple marijuana use,
rather than press criminal charges as allowed under state law.

Since 1977, Section 23.20 of the Madison General Ordinances has prescribed
that casual possession of marijuana is not a crime and that no public
record be made of any arrests or violations of the ordinance.

The task force is also calling for local law enforcement officials to be
more thoroughly educated on drug laws and their implications.

"A lot of people who are responsible for passing laws regarding drug policy
and enforcing them weren't aware of specific laws and their ramifications,"
said Stephanie Rearick, chair of the task force.

Rearick said some of the officials the task force met with over the last
year, for instance, were not aware that students with drug conviction
records could be denied federal financial aid.

Olson said individuals with drug convictions can also be denied federal
housing assistance.

The bottom line, said Rearick, is that the nation's misdirected war on
drugs has failed to address the problem of rampant drug use while filling
prisons with nonviolent offenders and trampling on civil liberties.

"It is painfully apparent that we need to redirect our efforts toward
finding solutions that work," she said.

But Rearick added that Madison, despite its shortcomings, still had a more
progressive drug policy than most cities.

"Madison is doing better than most places in the country," she said. "If we
work together and pull in all the different resources, we can and come up
with a deliberate plan as to what we'd like our city drug policy to be.
We'd be all that much more ahead."

Rearick said the purpose of today's news conference was to kick-start a
public discussion on local drug policy as a first step toward developing a
comprehensive approach to drug use and abuse.

The task force supports the City Council's creation of a city committee to
study drug policy enforcement, she said, but the panel's ongoing work
should not be used as an excuse to delay action on more immediate steps.

The task force recommends that:

Addicts undergoing methadone treatment have access to this treatment while
incarcerated in the Dane County jail.

Drug-related property forfeitures be phased out.

Dane County partner with the city in developing a comprehensive hard drugs
policy.

Measures designed to alleviate poverty and create more affordable housing
options be supported as an alternative to the city's defunct loitering
ordinance.

"Harm reduction" programs, such as needle exchanges, drug education for
young people and pill testing at raves, should be implemented.

Overdose victims who call 911 for help will not face prosecution based on
the call.