Weed Watch

It's been a busy week for the nation's drug policy reformers. After voting 9-0 last week to support a November ballot initiative that would not only decriminalize marijuana possession but also provide regulations for its legal sale, the Nevada Council of Police and Sheriffs -- Nevada's largest police organization -- withdrew its endorsement of the measure. And as a result of the national publicity the association received on its vote, NCPS head Andy Anderson was forced to resign, reports the Drug Reform Coordination Network. Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement, the group backing the measure, still claim victory: The Council's capitulation did more to harm its reputation than the ballot initiative, they say, and showed that Nevada's law enforcement circle is divided over decriminalization.

Over in Ohio, voters will likely decide this November whether to approve a new "treatment not jail" provision for people arrested on drug possession charges. The Campaign for New Drug Policies, which in 2000 successfully put a similar measure before California voters, is leading the charge. Unsurprisingly, not everyone in the Buckeye State is happy about the initiative, including Ohio Governor Bob Taft and state Attorney General Betty Montgomery. At an Aug. 6 press conference, Montgomery called the initiative "a dangerous attempt to dismantle the checks and balances that are imbedded in the criminal justice system." It appears that Ohio voters are questioning how the measure would dismantle anything, and aren't buying Montgomery's argument; the measure recently garnered a 65% approval rating in a poll of Ohio voters -- higher than initial poll readings in California, Campaign spokesman Dave Fratello told DRCNet. The Campaign will submit twice the number of signatures required to place the measure on the ballot.

Meanwhile, Arizona's secretary of state announced Aug. 12 that a measure decriminalizing possession of marijuana (among other things) has officially made it onto the state's November ballot with 160% more signatures than needed. The measure would decriminalize possession of up to two ounces of marijuana -- or two plants -- and would require the Arizona Dept. of Public Safety to provide, free of charge, up to two ounces of marijuana to any qualified medical marijuana patient within a 30-day period; the free pot would come from the DPS's seizure stash. All prisoners serving time solely for possession or use of a controlled substance would be paroled or released to community supervision.

Finally, this week DRCNet is featuring on its Web site an interview with Jack Cole, a former New Jersey State Police officer turned executive director of the newly formed drug policy reform group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. (Among L.E.A.P.'s members is Howard Wooldridge, a former Michigan cop, who now heads the Texas chapter of the NORML.) In the interview, Cole notes that zero-tolerance drug policies have done more harm than good and that drug laws have diminished respect for law enforcement, something L.E.A.P. hopes to restore. To read the entire interview, check out www.drcnet.org. For more on L.E.A.P., go to www.leap.cc.