Cop David Bratzer pushes for marijuana leniency

While off duty, constable collects signatures for Dana Larsen’s marijuana initiative.

David Bratzer believes that prohibition of drugs is wrong.

DAVID BRATZER  is unlike other canvassers in the ongoing initiative campaign to decriminalize marijuana in B.C.

Depending on the time and day, he could be asking someone on the street to support the petition or possibly slapping the cuffs on another for pot possession.

Bratzer is a Vancouver Island Capital Regional District police officer who believes that drug prohibition is wrong.

“When I’m on duty, I’ve always been clear that I will enforce the law as it stands,” Bratzer told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview. “I’ve sworn an oath to uphold the law.”

But after the uniform comes off, the constable aims to sign up about 1,000 people during the 90-day signature drive that started Monday (September 9).

Because of his job, there may be occasions when the 36-year-old cop has to arrest people for drug offences. “But when I’m off duty, I advocate to change these failed policies around cannabis prohibition,” said Bratzer, who is also the president of the Canadian chapter of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.

LEAP is an international organization of active and retired professionals in the criminal-justice system that calls for an end to the so-called war on drugs. It supports the initiative spearheaded by pot activist and Sen­sible B.C. spokesperson Dana Larsen.

As far as Bratzer knows, he’s the only cop who is a registered canvasser in the campaign to amend provincial law so people will no longer be busted for simple marijuana possession. It’s a role that he said he’s “comfortable” in because even the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police is now seeking changes in the enforcement of cannabis laws.

At its annual meeting last August, the association, led by president and Vancouver Police Department chief Jim Chu, proposed ticketing and fining people with small amounts of marijuana as an alternative to either looking the other way or laying criminal charges that will only burden the courts.

It’s an idea that former police officer Kash Heed brought up in November 2001. When he appeared then before a Senate committee on illegal drugs as an inspector with the Vancouver police service’s vice and drugs section he talked about “limited prohibition with civil penalties”.

In an interview on September 9, Heed expressed some irritation that it has taken police chiefs such a long time to catch up. “This is going back 12 years ago,” Heed told the Straight by phone. He recalled that the failure of prohibition was recognized decades earlier, in the 1970s, by a federal commission of inquiry into drugs that was chaired by law dean Gerald Le Dain.

“What irks me a little bit is you have these chiefs coming out and saying they’ve got this innovative way to deal with the marijuana situation,” Heed said. “Well, come on. All they had to do was go back…and look up what Le Dain said. Le Dain came out and said our policies are failing.”

Following a long career in policing, Heed entered politics in 2009 and served as a controversial one-term Vancouver MLA.

Heed, as someone who preceded Bratzer in his cause, knows the kind of pressure brought to bear on a police officer who speaks on marijuana policy. “You’ve got to have a thick skin because you’re actually going against the culture,” Heed, a sessional SFU criminology instructor, said. “You’re going against, most likely, the chief of the department. You’re going against many people within the department. The people that do support you are silent on the matter because they fear that their careers will be limited.”

Bratzer, a family man with a young child, is in his eighth year wearing a badge. His two brothers are also police officers.

“Being a police officer who advocates for legalizing and regulating drugs, it can bring some challenges at times with my career, and so it’s a balancing act,” he said.

Bratzer works four shifts and gets three days off a week. He figures that if he can gather an average of more than 10 signatures a day, his goal of signing up 1,000 people by December 5 is doable.

Source

This post brought to you in part by howtogrowweed420.com

Alaska: Marijuana Legalization Initiative Halfway There With Signatures

For more than 30 years, Alaska was the only state in the U.S. in which it was legal -- under some circumstances -- to smoke marijuana for the fun of it.

Then Colorado and Washington voters last November passed initiatives legalizing cannabis for adults and setting up systems of production, sales and taxation.

Now backers of a legalization initiative in Alaska say they are moving toward making the same change there, reports the Anchorage Daily News. The group is about halfway to reaching their goal of 45,000 signatures by December 1, about 15,000 more than the number required to get the measure on next year's primary election ballot, according to main sponsor Timothy Hinterberger.

"In a free society, prohibition of popular substances is just bad public policy," Hinterberger said.

The initiative would add a seven-page statute to the books in Alaska, legalizing marijuana for adults and setting up a state regulatory body to oversee cannabis farms, dealers and advertising.

The initiative would impose a hefty $50 per ounce excise tax that would be collected between the greenhouse and the store or factory.

Employers would still be allowed to prohibit their workers from smoking or possession at work, and prevent employees from being high while on duty. Driving under the influence of cannabis would still be illegal, and local governments could outlaw growing and sales -- but not possession.

Police would have to stop their current practice of seizing small amounts of pot when they find it. The measure would authorize retail pot shops, but not parlors or bars; that is to say, on-site consumption would be prohibited at the shops.

The legalization measure has been gaining support since Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell on June 14 ruled that the initiative could proceed to the signature-gathering phase. The August 29 Justice Department announcement that it wouldn't sue to stop legalization laws in states which legalize cannabis added momentum to the cause.

"I've had a lot of people talk to me about that since then," Hinterberger said. "I think that shows that we are on the right track in thinking that things are really changing, both in federal policy as well as in public sentiment. It eliminates one of the arguments you sometimes hear against an initiative like ours -- it doesn't matter what we do locally as a state because the feds will step in."

The advisory, while noting that marijuana is still a "serious crime," directs federal law enforcement authorities on the local level to focus on larger priorities, not simple possession or legalized marijuana grow and sale operations. In the case of states which have legalized pot, the Justice Department expects them to prevent interstate sales.

After Alaska voters in 1972 passed one of the most important amendments to the state constitution -- a right to privacy -- Homer resident Irwin Ravin arranged for police to arrest him with two joints in his pocket.

The Alaska Supreme Court dismissed Ravin's case in 1975, making Alaska the only state with legalized marijuana. The court ruled 5-0 that the state law banning cannabis possession violated the newly approved right of privacy, at least for small amounts inside a person's home.

The state could still ban the use of pot in public or by minors, the court said, and could restrict the sales and quantity, but not private possession. In 1982, the Legislature set the legalized "small amount" at four ounces or four plants; anything more than that was a misdemeanor.

But with the War On Drugs coming to Alaska during the Reagan years, the state Senate, then dominated by the GOP, wanted to recriminalize. Legalization opponents sponsored a ballot measure in the 1990 general election which restored criminal penalties for possession of any amount of pot. It won with 54 percent of the vote.

In 2003, the Alaska Court of Appeals ruled that law was unconstitutional. The Alaska Supreme Court refused to hear it, letting the Court of Appeals decision stand.

Gov. Frank Murkowski, in office from 2002 to 2006, vowed to recriminalize pot AGAIN, and directed the Legislature to pass a new law criminalizing all pot possession. The law passed in 2006 and was quickly struck down by a Juneau Superior Court judge.

The Alaska Supreme Court ruled that the judge had acted prematurely, since nobody had been arrested yet. But apparently nobody has since, and that's where the law stands now: a ban on possession of small quantities is still the law, but the law is clearly unconstitutional, according to Joshua Decker, acting executive director of the ACLU of Alaska.

If officers encounter a small quantity of marijuana, according to Anchorage Police Chief Mark Mew, they will seize it as contraband and eventually destroy it, but the Ravin decision effectively blocks the state from prosecuting possession cases involving less than four ounces.

Source

Obama administration will not block state marijuana laws, if distribution is regulated

The Obama administration said Thursday that it would not challenge laws legalizing marijuana in Colorado and Washington state as long as those states maintain strict rules involving the sale and distribution of the drug.

In a memo to U.S. attorneys in all 50 states, Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole said the Justice Department is “committed to using its limited investigative and prosecutorial resources to address the most significant threats in the most effective, consistent and rational way.” He stressed that marijuana remains illegal under federal law.

The memo, which was welcomed by proponents of marijuana legalization, directs federal prosecutors to focus on eight areas of enforcement rather than spending time targeting individual users. Those aims include preventing distribution of marijuana to minors, stopping the growing of marijuana on public land, keeping pot from falling into the hands of cartels and gangs, and preventing the diversion of marijuana to states where it remains illegal.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. called the governors of Colorado and Washington about noon Thursday to inform them of the decision. A Justice official said Holder told them that federal prosecutors would be watching closely as the two states finalize a regulatory framework for marijuana and that prosecutors would be taking a “trust but verify” approach.

Last fall, Washington and Colorado approved initiatives to legalize the possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, becoming the first states to approve the drug for recreational use. Twenty states and the District have passed laws legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Until Thursday, the administration had remained silent about the initiatives in Colorado and Washington, despite requests for guidance from state officials.

“We recognize how difficult this issue has been for the Department of Justice and we appreciate the thoughtful approach it has taken,” Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D), who opposed efforts to legalize marijuana last year, said in a statement. “Amendment 64 put Colorado in conflict with federal law. Today’s announcement shows the federal government is respecting the will of Colorado voters.”

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), in a statement with state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, said the guidance “reflects a balanced approach by the federal government that respects the states’ interests in implementing these laws and recognizes the federal government’s role in fighting illegal drugs and criminal activity.”

Proponents of marijuana legalization welcomed the new administration guidance.

“This is a very significant step forward,” said Christian Sederberg, a Denver lawyer who helped draft Amendment 64. “The simple truth is that a tightly regulated marijuana market is superior to the criminal market. ­State-regulated business will now be able to continue creating good jobs and generating tax revenue. This is what progress looks like.”

Sederberg said state lawmakers and a government-backed task force in Colorado have tried to deal with the concerns of federal officials — such as keeping pot out of the hands of minors — while setting up the regulatory framework for a marijuana market.

Read Full Story

Grow Cannabis Indoors

Canada Liberal Party Leader Says Legalize Marijuana

Canada’s opposition Liberal Party head Justin Trudeau has called for the legalization of marijuana, putting himself and his party on a collision course with the ruling Conservatives ahead of 2015 elections. Trudeau’s stand also differentiates the Liberals from the New Democratic Party (NDP), which has been the progressive party on drug reform, but which only calls for decriminalization.

Canadian Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau (wikimedia.org)

The Liberals adopted marijuana legalization as a platform plank in January 2012, but Trudeau had previously lagged behind the party, calling only for decriminalization.

Trudeau revived drug policy as an issue when, at a Kelowna, British Columbia, event Sunday, he spotted someone in the crowd holding a sign calling for decriminalization.

“I’ll take that as a question,” he volunteered. “I’m actually not in favor of decriminalizing cannabis, I’m in favour of legalizing it, tax and regulate,” he said to applause. “It’s one of the only ways to keep it out of the hands of our kids, because the current war on drugs, the current model, is not working.”

In Vancouver on Thursday, Trudeau elaborated.

“Listen, marijuana is not a health food supplement, it’s not great for you,” he told reporters, but added that it was no worse for people than cigarettes or alcohol and he was now willing to go further than just decriminalization. “I have evolved in my own thinking,” Trudeau said. “I was more hesitant to even decriminalize not so much as five years ago. But I did a lot of listening, a lot of reading, and a lot of paying attention to the very serious studies that have come out and I realize that going the road of legalization is actually a responsible thing to look at and to do.”

The stand places the Liberal Party on a collision course on the road to the 2015 elections with the Conservative government, which is solidly in favour of the status quo, and the NDP, which would only go as far as decriminalizing the possession of small quantities of marijuana.

When Liberals controlled the national government at the beginning of this century, they moved to reform the marijuana laws. But the Liberals only favored a quasi-decriminalization, and they ended up not even being able to move that forward.

The Conservatives have held national power since 2006 and have ratcheted up penalties for some marijuana and other drug offenses. Responding to Trudeau’s comments this week, the party said it was staying the prohibitionist course.

“These drugs are illegal because of the harmful effect they have on users and on society, including violent crime. Our government has no interest in seeing any of these drugs legalized or made more easily available to youth,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

The Conservatives’ position on marijuana puts them out of step with most Canadians on the issue. An Angus-Reid poll last fall showed Canadian support for legalization at 57%, and other surveys have polled even higher.

Read More

Grow Cannabis Indoors

Indisputable Evidence That Cannabis May Be The Most Nutritional Vegetable In The World

Grow Cannabis Indoors