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Santa Cruz Considers Curbing Marijuana Citations
Some residents worry city is going too far with measure that would require police officers to look the other way
Ken McLaughlin | Contra Costa Times | 10/24/2006

Santa Cruz may be attached to the mainland. But in many ways, it is an island.

Separated from the Bay Area by mountains and encircled by ocean and greenery, the city of 56,000 is known for its edgy politics, feisty independence and uncommon sense of place. But this fall, residents are engaged in a fierce debate over two voter initiatives on the ballot -- one to all but legalize marijuana smoking, the other to create a local minimum-wage law. And both have some Santa Cruz progressives wondering if the city is carrying this "island thing" too far.

Even the avowed socialist on the city council worries about the city pretending that California's drug laws and the laws of economics don't apply to Santa Cruz.

"It's one thing to be unique and edgy, but I don't want the city to be seen as totally wacky," said veteran city Councilman Mike Rotkin.

The marijuana initiative would require police to make marijuana arrests their lowest priority. If the proponents have their way, criminal arrests and citations for marijuana possession and even sales on private property would drop off the police radar.

Ed Porter, one of the city council's most liberal members, has come out swinging against the proposal, also opposed by police and drug treatment agencies.

"Instead of 'Surf City,' we'll become 'Marijuana City,'" said Porter, a teacher at Santa Cruz High. "I just think it's a stupid idea to make it possible for everyone in town to become stoners."

Peter Lewis, an Ohio billionaire who wants to see marijuana legalized, has bankrolled the measure, along with similar measures in Santa Monica and Santa Barbara.

Under the proposal, police still could give priority to crimes involving the sale and distribution to minors; the sale, cultivation or use of marijuana on public property; and driving under the influence of marijuana.

But critics say the proposed law doesn't define the "acceptable" amount of marijuana Santa Cruzans can sell out of their homes. "Almost every backyard in the city could become a safe house for growing and selling marijuana," City Attorney John Barisone said.

"If a police officer was walking down Pacific Avenue and saw someone selling marijuana in a private parking lot while he could have been apprehending a jaywalker a half a block away, he'd technically be violating the ordinance if he went after the drug dealer," Barisone added.

Proponents say the lawyers and police are overreacting and that they'd prefer to "tax and regulate" the sale of legal marijuana, but that state and federal laws prevent that from happening.

"We can't change the law, but we can make it so the police aren't coming into a private setting and arresting people," said Andrea Tischler, co-owner of the nation's first "bed, bud and breakfast inn." Located in downtown Santa Cruz, the 6-year-old Compassion Flower Inn welcomes guests who smoke marijuana for medical purposes.

Kate Horner, a 24-year-old Santa Cruz resident who is running the Measure K campaign, said that a similar law in Seattle has driven down marijuana arrests while not resulting in any measurable increase in marijuana smoking.

Santa Cruz police scoff at the notion that marijuana use can be accurately measured. And they're scratching their heads about why the measure is needed in the first place, since under California law, marijuana possession is dealt with as harshly as a traffic ticket. Police also are outraged by a provision that would make them document and defend the 200 or so marijuana citations they hand out each year before an "oversight committee."

"It's nothing more than a mechanism for harassment of police," said Lt. Steve Clark. "It's aimed at stopping us from doing what we're sworn to do."

Police also feel the law would prevent them from issuing marijuana citations as a tool to discourage loitering and other behavior that threatens public safety.

"Can't people see the incongruence of a city with such a large drug and alcohol problem making it easier for people to use drugs," Clark said. "This would just send a message that it's OK for our kids to do drugs."