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West Hollywood adopts new city policy: Do not target adult marijuana offenders |
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Written by Mikki Norris
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Thursday, 24 August 2006 |
City joins move to accept cannabis
It's official. On June 19, the West Hollywood City Council passed a resolution that declared it policy that “ the City of West Hollywood does not target marijuana offenses” and directs the public safety commission to review narcotics-related law enforcement statistics annually.
In effect, this policy directs the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which is contracted with the City to handle its policing (it does not have its own police force) to make marijuana laws regarding adult, personal use a “low priority.”
The Council voted yes by 4-0 with one abstention.
The Council voted yes by 4-0 with one abstention. 
The ordinance was proposed by Councilmember John Duran to save the city the expense of an election and to gain more control over its language. The West Hollywood Civil Liberties Alliance (WeHoCLA) was engaged in a signature drive for an initiative similar to the current Santa Cruz effort, when Duran approached the group offering to support a city ordinance deprioritizing marijuana offenses. WeHoCLA agreed to pull the plug on their initiative effort to work with Duran's office to come up with an acceptable policy that would save the group the expense of a campaign.
West Hollywood is the first city in California to pass such a resolution regarding non-medical marijuana use since Oakland voters passed Measure Z in 2004 with 65% of the vote, and the 1970s when Berkeley and San Francisco passed resolutions to stop the arrest of marijuana users. This effort is the first success of the California Cities Campaign aimed at passing initiatives and ordinances across California in 2006, to end the waste of tax dollars and police resources criminalizing cannabis consumers, and to enable law enforcement to focus on violent and serious crime instead.
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Mikki Norris |
| About the author: |
| Mikki Norris has been an activist for drug policy reform since 1989 when she formed the American Hemp Council along with her husband Chris Conrad. In subsequent years, they took several cross-country trips to educate the public on the many uses of hemp, and to network and strategize with activists and businesspeople on how to advance the movement. In 1993, she and Chris moved to Amsterdam to design exhibits for and curate the Hash Marijuana Hemp Museum, which they updated in 2000. As community action co-coordinator for Californians for Medical Rights, she helped organize petitioners to qualify the medical marijuana initiative (Prop. 215) for the 1996 ballot. |
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 17 September 2006 )
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