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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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US NV: Marijuana Possession - Records Show Few Jailed
ccguide Thursday 03 Oct 2002 Pubdate: Wed, 02 Oct 2002 Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV) Copyright: 2002 Las Vegas Review-Journal Contact: Website: http://www.lvrj.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/233 Author: Ed Vogel, Review-Journal Capital Bureau Cited: Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement ( www.nrle.org ) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/findUKP162 (Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/findUKP163 (Question 9 (NV)) MARIJUANA POSSESSION: RECORDS SHOW FEW JAILED Official: Figures evidence police not spending too much time handling minor drug offenses CARSON CITY -- Las Vegas police records show that only 14 of the 187 people arrested on marijuana charges in June ended up in jail on a sole charge of marijuana possession, a narcotics officer said Tuesday. Todd Raybuck said the figures show that local police are not spending an extravagant amount of time handling minor marijuana cases when they could be working on major crimes, as was claimed by the leader of a marijuana legalization effort. While a report filed by the Metropolitan Police Department with the FBI for June stated 187 people were arrested for marijuana offenses, Raybuck said his examination of each arrest found 115 people actually were issued citations and sent on their way. Most of the others were booked for other crimes, according to Raybuck, while just 14 ended up in jail on only the single charge of marijuana possession. Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement is pushing for approval of Question 9 on the Nov. 5 statewide ballot. Passage this fall and again in 2004 would allow adult Nevadans legally to possess 3 ounces or less of marijuana in the privacy of their homes. "It is not accurate to say we are spending time on marijuana instead of other crimes that threaten the public safety," Raybuck said. "It is the practice of the Las Vegas Metro Police Department to issue citations to those persons found in possession of 1 ounce unless other aggravating circumstances exist." Billy Rogers, leader of the pro-marijuana group, charged Monday that law enforcement officials are misleading the public about the number of people being arrested for marijuana possession. He pointed out that anti-Question 9 leaders like Raybuck and Clark County Deputy District Attorney Gary Booker repeatedly have said 50 people were arrested on marijuana charges in the first six months of 2002 when the Police Department's Web site reported 187 arrests for marijuana in June alone. Booker clarified Monday that only 50 people have been arrested on the sole charge of marijuana. Many others were booked on charges of burglary, domestic violence and other crimes, in addition to marijuana possession, he said. Since a law went into effect in October 2001 that made possession of an ounce or less of marijuana a misdemeanor, Raybuck said police typically hand offenders who only face a marijuana offense a citation. Offenders can be fined $600. Rogers questioned Tuesday why Las Vegas police reported 187 marijuana arrests in June if people only received citations in 115 of those cases. "They are reporting those as arrests," he said. "When Metro tells the world they arrested 187 people for simple marijuana possession, I believe them and not a detective that had nothing to do with compiling the reports." Since possession of an ounce or less is a misdemeanor, the same as a speeding ticket, Rogers questioned why citations should be counted as arrests. "Do you know how many arrests they reported for speeding tickets?" he added. "Zero." Raybuck said FBI uniform crime reporting rules consider citations issued in marijuana cases as arrests. He added it has taken time to train 2,000 police officers in Clark County on how they should handle offenders under the new misdemeanor possession law. "The standard practice is to issue them a citation equivalent to a traffic citation and release them," he said. "We just don't go out on the street and scoop people up for marijuana." He said it is difficult to determine why there were 50 actual arrests in the first half of 2002 on the sole charge of marijuana possession. Police may have interceded in domestic crises in some of those cases, found no signs of violence but spotted marijuana, Raybuck said. To handle the potential violence problem, they may have elected to book people for marijuana possession, he suggested. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth
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