Nutter should end Philly's weed war
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
via legalizepa.com
City Councilman Jim Kenney’s effort to decriminalize marijuana in Philadelphia is finally paying off. Last week, Council approved legislation by a 13-3 veto-proof majority that would impose a $25 fine for small-time marijuana possession and discourage police from making arrests.
This is an important victory for common sense, and for civil rights: 83 percent of the 4,314 marijuana-possession arrests city police made in 2013 were of African-Americans, many of whom were caught up in the department’s stop-and-frisk dragnet.
But drug warriors like Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey plan to resist, telling the Inquirer, “we still have to treat it as a misdemeanor.”
Back in January, Ramsey said he was “in favor of being able to write a citation for minor possession as opposed to actually having a physical arrest taking officers off the street.” Ramsey told me that he changed his mind after consulting with District Attorney Seth Williams and the city courts.
So I contacted Williams’ spokesperson, Tasha Jamerson. She said, “By law, all misdemeanors in the commonwealth require an arrest by police.” But no statute exists, according to criminal-law experts.
Pressed on the matter, Jamerson pointed to a law requiring those arrested or who have received a summons for misdemeanors to be fingerprinted — but, if you back up a step, there is nothing that says an arrest is mandatory. And although state law does classify minor marijuana possession as a misdemeanor, it’s not clear that local police actually need to bring such a charge — Lower Merion does not.
Mayor Nutter has not said whether he will sign the bill, but it is difficult to believe that Ramsey would oppose it without Nutter’ s tacit support.
Ultimately, marijuana use will be legal. Nutter, Ramsey and Williams should get out of the way and embrace decriminalization now.
