CITIZEN By Diane Nicks
Diane Nicks has been Dane County District attorney since 1997.

Pot Perspective

The many serious crimes committed in Dane County are the first priority of the Dane County District Attorney's office and police agencies throughout the county. Marijuana-possession cases are not a high priority.

The "otherwise law-abiding," "hard-working," "jobholding" citizens who "occasionally have a joint in the privacy of their homes" - as cited by marijuana law reform advocate Keith Stroup in a recent San Francisco Examiner article - are not targeted by us.

See
NORML Launches Bay Area Ad Campaign
And Gets Great Free Publicity In Silicon Valley

In cases where an otherwise law-abiding citizen is caught with a small amount of marijuana, he or she will not be criminally prosecuted. Rather, that person will only be cited for an ordinance violation.

Of course, there are activities in a home that will result in a criminal charge.

For example, we prosecuted a father who was providing marijuana to his son who, in turn, had been truant from school for more than 200 days.

Similarly, in a recent domestic violence case, possession of THC was charged after the defendant's partner pointed to what was alleged to be marijuana and complained of the defendant's increasing use.

Though possession cases are not a high priority, I do not favor decrimina1izing marijuana. Why?

Though I have some discretion in how they are applied, I don't make the laws - the Legislature does. Despite years of lobbying by Stroup's National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, the Legislature has decided not to legalize marijuana possession in any amount.
(Marijuananews note: Excuse me! First, the actions of the state legislature are not binding on her conscience and whether or not she should favor "legalization." Second, she was elected by the people of Madison who have chosen to decriminalize possession of small amounts. That is the subject here, not "legalization.")

(Marijuananews note: Oh, boy. Party line. If she doesn’t know any better than this, then she is incompetent.)
See
The American Academy of Pediatrics To Embrace "Potent Pot" Line:
Party Line Takes Precedence Over Caring For Children.
Medical and Journalistic Malpractice
and links

In any event, I am sworn to uphold the law, not ignore it. The vast majority of marijuana prosecutions involve other criminal activity or threats to public peace and safety.

We are not simply dealing with "otherwise law-abiding citizens" when marijuana possession is coupled with drunken or drugged driving, cocaine trafficking, public disturbances, theft, domestic violence or homicide.

(Marijuananews note: We are not simply dealing with "otherwise law-abiding citizens" when alcohol possession, or failure to attend religious services, or casual dress on Thursdays, is coupled with drunken or drugged driving, cocaine trafficking, public disturbances, theft, domestic violence or homicide. Real crimes should be prosecuted. If people are guilty of such serious crimes, then there should be no need to prosecute them for marijuana possession. If they are not found guilty of these crimes then this is irrelevant.)

A case noted in Isthmus serves as an example. What was presented as a simple case of repeat marijuana possession in reality involved a person with a serious criminal record, including at-tempted burglary, heroin deliveries, carrying a concealed weapon and multiple batteries.

First seen leaving a high drug-trafficking area, this man, who described himself as a self-employed painter, had rolling papers, an Ameritech pager, more than 30 grams of marijuana in one plastic bag, a second plastic bag with a joint under his seat, a partially smoked joint in the ashtray and a wad of $20 bills totaling $420.

(Marijuananews note: The interesting number aside, $420 is not exactly a princely sum of money. This line of argument uses perfectly legal activities to justify a felony prosecution. Even if one is a prohibitionist, such a line of reasoning is rife with potential for abuse. Moreover, this fellow is hardly a major player. Taking people like this off the streets has no impact on supplies, it simply clogs the system.)

The arresting Narcotics Task Force officer noted in his report that individuals involved in the drug trade will typically carry large amounts of currency as well as pagers to negotiate drug transactions.
(Marijuananews note: Then why don’t they go to the local country clubs and arrest everyone with pagers and $500?)

Do the citizens of Dane County really want me to cut this guy slack on the marijuana possession?

(Marijuananews note: Do the people of Dane County really want to spend the limited resources of the criminal justice system on such a person?)

Another example cited by Isthmus involved a person arrested for possession of pot pipes. What wasn't reported was that this defendant was driving home from the bars with a blood alcohol content of .17 in a preliminary breath test. (A reading of .10 is a prohibited level of alcohol concentration.)

(Marijuananews note: Then why was he not arrested for drunk driving? See Lueders' response below.)

Also not reported was that police surveillance was a response to reports of underage drinking, drug use and driving. Do Dane County citizens want these concerns ignored? I don't think so.

Our general policy is to prosecute cases involving small amounts of marijuana only when other criminal activity is involved or the public's peace or safety is threatened. Failing this test, possession of small amounts of marijuana should almost always result in an ordinance violation.

Where marijuana use is somewhat more involved, we have increasingly turned to drug treatment court. (Referrals have increased 77% in 1998.) Treatment and education tracks are provided in an effort to avoid criminal conviction and prevent future problems.
(Marijuananews note: This may explain why there has been an increase in "treatment" for "marijuana addiction.")
See
The Real Data On Teen Marijuana "Abuse Treatment" – What The Media Don’t Tell Us:
"Half of marijuana treatment admissions were referred through the criminal justice system."
-- Analysis By Richard Cowan

We strive to set sensible priorities, and we continually assess them as we apply the law to individual cases. We also consider the community's needs and concerns as voiced by parents, educators, civic leaders, treatment providers and police agencies.

I look forward to working with them to ensure a safe and reasonable approach to marijuana prosecution in Dane County.

Citizen is a forum for Isthmus readers. Diane Nicks has been Dane County District attorney since 1997.

Bill Lueders From The Isthmus Responds

September 10-16, 1999
From The On the Town Column By Bill Lueders

THE WAR CONTINUES

DA's office eases off a few cases, but still routinely treats pot possession as a crime.

Isthmus' recent two-part series on the War on Pot drew quite a reaction, to judge from the letters we received. But did it make a difference?
See
Madison Capital Times Reacts To Isthmus Story On Marijuana Prosecutions:
DA Is On The Spot.
"Tax dollars and lives are being wasted on a fool’s mission that
sensible Madisonians thought they had ended more than two decades ago."
and
Madison Mayor Says Marijuana Possession Charges Should Be Handled Through City Ordinance;
DA Attempts To Intimidate Local Media

There are signs that the Dane County District Attorney's office is getting wary about embarrassingly petty cases. For instance, on Aug. 27 the office dismissed felony pot-possession charges against Dominic Bogan, suddenly deciding "there's insufficient evidence to prosecute." Bogan was charged in July after police searching a trash container in his home found "several plastic baggies without corners, one of which had a suspect marijuana stem in it." (Bogan was on probation, hence the warrantless home invasion.)

And on Aug. 8, the DA's office agreed to a plea involving Mark Dahl, whose prosecution for possessing drug paraphernalia (after UW cops spotted a pot pipe in his parked car) was the subject of a sidebar to Isthmus' July 30 article. Defense attorney Rick Meier says Assistant DA Ken Farmer accepted the same offer--a noncriminal disorderly conduct charge, which brought a $147.50 fine--that he had rejected twice before. "Definitely, the Isthmus article is what pushed him," says Meier.

(DA Diane Nicks, referencing Dahl's case in her statement on P. 12, claims she initially tested as having a blood alcohol level of .17, nearly twice the legal limit. But police reports make no mention of this, and a surprised Meier can't imagine the cops would have caught his client driving drunk and just let it go. "I think it's unfair for her to insinuate he was committing some other crime.")

In August, Dane County charged 17 individuals with felonies and 23 with misdemeanors for cases involving pot possession. This is down slightly from June, when 26 people were charged with felonies and 31 with misdemeanors for cases involving pot possession. But the DA's office still routinely opts to issue felony pot possession charges against people with previous drug convictions. Indeed, in nine of the 17 felony cases filed last month, pot possession was the only charge.

Last Saturday, The Capital Times quoted Nicks as saying she had taken steps to reduce the "large numbers" of pot prosecutions. But it also reported that her office is sticking to guidelines that call for criminal charges whenever a pot-possession case involves more than a quarter ounce or a defendant who fits any of the following: has been arrested for drugs within the last ten years, qualifies as a repeat offender, was arrested for some other offense, or was "uncooperative with police."