(Syndicated to Kansas newspapers on 4/20/2015)
Interesting, this little saga of the Wichita marijuana ordinance which reduces penalties for first-time possession and essentially turns having a joint or two in your pocket into the same sort of violation of public decency and order as maybe overtime parking or not shoveling your sidewalk.
It’s interesting because fewer than 20 percent of Wichita voters actually voted on April 7, but 20,075 of them, or 54 percent, voted for the petition-generated ballot measure and 17,091 or 46 percent voted against it.
You just have to take a short toke of the issue and see how many ways it goes.
Now, the simplest observation is that the ordinance appears to override state law on marijuana possession, providing that “local control” that you hear legislators talking about…keeping government closest to the voters. Chances are good that the local control that is the justification for the state cutting back on support for local schools or local road projects or such…really isn’t going to be championed by many legislators because the issue is…well, pot.
Don’t forget that pot and other drug law enforcement have turned into a major business in the nation and in Kansas. Arresting and prosecuting pot smokers, well, that turns out to be a major jobs program for law enforcement. Yes, they’ll argue that point, but marijuana has been good for the law enforcement industry and it’s probably a lot safer and less strenuous than chasing down liquor store robbers or burglars.
Another way that ordinance is likely to show up: Employment and education.
Chances are good…so far, and that’s worth watching too…whether a simple possession arrest would have to be reported on job applications if the crime isn’t a state law violation that becomes part of your personal record checkable by prospective employers and a disqualifier for employment.
Chances are also good that a $50 ticket for first-time possession isn’t going to be reported on a scholarship application, which means that kids may be able to get into a community college or university and get a job and move out of your basement.
The issue took another turn last week that most Wichitans haven’t considered. The Kansas Supreme Court has taken Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s challenge of the pot ordinance under its exclusive jurisdiction, essentially moving the decision on whether it is legal out of Sedgwick County District Court and to Topeka.
That does a couple of things.
It means that no Sedgwick County District Court judge is going to have to put his/her DNA on the issue. That’s probably a good thing because those judges stand for election, and what local judge is going to be eager to nix the ordinance—and personally upset the 20,075 voters in the county who voted for it?
No, we don’t like to think of judges making decisions based on political implications, but those are good jobs, and judges have the best-financed pension system for state employees…just saying…
Oh, and as counties continue to run short of jail space, there’s going to be savings in personnel and construction costs if they could just charge those first-time violators $50 and not make them spend the night with jailers, who we suspect can wreck a marijuana high…
This goes a lot of ways, and you gotta wonder whether the Wichita vote would have been different had the election been in the fall of even-numbered years as some lawmakers want in the belief it will increase turnout.
Unless…that higher turnout goes the same way. Oh my! Pass the joint…