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Marijuana Issues Head Toward City Ballot
Columbia voters will decide Nov. 2 whether to decriminalize marijuana use for the seriously ill and for adults who possess less than 35 grams of marijuana.
A medical marijuana initiative failed to win approval as an ordinance last night on a 3-3 vote by the Columbia City Council, surprising the measure’s proponents. Mayor Darwin Hindman was on vacation.
"If the mayor had been there, it might have been a little different," said Sterling Neeb of Columbia Alliance for Patients and Education, or CAPE. "I’m very surprised. It gives me hope."
Council members voted 5-1 against a second proposal, which would direct all misdemeanor adult marijuana cases to Columbia Municipal Court, resulting in a maximum $250 fine. Under state law, misdemeanor charges involve less than 35 grams of marijuana, about 1¼ ounces.
Dan Viets, a Columbia attorney and member of CAPE, told the council the main reason for sponsoring a decriminalization ordinance is because under law, if a student is convicted in state or federal court for a marijuana offense, he or she loses his or her student aid. Viets’ argument failed.
"If you accept funds from an agency, you accept that agency’s rules," said Fourth Ward City Councilman Jim Loveless.
The issue that divided the council included testimony from a woman who said she could benefit from the medical use of marijuana. The medical marijuana provision calls for a maximum $50 fine and for patients to have a physician’s recommendations that they use the drug.
Heather De Mian suffers from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a rare condition that causes the dislocation of joints, internal bleeding and gastrointestinal distress.
De Mian, 33, piled more than six bottles of prescription drugs on the podium and told council members the state pays more than $32,000 a year for her medications although marijuana would alleviate her symptoms.
"If that’s not a criminal waste of tax money, I don’t know what is," she said.
De Mian said the drugs she takes now contain a chemical similar to that in marijuana, but because she has to take it as a pill, she can’t keep it down. Smoking marijuana wouldn’t cause that problem, she said.
Lana Jacobs, a founder of St. Francis House and De Mian’s mother, said, "It’s so hard to watch my children suffer when I can’t help them."
Moved by the testimony, Loveless said: "I don’t have a problem with this. I think this is something that has been suppressed for purely political reasons."
Third Ward Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Bob Hutton and First Ward Councilwoman Almeta Crayton fell in line with Loveless.
But Second Ward Councilman Chris Janku voted against the medical marijuana measure because it didn’t address how Columbia arrests would be handled by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Boone County sheriff’s deputies and University of Missouri-Columbia police.
He had similar concerns with the second marijuana initiative.
Crayton alone favored the second initiative. She said she believes drug laws can be too hasty in taking away government assistance, such as access to public housing.
The majority aligned themselves with Sixth Ward Councilman Brian Ash on the second initiative.
"This one’s easier for me to oppose," Ash said. "The biggest concern is the message we’re sending with a slap on the wrist for marijuana. Some things are probably worse that are legal, and two wrongs don’t make a right, and the horse is out of the barn already."
The city’s charter dictates initiative ordinances be placed on the ballot if they don’t receive enough votes for adoption.
The council yesterday also voted 6-0 to hire three consulting groups to study whether new housing and commercial developments are paying their fair share regarding road improvements.
Under terms of the contract, Stinson, Morrison and Hecker law firm, TranSystems Corp. transportation consultants and Development Strategies financial consultants would complete their work in four months. The group would be paid $80,276.
The study would be finished by Dec. 1, in time for a quarter-cent sales tax renewal to be placed on the April election. The city’s current capital sales tax expires in December 2005.
Source: Columbia Daily Tribune (MO)
Author: Dave Moore of the Tribune’s Staff
Published: Tuesday, August 3, 2004
Copyright: 2004 Columbia Daily Tribune
Contact: editor@tribmail.com
Website: http://www.columbiatribune.com/
