CPD chief Burton calls for pot law reforms
The chief made the remarks at a May 21 press conference
Published June 2, 2010
Columbia Police Department Chief Ken Burton spoke out in favor of marijuana reform during a May 21 press conference.
The conference was held to address city concerns about a Feb. 11 raid on a house on Kinloch Court where police officers killed a dog and only recovered a misdemeanor amount of marijuana. During the news conference, Burton advocated reforms of state marijuana possession laws.
"More than misdemeanor amounts of marijuana are going to have to be made not a violation of state law," Burton said.
Burton said crimes of violence do occur because of marijuana, but he said there is debate over whether those crimes occur because the possession and use of marijuana are illegal.
He also said he did not have any personal objections to the use of marijuana, but will continue to enforce marijuana laws as long as they exist.
"I don't have anything against it except it's against the law," Burton said. "And as a police officer, I've sworn to uphold the law."
CPD spokeswoman Jessie Haden said the search on Kinloch Court was not a matter of enforcing laws against marijuana use or possession because the warrant was for evidence of drug trafficking.
"Trafficking is a felony, and our department takes it seriously," Haden said.
Tom Angell, spokesman for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, said his organization commended Burton for his comments. He said LEAP hopes Burton will actively oppose laws against marijuana possession.
"We are only going to be able to achieve that if more people of prominence like him speak out," Angell said.
Columbia defense attorney Dan Viets said stricter enforcement of marijuana laws only increases the profit motive for gangs to traffic and sell marijuana.
"The money is the root of the evil," said Viets, who is a board member for the local chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "And the money is there because it's illegal."
Many opponents of legalization raise concerns that it will lead to an increase in the use of marijuana, Veits said, but no studies have shown increases in marijuana use after its possession is decriminalized.
"People are not sitting around waiting for the government to make smoking pot legal," Viets said. "If they want to use it they already are, and if not they are not going to start just because it's legal."
NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano cited a federally funded study conducted by the University of Michigan in 1981 that examined the effect of decriminalization in Alaska in 1975, when the Alaska Supreme Court ruled the use and possession of up to four ounces of marijuana in the privacy of one's home was protected by the state constitution. The study found no significant increases in use.
"The data showed no evidence of any increase, relative to the control states, in the proportion of the age group who ever tried marijuana," Armentano said. "In fact, both groups of experimental states showed a small, cumulative net decline in annual prevalence after decriminalization."
Bob Stutman, a former Drug Enforcement Agency investigator, spoke against legalization at the March 16 Heads vs. Feds debate at MU. He said in an interview he does not believe marijuana offenders should go to prison, but is still against legalizing marijuana.
"If we legalize it, we give societal approval and we end up with far more users, on top of the problem we already have with alcohol," Stutman said.
Stutman also said although it's easier for high school kids to obtain marijuana than beer, 10 times as many high school kids drink beer because it is considered socially acceptable.
"If grass is easier to get than beer, why do 10 times more kids drink beer than smoke grass?" Stutman said.
Stutman also disagreed with the claim that decriminalization in Alaska had no effect on use, and pointed to other data.
"The court's ruling became a green light for marijuana use," an article on the DEA website said. "Although the ruling was limited to persons 19 and over, teens were among those increasingly using marijuana."
Armentano said he has never seen any convincing evidence that decriminalization has led to an increase in use.
"I've heard that claim for 20 years," he said. "I've never seen any data substantiating it."