Tallahassee, FL: A federal court judge ruled Wednesday that a municipal initiative seeking to make the arrest and prosecution of minor marijuana offenses “the city’s lowest law enforcement priority” will not appear on the November ballot even though election officials had previously certified that petitioners gathered a sufficient number of valid signatures from registered voters to qualify.
According to the ruling, the proposed amendment will not appear on the ballot because it “seeks to establish a different priority or strategy with respect to a particular controlled substance” than that of the state legislature, which “has clearly set forth a comprehensive and uniform law enforcement and drug control program for the state.”
The court also ruled that the local initiative process may not be used to enact a municipal ordinance, and that it would be “unlawful” for a city ordinance to “restrict the authority” of city police officers.
Proponents of the initiative note that several cities, including Seattle and Oakland, have successfully passed marijuana “deprioritization” initiatives without running afoul of state law. In addition, several municipalities – including Madison, Wisconsin and Ann Arbor, Michigan – have enacted local ordinances decriminalizing marijuana possession (making pot possession a non-criminal, fine-only offense) without conflicting with state law.
For more information, please contact Tallahasseans for Practical Law Enforcement/Florida NORML at (850) 224-0868.