Decriminalization In Iowa’s Tiny Problem (And A Possible Solution)

Problem: ballot initiatives, or city code changes, must not violate state or federal law:

Decriminalize marijuana, Cedar Rapids City Council candidate urges

A Cedar Rapids City Council candidate says Iowa’s second-largest city should be a statewide leader by decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Jorel Robinson, 32, proposes refocusing criminal justice resources to “encourage police not to prioritize simple marijuana possession arrests.” He also wants a ballot initiative to treat simple marijuana possession not as a criminal penalty but as a civil one with “small fines for small amounts” to be set by the council in coordination with police.

“We’re the second largest city in Iowa and too often do we wait on Des Moines, Waterloo, Davenport, to give us a direction, or give us an idea of where we should go,” Robinson last week told The Gazette’s editorial board. “I think Cedar Rapids, Iowa, personally, should lead on the decriminalization of marijuana, and we should do that through an initiative, and we should give the people here the ability to vote on this.”

Robinson, a GoDaddy employee and a community advocate focused on disadvantaged youth, is vying for one of two at-large seats on the Nov. 5 ballot. Incumbent Ann Poe and union leader Pat Loeffler also are running for the four-year seats, and they did not identify this issue as part of their campaign platforms.

Linn County Attorney Jerry Vander Sanden cast doubt on whether such a plan could fly.

 

The article from The Gazette goes on to explain that city ordinances can’t violate state law.

PROBLEM: DECRIMINALIZATION ORDINANCES MUST NOT VIOLATE STATE OR FEDERAL LAW

So, removing misdemeanor penalties in the Iowa Code isn’t possible. What can be done?

BROAD LANGUAGE NEEDED FOR CITIES TO FLEX LEGAL AUTHORITY

The goal of Decriminalization in Iowa can be seen to include at least the following effects:

1. Start the conversation (Decriminalization Davenport is doing a professional job of this so far)

2. Gather allies/unify drug policy reform movement folk where possible

3. Take pressure off the hyper-partisan, politically rigged medical marijuana “debate”

4. Pressure the Iowa Legislature/politicians in Iowa to move the needle in a substantive way instead of papering over the issue with red tape and obfuscation

5. Maintain the moral high ground of drug policy reform — it’s anti-American to deny freedom of choice (ie, my body, my choice)

So while these goals can and already are being achieved, they will be much easier to achieve if we have a ballot initiative or city ordinance that both relaxes local resources on marijuana possession and follows state law. Thus, we could create a new government board to deal with possession, where people are offered treatment or resources locally and not charged criminally in any way (critical component is end user choice whether to use resources or walk away and be left alone). We could direct law enforcement that it is the lowest priority, but in writing (a common objection from LEO’s is that it’s already the lowest priority but unofficially and they oppose it being official because they want more discretion than they need). Basically, if in one of the two charter cities that allow for voter ballot initiatives to be added to the ballot by petition signatures, decriminalization activists in Iowa decide to put language down of some sort, my advice is to keep it simple, and make sure it will pass state law. The political class has zero way of legally denying you ballot access on a decrim initiative other than legalese challenges. Make it legally broad, but targeted, and it will pass muster to get on the ballot. Win or lose on the ballot, getting it on the ballot is an important win.

I spent two weeks doing legal research on this ballot initiative language in 2016. I came up with one sentence. That sentence will both pass legal muster, send a message to the legislature, get voters united, and get the above goals and more goals accomplished. That sentence was something along the lines of “Possession of marijuana is the lowest priority in Iowa City/Cedar Rapids.” That was the plan, was to wait until 2020 or 2024, and do a ballot initiative. Not 2018, not 2022, but 2020 and/or 2024. There’s plenty of time to do this still, and the infrastructure is being put in place. Win or lose in the end, it’s already a win, for nobody else was doing jack shit all, and, this is getting a ton of media attention, and we need to spend time talking this one through to show people the sincere errors and inhumanity of the drug war ways.