Pro Pot Group Proposes $5 Fine
May 22nd, 2009 by RickEven though Colorado legislature passed a law in 2001 that brought marijuana possession from a misdemeanor to a petty offense, one little town named Longmont is apparently still reaping in the rewards of the cash cow system created by the war on drugs.
A group called, Free Marijuana in Longmont, wants the $100 fine and possible jail time for possession of marijuana reduced to $5. They feel community service and a $25 fine, instead of jail time and $100 fine is the way to go for public display or consumption of marijuana. This would just be a change for the adults however, the minors would still have to fork over their drug lunch money and allowance and pay the current fine.
The group plans to bumrush city council members the next time they hold a meeting and basically give them an ultimatum of agreeing to changing the code or they would send out petitions and collect signatures to get the issue on the ballot in November and therefore let the people decide.
Although medical marijuana is legal in Colorado, Paul Tiger, another Longmont resident worries about the chances of people smoking marijuana for recreation and not medication if it’s decriminalized and the penalties are reduced.
Kevin Clowers, leader of the group, uses the logic that if the fine is reduced to something like $5 then the authorities won’t bother in chasing the potheads and thus they save money in the long run with the courts and freeing up police officers to go after the real bad guys.
