Scott Powers
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said Wednesday that his proposal to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana would give police officers a third choice between arresting or just warning people.
The proposed ordinance, which will go before the Orlando City Council on Monday, creates a new municipal civil citation — a $50 penalty — for people caught with a baggie of pot or a couple of joints.
It does not replace state or federal law, which holds that marijuana is illegal, and possession of even small amounts can result in a misdemeanor offense that could lead to a criminal record and jail time. But under the law officers often exercise discretion to decide whether to arrest or just let offenders go with a warning.
That all-or-nothing choice would be augmented with the prospect that the officer could choose not to enforce state law but could still cite the offender under city law.
“In Florida police officers have two options when they find any suspect with 20 grams or less of marijuana: make an arrest, or they can confiscate the contraband and the suspect with a civil warning,” Dyer said. “At Monday’s City Council meeting, we will consider a new city law that gives a third, in-between option, a citation for violation of city code.”
“This third option is not as harsh as an arrest, which would result in jail time and possibility of lifelong criminal record,” Dyer added. “But it still holds the offender responsible for their behavior.”
In introducing the proposed ordinance at Orlando City Hall, Dyer was flanked by Orlando Police Chief John Mina, who supports giving his officers the third option, and leadership and members of Organize Now’s Racial Justice Committee, who support the prospect that police would arrest fewer people for marijuana.
In fact, if the city council adopts the proposed ordinance, the new law could be used to punish more people.
Already, Orlando is not a place where a lot of people go to jail for possession of small amounts of marijuana. Mina said he researched the last few years and found “fewer than 500” arrests per year, typically. And most of those, he said, involved people who also were charged with other crimes at the same time, or were belligerent, convincing police officers they did not deserve breaks.
At the same time, he said Orlando police use the confiscate-and-written-warning approach almost 2,000 times a year.
The proposed law could be used to issue citations to people who might otherwise be arrested, but also could be sued to issue citations to people who might otherwise be given warnings and released. And since most of those getting arrested are being charged with other crimes, there may not be many of those cases that would be turned into city citations.
Mina said the ordinance should free his officers more to pursue other crimes. But he also stressed that simple marijuana possession is not a big priority now.
“Our officers are not riding around looking to arrest people with small amounts of marijuana,” he said.
Dyer and Mina both insisted they still consider marijuana possession illegal and urged people not to possess it.
But Dyer said the trend nationally to decriminalize marijuana possession is reducing the chances that someone’s life and career — chances to serve in the military or attend some colleges — will be affected by a youthful mistake. HE also said it is freeing police to focus on more serious crime.
He cited similar recent ordinances in Tampa and Brevard County
“Across the country cities and states have taken measures to relax marijuana rules,” Dyer said.
Organize Now, a progressive political action organization, petitioned Orlando to relax its marijuana rules, charging that in Orlando, as across the country, the drug laws disproportionately used to arrest and prosecute Hispanic or black offenders.
At Dyer’s and Mina’s news conference, Korey Wheeler, co-chair of Organize Now’s Racial Justice Committee, said too many of those young people of color have their lives derailed by criminal marijuana arrests and struggle to overcome them.
“People struggle to get financially stable, and they lose hope,” he said. “But today, there is hope.”
Though Dyer gave Wheeler and other Organize Now members places at his news conference, he said the petitions themselves did not inspire the ordinance. He said Orlando has been considering the ordinance for six months or so, along with other cities in Florida, though he said he had discussions with Organize Now organizers about the proposal.
