The weed issue
The Palm Beach County Commission holds a public hearing today on whether to partially decriminalize adult misdemeanor marijuana possession. The commission likely will approve this change, but don’t expect Boca Raton or Delray Beach to go along quickly—if at all.
Such an ordinance would apply to unincorporated parts of the county and to all cities that opted in by a vote of the municipal council or commission. Despite the growing sentiment nationwide in favor of looser laws—a November 2014 Gallup poll found that 51 percent of Americans favor legalization, not just decriminalization— there is as much caution as eagerness in Boca and Delray.
Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie worries about “30,000 college students in the center of town” at Florida Atlantic University, Lynn University and Palm Beach State College. “I would want to have a long chat with (Police Chief Dan Alexander).”
She won’t need to have a long one. Alexander told me that he is “not supportive of civil citation.” A big reason is that he doesn’t want to complicate things for his officers.
Under the ordinance, a civil citation would not be mandatory for those found with less than 20 grams of marijuana. Anything larger triggers a possible felony charge. Officers would have the option to issue a citation.
Alexander said Boca officers give violators a notice to appear in court to face the charge. According to a department spokesman, Boca police wrote 140 such notices between last October and this October to those 18 and older. The ordinance would apply to them. In Boca, juveniles already get citations for simple marijuana possession. According to the department spokeswoman, Delray Beach officers issued roughly 250 such notices during the same period.
The change would “open up a can of worms,” Alexander said, “as far as execution and who would get enforcement. It would be a burden on law enforcement. You’re dancing around the issue of legalization.”
Like Haynie, Delray Beach Mayor Cary Glickstein is cautious, but for a different reason. “With the rehab population (Delray’s many sober house residents) and those preying upon it, I would not be inclined to facilitate less regulation without more input from the police department.”
Commissioners Mitch Katz and Shelly Petrolia favor the change, citing the reason behind similar ordinances in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. “I don’t like it that someone can ruin his life over a joint,” Katz said. “That criminal record is there forever,” Petrolia said. “And there’s no need to clog the courts with these cases.”
Jordana Jarjura declined to comment, saying she also wanted to hear from the police department. I asked to speak with Chief Jeffrey Goldberg, but he didn’t have time by deadline for this post.
Steven Abrams represents Boca Raton and Delray Beach on the county commission, and is a former Boca mayor. He voted for the ordinance on first reading and will continue to support it.
Abrams points out that the ordinance would not offer a lifetime exemption. Two citations would be the limit, and the fine for the second would increase to $250. The offender would have to perform community service and complete a substance abuse education class. The ordinance would apply to possession, not use. “(The commission) does not seek de facto legalization,” he said. While Abrams looks at the issue from the perspective of the father of a 21-year-old, he said the commission also has heard support for the ordinance from parents who don’t want their children to start life behind because of a small mistake.
Any discussion of marijuana and the law leads to a discussion of what some believe is the potential danger from more marijuana use. The sober house angle adds an element for Boca and Delray. County Commissioner Hal Valeche worries about marijuana as a “gateway” drug. Alexander noted the higher potency of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which gives users their high, in today’s marijuana.
But according to the National Institutes of Health, while research supports the idea of marijuana as a potential gateway drug, “most people who use marijuana do not go on to use other, ‘harder’ substances…An alternative to the gateway-drug hypothesis is that people who are more vulnerable to drug-taking are simply more likely to start with readily available substances like marijuana, tobacco or alcohol, and their subsequent social interactions with other drug users increases their chances of trying other drugs.”
The NIH favors more research. Many of the people I spoke with said the marijuana debate needs to happen in the Legislature, which couldn’t even agree to legalize a form of medical marijuana that doesn’t produce a high.
If Tallahassee’s dysfunction continues, however, the debate will have to start from below. It might happen across the state for another amendment on the 2016 ballot. Today, it’s happening in Palm Beach County.
Calm before the storm?
Garrison Keillor begins every segment about his fictional Minnesota hometown by saying, “it’s been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon.” It was that way last week in Boca Raton.
The usual meeting cycle for the city council is Monday for the Community Redevelopment Agency—the council serves as the board—and a council workshop and Tuesday for the regular council meeting. Last week, the three meetings took a combined two hours and 22 minutes.
Call it breaking even. When a big project comes before the council as part of a full agenda, the meetings can run to five-hours plus. Unlike Lake Wobegon, quiet in Boca is a relative term.
County Commission election
Here’s an interesting note for the 2016 election.
For every election, each county must have a canvassing board to referee disputed vote counts. The members include the supervisor of elections, a county judge and a county commissioner. Obviously, that commissioner can’t be running for office, and can’t take part in any campaign.
The only commissioner eligible to serve on Palm Beach County’s canvassing board for next year probably is Abrams. Hal Valeche and Mary Lou Berger are running for re-election. Melissa McKinlay and Priscilla Taylor are seeking the Democratic nomination for Congress in District 18. Shelley Vana is running for property appraiser. Paulette Burdick has endorsed in another race, which isn’t direct involvement but would be a problem if that race were contested.
Abrams said Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher has asked him to serve on the board, and he will volunteer, after which the commission surely will choose him.
In 2008, a race for judge in Palm Beach County was decided by 41 votes. Missing ballots forced the canvassing board to hold multiple recounts. In 2012, a state Senate primary came down to 34 votes and a hand recount. Then there was that election in 2000.
Abrams said he “hasn’t endorsed anyone for anything” in 2016. There’s still time.
About the Author
Randy Schultz was born in Hartford, Conn., and graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1974. He has lived in South Florida since then, and in Boca Raton since 1985. Schultz spent nearly 40 years in daily journalism at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, most recently as editorial page editor at the Post. His wife, Shelley, is director of The Learning Network at Pine Crest School. His son, an attorney, and daughter-in-law and three grandchildren also live in Boca Raton. His daughter is a veterinarian who lives in Baltimore.
