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Activists Say They’ll Welcome Gay Support Rachel Morningstar Hoffman was a 23-year-old FSU graduate when she
was arrested in 2007 for possession of a felony amount of cannabis. To
avoid a lengthy prison sentence, she was given two options: rat out
other marijuana users, or act as a police informant in a high-level
sting. The young girl chose the latter.
Police gave her $13,000 to buy cocaine, 3,500 ecstasy pills, and a
handgun from two thugs. Hoffman had never been trained to work
undercover, and police dispatched only two officers to trail her. They
lost contact with Hoffman’s wire when the location of the deal changed
twice—and they never regained contact. The two dealers kidnapped her and
shot her dead.
Ford Banister II was a law student in Jacksonville as the case was
unfolding in the local and national media. He never knew Hoffman, but
the two had mutual friends, and he managed to get in touch with her
mother. They spoke on the phone regularly for several months after her
daughter’s death.
“When I talked to her mom, I felt I had a moral imperative to do
something about this,” Banister says.
What he’s doing now is radical. At 7 p.m. tonight, Banister is
holding a press conference outside Miami Beach's City Hall to announce
an initiative that could decriminalize personal amounts of marijuana in
Miami Beach.
Banister is chairman of the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy.
He says he’ll welcome support from the gay community, which he
compliments for its zeal in fighting for civil rights. “You’re an
enlightened and highly organized constituency,” he says.
Banister has drawn up a petition with SFGN’s publisher,
attorney Norm Kent. With 4,500 signatures from citizens of Miami Beach,
decriminalization would be put to a vote on the 2010 ballot and need
only a simple majority to pass. If it passes, there would be no way to
veto it. The people’s will would be final.
The initiative wouldn’t legalize marijuana outright in Miami Beach.
But it would make possession of less than 20 grams a minor civil
infraction, equivalent to a parking ticket and punishable by a $100
fine. Police in Miami Beach would still have the option of subjecting
suspects to state law, under which possession of less than 20 grams of
marijuana—even residue—is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in
prison. The initiative wouldn’t cover large amounts over 20 grams, the
possession of which is a felony.
Florida, Banister says, has the harshest marijuana laws in the
country, yet weed is perhaps the state’s most lucrative cash crop. His
ultimate goal is the kind of full, state-wide legalization law that
would have saved Rachel Hoffman, and many other victims of the drug war,
from arrest and death. But he calls his effort “incrementalism”—a
grass-roots campaign, no pun intended, growing out of direct democracy.
He’s been joined in his efforts by Eric Stevens, a 22-year-old college
graduate who has spent much of the last year traveling on scholarships
to national seminars on marijuana legalization.
The two are well-spoken proponents of decriminalization. Stevens
points out that Miami Beach, with its deep deficit, would make more
money off fines than it does off costly prosecutions of personal
possession. He argues that the city should be freeing up prison space
and police officers to deal with crimes other than the victimless sort
covered by vice laws.
Banister emphasizes that marijuana, in contract with alcohol, is not
physically addictive and cannot lead to an overdose. He rebuts the
argument that decriminalization would turn Miami Beach into a stoner
ghetto. “Decriminalization does not equate with increased usage,” he
says, noting that in the Netherlands, where marijuana is virtually
legal, usage is below American levels.
Banister says he’s “supremely confident” their initiative will pass
if the debate is had.
“We hope the citizens can use facts and reason to arrive at the right
decision.”
For more info, visit sensibleflorida.com |
