Marijuana decriminalization supporters finalizing petition wording

Supporters of decriminalizing marijuana in Wichita are getting closer to having a new petition to circulate.

Esau Freeman, president and co-founder of Kansas for Change, is leading the initiative and has been in talks with city officials about the wording of the petition.

“Most of the confusion in the beginning was perhaps a lack of knowledge of how hard it is for citizens to make a change in this state,” Freeman said.

Initially, the group had a goal of getting the question of marijuana decriminalization in front of voters on the November ballot.

But the group was 36 signatures short of the needed 2,928 signatures needed for a November ballot initiative.

After the news that the group was short of the needed signatures – and following news from the Sedgwick County Election Office that it would not recount the petition after several errors occurred in the initial count – the group set its sights on the April ballot.

“We’ve had an overwhelming amount of support from citizens,” Freeman said. “The number one thing people need to do is vote and make sure they’re registered to vote.”

The petitioners’ original initiative would change simple possession of marijuana and paraphernalia to a minor infraction and set the maximum penalty at $25, down from the current maximum of $2,500 and a year in jail.

Now, petitioners hope to have a new petition circulating by the beginning of October. The attorney for Kansas for Change, Scott Poor, is drafting the language for review by the interim city attorney, Sharon Dickgrafe, and the Sedgwick County counselor before circulating the new petition.

City Council member Janet Miller said that she and Dickgrafe met with Freeman and others from Kansas for Change last week about issues relating to the wording of the first petition that was circulated.

“What we’re trying to accomplish is to get the language to be something the city would not take to court,” Miller said. “The wording on the (original) petition was insufficient to make an ordinance change, and it also referenced it as a civil violation, and there is no way the city can enforce civil matters.”

A remaining issue is how to word other parts of the petition regarding jail time for those found with marijuana. The challenge is a separate charter ordinance in Wichita that provides the Police Department some discretion in determining what is an arrestable offense and what is not, Miller said.

“One of the intricacies of this whole issue is we can decriminalize possession of an ounce or less of marijuana and call it an infraction,” Miller said.

“However, because the other ordinance is in place, the Police Department still has the latitude to potentially call it an arrestable offense. We’re struggling with how to deal with that complexity, because you can’t change the charter ordinance by petition.”

Supporters have looked at ordinances of other cities, such as Ann Arbor, Mich., for ideas on drafting this ordinance, Freeman said.

For more information on the petition initiative, visit www.kansasforchange.org.

This story was originally published September 11, 2014 at 5:05 PM with the headline "Marijuana decriminalization supporters finalizing petition wording."