ACLU, Rick Steves launch marijuana campaign

Travel writer Rick Steves and the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington have formed a partnership to tackle a topic they call the equivalent of the prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s: the criminalization of marijuana.

Steves, the Edmonds-based travel guru who five years ago openly acknowledged that he uses marijuana while visiting Europe, says he's not "pro-marijuana," but in favor of discussing the laws that affect the 830,000 Americans who are arrested annually under existing marijuana laws. About 90 percent of the arrests are for possession.

Saying the laws disproportionately affect minorities and can impose severe consequences for possessing as little as 40 grams (roughly the equivalent of two packs of cigarettes), the state ACLU received funding from the national organization to create an informational program it hopes will air on television stations and the Internet. Steves appears in the program.

Washington was considered a good place to launch a campaign to discuss marijuana laws because it's viewed as being on the cutting edge of drug legislation, the ACLU's Alison Chinn Holcomb said. A law allowing medical-marijuana use was approved by state voters in 1998, and in 2003 Seattle voters approved Initiative 75, which made the adult use of marijuana a low priority for law enforcement.

Washington's medical-marijuana law and similar ones in 11 other states are not recognized by the federal government. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling said states cannot enact laws that supersede federal criminal laws — in this case the Controlled Substances Act. So despite voter approval, even getting medical marijuana is legally risky, ACLU members say.

Some $7.5 billion is spent annually for marijuana-law enforcement nationally, according to the ACLU's research. The organization contends that the arrests clog the courts and criminal-justice system, diverting resources from more serious crimes.

"Marijuana use should be treated primarily as a health issue, not a criminal one. In Europe I've seen how more thoughtful approaches to social issues can really work. Our government's war on drugs sounds very tough and results-driven, but all it really succeeds at is being enormously expensive, tearing families apart and treating nonconformists as criminals," Steves said. He said as a society we've made the same mistake as was made when lawmakers banned alcohol during Prohibition.

In Washington, possession of up to 40 grams of marijuana carries a minimum penalty of one day in jail, a $250 fine for the first offense and sentences that can go up to 90 days in jail plus a $1,000 fine. For possessing more, the sentence can be up to five years in jail and a $10,000 fine.

Growing one marijuana plant for personal use is a potential felony subject to the same penalties as possession of more than 40 grams, the ACLU reports.

Nationwide, while 74 percent of marijuana users are white and 14 percent of the users are African-American, blacks account for 30 percent of the marijuana arrests, the ACLU reported.

In 2006, an African American was 12 times as likely as a white person to be cited for marijuana possession by the Seattle Police Department, according to the ACLU.

But Seattle City Attorney Tom Carr called the claim unfair and statistically insignificant.

"What they're doing is sensationalizing a number that has no statistical validity because the numbers are so small," he said.

The issue of marijuana laws is one for state legislators, he said. "We enforce whatever laws are on the books."

Throughout most of the country, the popularity of decriminalizing marijuana use has waned, said Tom Riley, spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The potency of the drug has tripled in the last 10 years and its use is not "a harmless pastime," he said, "but a much bigger part of substance abuse and a much bigger part of mental-health issues."

Nancy Bartley: 206-464-8522 or nbartley@seattletimes.com