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March 05, 2007
Spirit of 23.20 reborn in new pot policy? 30th anniversary commemoration on April 5th
Posted by Gary Storck
Monday, March 05, 2007
The announcement by DA Brian Blanchard that pot cases under a 25-gram threshold will no longer be prosecuted criminally continues to reverberate around local, state, and regional media. The State Journal's article from Saturday, No Prosecution for a Little Marijuana, click here, was picked up by the Associated Press, spreading this news far and wide. The new policy should hopefully curtail a situation where there seemingly were no clear guidelines, leading to wide variance in the way some cases were charged. One of the most notable involved an arrest for alleged joint passing at Harvest Fest 2006 being charged as felony distribution, and still unresolved click here.
But while there was a wide outcry in the community from people of all ages and backgrounds when the details of that case were publicized, the move to decriminalize cannabis in Dane County was already in the works. According to news reports the plan was spelled out in a Feb. 7 memo to Dane County police chiefs from Blanchard, notifying them of the change in policy due to staff shortages.
However, the intersection of the Lankford case with the new policy was timely. It also puts the continuing cannabis controversy back in the headlines just as the 30th anniversary of the passage of what became Madison Ordinance 23.20 is approaching. If anything, with the spirit of 23.20 being reborn in the form of this new policy, this means that Madison NORML's upcoming commemoration of that anniversary - April 5, 1977 - being held on April 5, 2007 at Escape Coffee should be a little bit more of a celebration.
This will be a free community event, with a discussion of how 23.20 happened in the first place, and where are today, live acoustic cannabis tunes, multimedia, and cake. Attendees are encouraged to patronize Escape's delicious assortment of beverages and snacks. We encourage members of the community who remember the early days to share their recollections of Madison three decades ago. Please join us at Escape Coffee's Art Gallery on Thursday, April 5, 2007 from 7 to 11 pm.
Posted by Gary at March 5, 2007 07:24 PM
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