LOWEST LAW ENFORCEMENT PRIORITY ORDINANCE FOR CANNABIS POSSESSION

We the people of Louisville ordain that investigations, citations, arrests, property seizures, and prosecutions for cannabis possession, cultivation or use in the Louisville metro area are the lowest law enforcement priority of the Louisville Metro Police Department and all local police departments in the Louisville Metro Area. The Louisville Metro Council shall transmit notification of the enactment of this initiative to the state and federal elected officials who represent the city of Louisville, the Governor of Kentucky, The President of the United States of America and The Secretary General of the United Nations.

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Findings:

(a) Numerous bills have been filed to remove criminal penalties for cannabis possession in the state legislature over the last five years and the Commonwealth has failed to act.

(b) The Institute of Medicine has found that cannabis has medicinal value and is not a gateway drug. Evidence shows cannabis is actually an exit drug from alcohol and opiate addiction.

(c) Cannabis is incorrectly scheduled and should be removed from federal scheduling.

(d) Louisville should determine its cannabis policies locally and Metro Council would prefer to move away from incarceration.  We believe a regulated market that allows adult possession and medical use for minors under a doctor’s care should replace the current failed policies.

(e) Louisville Metro Council believes that current state laws punish medical patients unfairly and fail to reflect the reality of responsible adult use.

(f) Louisville Metro Council believes sufficient evidence exists to conclude cannabis prohibition, especially through drug testing, creates a bias toward alcohol and more dangerous drugs.  This bias has exacerbated prescription drug abuse and is casual to the creation/use of synthetic marijuana.

(g) Law enforcement resources would be better spent fighting serious and violent crimes.

(h) Decades of arresting millions of cannabis users have failed to control cannabis use or reduce its availability.  Metro Council believes that a regulated market would be more effective than the current black market at limiting youth access.  

(i) Cannabis prohibition disproportionately affects low income and minority communities.

 

Definitions:

For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section:

(a) "Adult" means an individual who is 18 years of age or older.

(b) "Louisville Metro law enforcement officer" means a member of the Louisville Metro Police Department or any other city agency or local police department that engages in law enforcement activity in the Louisville Metro Area.

(c) "Lowest law enforcement priority" means a priority such that all law enforcement activities related to all offenses other than adult, personal-use cannabis offenses shall be a higher priority than all law enforcement activities related to cannabis offenses, where the cannabis was intended for adult personal use, other than the exceptions designated in this chapter.

(d) "Cannabis” means all parts of the cannabis plant, whether growing or not; the seeds thereof; the resin extracted from any part of the plant; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the plant, its seeds, or its resin.

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Directives:

(a) Louisville Metro law enforcement officers shall make law enforcement activity relating to cannabis offenses, where the cannabis was intended for adult personal use, their lowest law enforcement priority. Law enforcement activities relating to cannabis offenses include, but are not limited to, investigation, citation, arrest, seizure of property, or providing assistance to the prosecution of adult cannabis offenses.

(b) This lowest law enforcement priority policy shall not apply to use of cannabis on public property or driving under the influence.

(c) This lowest law enforcement priority policy shall apply to cooperating with state or federal agents to arrest, cite, investigate, prosecute, or seize property from adults for cannabis offenses included in the lowest law enforcement priority policy.

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Oversight:

The Louisville Metro Council shall ensure the timely implementation of this chapter by:

(a) Designing, with consultation with the Louisville Metro Police Department, a supplemental report form for Louisville Metro law enforcement officers to use to report all adult cannabis arrests, citations, and property seizures. The supplemental report form shall be designed with the goal of allowing the Metro Council to ascertain whether the lowest law enforcement priority policy was followed;

(b) Receiving grievances from individuals who believe they were subjected to law enforcement activity contrary to the lowest law enforcement priority policy;

(c) Requesting additional information from any Louisville Metro law enforcement officer who engaged in law enforcement activity relating to one or more cannabis offenses under circumstances which appear to violate the lowest law enforcement priority policy. An officer's decision not to provide additional information shall not be grounds for discipline; and

(d) Reporting semi-annually on the implementation of this chapter, with the first report being issued nine months after the enactment of this chapter. These reports shall include but not necessarily be limited to: the number of all arrests, citations, property seizures, and prosecutions for cannabis offenses in Louisville; the breakdown of all cannabis arrests and citations by race, age, specific charge, and classification as infraction, misdemeanor, or felony; any instances of law enforcement activity that the Metro Council believes violated the lowest law enforcement priority policy; and the estimated time and money spent by the city on law enforcement and punishment for adult cannabis offenses.

 

Notifications:

Beginning three months after the enactment of this chapter, the city clerk shall execute a mandatory and ministerial duty of sending letters on an annual basis to the Louisville’s U.S. Representative, both of Louisville’s U.S. Senators, Louisville’s Senators and Representative members in the Kentucky State Legislature, the Governor of Kentucky, the President of the United States and the UN Secretary-General. This letter shall state, "The citizens of Louisville, Kentucky have passed an initiative to de-prioritize adult cannabis offenses, where the cannabis is intended for personal adult use or medical use by minors under a doctor’s care, and we request that State, Federal and International governments take immediate steps to enact similar laws." This duty shall be carried out until state, federal and international laws are changed accordingly.

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Enforceability; Severability:

All sections of this chapter are mandatory.  A violation of this chapter is not a criminal offense.

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If any provision of this chapter or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the chapter and the application of such provisions to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.