There's been a real pickup in graffiti tagging citywide.

And, yet, the cops waste our tax dollars on MJ enforcement.

Seriously, that is not ok.

@2 Ron Paul. Totally gutless.

Seems to uphold the Reefer Madness argument that pot is associated with criminal behavior.

I mean, here is SPD making every effort not to go out and bust people for pot, and the criminals keep walking in the stationhouse, toting it with them.

This is really good reporting. I kid not.

Actually, a serious question here. If arresting people for having MJ is the lowest priority, shouldn't the cops go and bust someone for STEALING your MJ (theft) before they waste our tax dollars on arresting you for having it?

Logic. That said, arresting people for driving while toked up is a good thing, as you shouldn't drive stoned. Or drunk. Or high on meds.

It's certainly a great way to get Seattle voters to move on legalizing pot next go around, innit? A win-win for the city and votes would be cutting back on crackdowns and ramping up again next legislative session. Fire under asses, as it were.

The 31 arrests at Folklife is a clear violation of the "lowest law enforcement priority" policy. The resources of those (I'm guessing) 5-10 officers should have at least been ticketing jaywalkers, better still solving a property crime (theft), or at best committed to a serious investigation of a violent crime.

I appreciate your attention to detail here, Dom, and please don't take it as a slight that I fell asleep halfway through reading.

There is one point that I heard from the Mayor that I agree with - smoking weed in front of cops is stupid. Just because it's lowest priority doesn't mean people should be stupid about it. It still is illegal.

@10 That's true. I also do not jaywalk in front of cops, just in case. I am not interested in paying a fine because the cop was having a pissy day and felt like writing a jaywalking ticket. Just in case.

$113 billion is spent on marijuana every year in the U.S., and because of the federal prohibition *every* dollar of it goes straight into the hands of criminals. Far from preventing people from using marijuana, the prohibition instead creates zero legal supply amid massive and unrelenting demand.

According to the ONDCP, at least sixty percent of Mexican drug cartel money comes from selling marijuana in the U.S., they protect this revenue by brutally torturing, murdering and dismembering countless innocent people.

If we can STOP people using marijuana then we need to do so NOW, but if we can't then we need to legalize the production and sale of marijuana to adults with after-tax prices set too low for the cartels to match. One way or the other, we have to force the cartels out of the marijuana market and eliminate their highly lucrative marijuana incomes - no business can withstand the loss of sixty percent of its revenue!

To date, the cartels have amassed more than 100,000 "foot soldiers" and operate in 230 U.S. cities, and Arizona police are now conceding that parts of their state are under cartel control. The longer the cartels are allowed to exploit the prohibition the more powerful they're going to get and the more our own personal security will be put in jeopardy.

if it is low priority the cops should ignore it, act as if it isn't a concern, like they ignore jay walking littering and whatever else they want

i seriously doubt any one of those arrested attempted to show the police their stash

Officers have to "justify" their time.
If they "justify" it with a 50 dollar ticket the wheels are greased....Attaboy.

Judges refrain from "correcting" officers if they're doing "their" job.

Telling an officer he was wrong, for a judge, is a actual judgement.(Don't tell)

Am I late for the Ball?

Imagine how many pot arrests we'll find out about once they have to wear cameras.

Dom, it's nice of you to point out IN BOLD that "priority is nebulous and impossible to measure" but so is looking at the number of arrests without any idea of whether more people are smoking pot on the street or if more cops have been put on neighborhood beats, etc. You're basically missing one of the two numbers in the fraction.

More importantly, Michael @10 is right -- marijuana is STILL illegal. Lowest priority or not, if a cop sees you smoking then you just might get arrested. If a cop arrests you for something else, and finds you in possession of marijuana, then it should be put in your record and you could be prosecuted for it.

SPD is not going around arresting college students for smoking a joint in their dorm or little old ladies for a single potted plant on their windowsill.

@16 they better not be arresting college students for smoking a joint in their dorm at the UW - the UWPD is in charge on campus and in student facilities - SPD is only supposed to show up if called in or they see a crime in progress.

@18, Mickymse wrote, "Lowest priority or not, if a cop sees you smoking then you just might get arrested.

Sure, you might get arrested. I don't see anyone arguing otherwise. The question is whether you should be arrested, given that the police always have something of higher priority demanding their attention. (Until they're overstaffed and sitting around looking for something to do, that is.)

Mickymse continued, "If a cop arrests you for something else, and finds you in possession of marijuana, then it should be put in your record and you could be prosecuted for it."

Why should he bother? Doing all that paperwork will take away from more important duties, unless he has nothing else to do.

Until they have no higher-priority tasks, our police should not be arresting people for marijuana any more than our prosecutor should be prosecuting them. He's ignoring those charges, and they should be ignoring those incidents. Our police tell us all the time that they're understaffed. We simply cannot afford to arrest and prosecute adults for personal possession of marijuana in Seattle.