$5 Weed Law June 5!!

If all pólice agencies live up to the HRP sponsored weed law passed May 15, Ann Arbor soon will be as close to legal dope as possible under the present state constitution.

No longer will dope-smoking Ann Arborites be picked off the streets and slammed in jail. No longer will they have to pay outrageous amounts of money to bonding companies or to attorneys to stay out of some hellhole made of steel. No longer will they even be arrested.

Instead, they will be issued a summons (similar to those handed out for traffic violations) and asked to appear in court on a certain date for trial. If convicted, they can only be fined $5.00.

The ordinance covers both possession and sale of marijuana.

It will go into effect Monday, June 5, ten days after its legal publication in the Ann Arbor News.

However, people should realize it isn't enough to walk around with a $5 bilí in a pocket. At least, not quite yet.

The state police have made a point of stating they will bust people who transport weed into Ann Arbor. And the Washtenaw County sheriff's deputies, according to Undersheriff Harold Owings, are still going to arrest people under the state law (one year for possession and four years for sale).

Also it is not clear how the city police will act.

But the city council has the authority to order Police Chief Walter Krasny's department to use only the new city law. Krasny has cooperated in a similar situation in the past, he is expected to do so again.

No one will know until June 5 for sure whether city pólice will disobey orders as city employs and use the state law or that they will comply with the people's wishes and use the new law.

Thanks largely to the work of HRP council members Jerry DeGrieck and Nancy Wechsler, the $5 fine will become the lowest penalty for weed n the U.S. "The new grass ordinance is a victory for the HRP and the people of Ann Arbor," Nancy explained. "lts victory lies in the fact that it is a first step in decriminalizing marijuana and in repealing all victimless crime laws. All laws against homosexuality, gambling, loitering, vagrancy, and drugs must be repealed. "While celebrating this victory, let us not take our minds and energies away from pushing for even greater victories", she added. "For this ordinance does little to change the basic political and power relation continued on page 10