European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 07, 1969, Darmstadt, Hesse Daily Magazine tangled potluck of . Drug Laws i a � editor s note most state have stringent narcotics Laws. Butt there is sharply con r As hug treatment of first offenders charged Only with Possession and there arc variations illegal attitudes toward dangerous drags an a Survey shows by Blaine e. Rowlee a staff writer state Law enforcement officers Are agreed that there has been a dangerous increase in the illegal traffic and use of drugs in the last year. They find the increase particularly in use of marijuana the barbiturates and amphetamines and the mind expanding hallucinogens Ltd and the More deadly sep and especially among juvenile Sand teen agers. But few states have such precise Fig ures As the California Bureau of Crimi Nal statistics which lists 28,127 arrest for narcotics violations in the first six months of 1968 a 40 per cent increase Over the preceding year and a 230 per cent Rise since 1960.this has come about in the face of generally severe penalties that include pos sible death sentences for Sale of narcotics to a minor in two states Ala Bama and Georgia and possible life or 09-year sentences for pushers in Florida California Pennsylvania Texas North Dakota Kentucky Montana Hawaii and Ohio. Federal Law also provides a death sentence for an adult s Sale of heroin to a minor if the jury recommends it. It has never been invoked. And while most states impose a least a two year prison sentence on the seller of hard narcotics which Many de Fine As including marijuana there is sharply contrasting treatment of first of fenders charged Only with Possession. New York Maine Wyoming and Utah with no specific minimum leave the Fine or jail sentence to the judge s discretion. Richard s. Cohen Maine assist ant attorney general says records of More than 1,000 cases show no jail sentences cases involving dangerous drugs the depressants stimulants and hallucinogens As distinguished from the More addictive opium derivatives Colorado provides probation with no criminal record if the user agrees to undergo psychiatric treatment. This 1968 Law was enacted Over one legislator objection to the possibility that a repeated violator could be continually treated As a first a detectives seized this $1 million Worth of pot disguised As loaves of bread. Kentucky in effect waives a 12-Monthjail sentence for a narcotics user if he accepts commitment for Hospital treat ment. Montana has no prohibitory Law Cov ering barbiturates amphetamines and hallucinogens and its present narcotics Law specifically permits a Bona fide religious group to use peyote a Cactus de Rived Hallucinogen in ceremonials. Some Indian groups do. A criminal Law commission headed by Justice Wesley castles of the Montana supreme court however is asking the1969 legislature to ban them All As dangerous the proposed Over haul of Montana s narcotics Law would categorize drugs by the effect for the presumed purpose of prescribing differ ing ranges of penalties for violations. Here is a trend by no Means unanimous toward taking marijuana Ltd depressants and stimulants out of the narcotics category and setting up lesser penalties for violations involving these. Many states already have. The reasoning is largely pragmatic. Vance Hill a North Dakota assistant attorney general says there is in creasing evidence that marijuana is Notas dangerous As Many other narcotics. He cites a growing tendency to shape penalties to the individual rather than the Hill also said a California stud indicates heavier penalties Don t deter violators. Richard j. Cohen chief of the Maine attorney general s criminal division says the Law should differentiate be tween the one time user of marijuana and the even so it. Millard e. Hickerson of the Maine state police crime division says most Law officers believe traffic in marijuana should re main a felony. The Kansas legislative Council has urged the legislature to take another look at marijuana penalties citing apparent unwillingness to prosecute own ers of land where marijuana grows wild. An attorney general s opinion said landowners who fail to destroy Mari Juana after being informed of its pres ence Are technically guilty of posses Sion. The present first offence penalty is$100 to $1,000 Fine and up to one year in jail. Subsequent violations Are seven year prison felonies. The Council said there were More than52,000 acres of marijuana growing wild in Kansas. Neighbouring Nebraska haste same problem. Nebraska patrol sgt. Wayne Rowe explaining 73 july to october arrests As compared to 40 in the first six months of 1968, said we had alot of gov. Nelson Rockefeller vetoed a 1968 new York Bill that would have in creased penalties for narcotics violations. He said it was too drastic to make life prison sentence possible for a teen Ager who passed a marijuana cig Arette to another. A 1968 California Law reduces first of sense of Possession of marijuana and Ltd to a Misdemeanour although giving by the associated press quirks in the narcotics Laws it s illegal in Massachusetts to be present where illicit drugs Are found As much As five years and $5,000 Worth. New Hampshire says it s illegal Only if the person know narcotics Are there. It could get you 1 to 10 years in Illinois if you sell another substance on the pretence that it s an illicit narcotic. New York authorizes a judge to Fine a narcotics Pusher double the amount of us profit. Montana permits the use of peyote a Cactus derived Hallucinogen in Bona fide Indian religious ceremonials. It s illegal a Van to remove a prescribed narcotic Pill from its Container even to Swallow it. A rapist gets w years in prison in Minnesota if his vie urn s will to result is destroyed by drugs or a Kansas landowner it technically guilty of possessing marijuana if he knowingly permits it to grow on his land. Glue sniffing is a is to 5$ offence in Maryland. Selling cigarettes or tobacco to a minor under if Yea sold could mean a to to $1w Fine in Texas. Connecticut won t prosecute to mrs crimes including and even Emma if the per to tar my face res Milf on Iii a Wintion and lie Upkes Littion treatment under state supervision Friday february 7, 1969 the judge the option to invoke a felony penalty. In Minnesota District judge Donalde. Anderson has stayed the sentencing of a 23-year-old Man who pleaded Gui Tylo Possession of marijuana. The judge recommends that the legislature Ameli orate the present penalty of 5 to 20 years in prison and $10,000 Fine. A Washington state official says the next legislature probably will be asked to drop marijuana from the narcotics classification into the dangerous drugs category along with depressants an stimulants. A North Dakota study group has re pm mended making Possession of Marl Juana a Misdemeanour with no minimum sentence or Fine but classifying Sale of marijuana As a five year Penitentiary of sense. On the other Side of the Coin Florida last year classified Marijus. Naas a narcotic with offenders subject to More severe penalties than those involving hallucinogens. Gov. Stan Hathaway says he Wizask the 1969 Wyoming legislature to re classify As felonies violations involving hallucinogens stimulants and Depres Sants. South Carolina broadened its stiff narcotics Law this year to include Ltd and the Pep . Raymond p. Shafer of Penn Sylvania is proposing to shift narcotics Law enforcement from a 25-Man unit of the state health department to the stat police after or. Thomas w. Georges jr., Secretary of health prohibited state narcotics agents from carrying guns. Well Over half of California s drug la violators in the first half of the year 15,177 were under 18 years of figures for 1967 and 1960 were 5,735 and 728. A 126 per cent in crease of marijuana cases alone Over the last year is attributed to the ease with which marijuana can be smuggled Over the mexican of potted pot is evidence for marijuana Case. The stars and stripes up new figures so precise were Avail Able from other states to document the consensus that there has been a significant increase in drug use among venation s youth. However the Fri latest available figures for 1967 showed that arrests for drug Law violations were up 60 per cent Over 1966 and that arrests from 1960 to 1967 increased 165 per cent. Washington state with admittedly in Complete figures reports 1,568 drug arrests last year through july of which half were under 18, and Only 10 per cent above 22. This almost matches totals Fornall of 1967. Colorado s Bureau of narcotics an dangerous drugs reports 69 Federal or joint Federal local arrests in the first Quarter of this fiscal year. The total for entire previous fiscal year was 60. The Bureau s figures do not include City and county cases. Oregon state police report 869 arrest sin 1968 a 120 per cent increase Over 1967.utah reported 235 arrests compared with 92 in the same 10 months of 1967hawaii 464 in nine months against 248 in a similar period last year alabama200 investigations compared Svith 147 new York 6,709 in the first Quarter of1968, As against 5,533 in the same period last year when the total reached 19,987.but figures from the Illinois Bureau of narcotics appear to indicate a slight reversal of the trend on Pep pills and old. Arrests in such cases in 1968 num Ber 55, with 23 convictions compared with 66 and 25 in 10 months of 1967. Investigations dropped from 167 to 102. The Bureau s figures not including Federal and local cases listed 467 narcotics investigations Down 2 206 arrests up 42, and 76 convictions up 14. Page 11
