The Drug Policy Forum of Kansas, a group formed in May with an office at 941 Ky., is asking the city to pass a city ordinance that would allow marijuana-possession cases to be handled in municipal court rather than in Douglas County District Court. The Drug Policy Forum has the support of the city prosecutor and the Douglas County district attorney, as well as Mayor Boog Highberger.

The supporters say that moving marijuana possession cases to municipal court would streamline the prosecution and be more efficient for law enforcement. The penalties for possession convictions would be the same, except for one factor important to local students. According to federal law, drug convictions in federal and state courts, including Douglas County District Court, disqualify college students from receiving federal financial aid. Those that occur in a city court do not.

While it’s unfortunate that some students might lose their ability to get federal financial aid if they are caught with marijuana, should the city be in the business of trying to help them evade the consequences of a federal law?

The other goal of the city ordinance, according to its backers, is to make the enforcement of marijuana laws a low priority for Lawrence police. It doesn’t seem to be a particularly high priority now. Douglas County District Court dealt with about 140 marijuana cases last year, according to a Journal-World check of court records. Of those, only about 60 were possession cases that could have been diverted to municipal court under the proposed ordinance.

Considering that the crime statistics reported online by the Lawrence Police Department indicate that during 2004, the city had 641 cases of driving under the influence, 377 cases of shoplifting and 1,013 cases of vandalism, a total of 140 marijuana cases in 2004 doesn’t seem to indicate vigorous enforcement. At a time when there is increased awareness and outrage about the deadly consequences of people consuming another intoxicating drug – alcohol – it seems the wrong time to loosen enforcement of marijuana laws.

Streamlining or increasing the efficiency of marijuana prosecutions might be regarded as an insignificant administrative matter, but if the overall effect of the proposed ordinance is to make Lawrence a friendlier place for marijuana use, city commissioners should turn the measure down.