The
top crimefighter in Brooklyn announced last week that he will stop prosecuting
most low-level marijuana cases.
What
is the policy in Berks County?
It’s
up to District Attorney John Adams, and he hasn’t yet answered my inquiry.
Reading
Police Chief Bill Heim said his department has not changed its pot-busting practices
and has no policy about the enforcement of low-level marijuana violations.
“I
would not object to the possession of small quantities of marijuana being
handled by the issuance of summary citations instead of misdemeanor arrests,
but currently there is no provision in the law that I’m aware of to do that in
Pennsylvania,” Heim wrote in an e-mail.
Berks County cannabis control seems to have eased a bit. In
2013, according to state records, police made 66 arrests for selling marijuana
in Berks, down from 98 arrests in 2007.
In 2013, police made 467 arrests in Berks County for
possessing marijuana, down just a bit from the 471 arrests for possessing
pot in 2007.
In unprogressive Pennsylvania, the war on weed is leaving more casualties -- across the state, police made 16,367 arrests for possessing pot in
2007 and 17,937 arrests in 2013.
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