If enough voters agree, Detroit will join Kalamazoo, Denver, Seattle and other cities where pot smokers can't be busted for a small stash of weed.
Arguments for and against decriminalizing low-level marijuana possession by adults on personal property are debated by six people interviewed by Darren Nichols of The Detroit News.
The proposal splits Detroiters. Proponents say Detroit, a city that's among the most violent in the country and is in the midst of a financial crisis, no longer has the police resources to go after people smoking small amounts of marijuana at home. . . .
"The problems the city has are not caused or solved by marijuana. The problems are the educational system and secondarily police services. One way to get better police services is they don't need to worry about marijuana," attorney Matt Abel said. . . .
But Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Gary Brown, a former deputy chief for the Detroit Police Department, said the proposal will "limit one of the tools police officers have in the tool box to enforce the law."
"They have the discretion to enforce it or not (now)," said Brown, who worked in the narcotics unit for 15 years. "I'd like them to keep that discretion."
The marijuana question -- which appears as Proposal M, a handy label even a pothead can remember -- is one of six ballot issues facing city voters Nov. 6.
