June 27, Anaheim, CA: In response to a lawsuit brought by the Southern California ACLU, and NORML, the city of Anaheim has repealed an ordinance that kept persons convicted of minor drug charges out of the city's parks.
On May 25, Los Angeles NORML staged a medical marijuana rally in Anaheim's La Palma Park, as U.S. District Court Judge Gary Taylor issued an injunction preventing the city from enforcing the ordinance, as a result of action by the ACLU. The lawsuit asked the court to strike down the law prohibiting certain drug offenders from entering city parks for three years after their conviction.
A medical marijuana patient convicted of growing cannabis for his own use, Mr. Craig McClain, would have been barred from attending a NORML rally in favor of medical access to cannabis had the ordinance not been enjoined by the courts prior to its repeal. McClain spoke to the rally about his ordeals with the law. McClain, who grew up in Anaheim, and had even played in La Palma Park, was recently convicted of growing five marijuana plants, which he used to control severe spinal pain from a back injury.
In the lawsuit, NORML complained that the ordinance violated its right to free speech and public assembly by excluding McClain and other members with drug convictions. "It's crazy to exclude a medical marijuana patient like Craig, who should never have been arrested in the first place, when terrorists, rapists and murderers are free to roam the park at will," said NORML coordinator Dale Gieringer.
According to Mark Silverstein, ACLU staff attorney,"Our clients want to use the Anaheim parks to exercise their right of assembly, their right of free expression, their right of political association, and their right to petition the goverment for redress of grievances, but (prior to repeal of the ordinance) they cannot do so. If our client steps within 50 feet of an Anaheim park, he is subject to a sentence of six months in jail. On the south side of La Palma Park, there is a bus stop. This ordinance makes it is a crime for Mr. McClain to wait there for a bus to go to the doctor.
"However well-intentioned, the Anaheim ordinance offer(ed) a false hope about combatting serious crimes. Measures like this let politicians off the hook, because it permits them to substitute phony rhetoric for effective, and constitutional, measures, that can actually improve the parks".
SANTA ANA -- Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union went to federal court Monday to challenge an Anaheim ordinance that bars convicted drug offenders from city parks, asking a judge to prohibit the city from enforcing the nearly 2-year-old law.
ACLU attorneys, who argued that the law is unconstitutional, asked U.S. District Judge Gary L. Taylor for a preliminary injunction against it. An attorney for the city of Anaheim countered that the ordinance is aimed at curbing drug problems, not at violating civil rights.
The legal challenge has "all the earmarks of a good test case" because the law is believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, said Taylor, who is expected to rule on the injunction request today.
The seldom-used ordinance prohibits convicted drug offenders from entering any of the city's 40 parks for as long as three years after their convictions or release from custody.
The Anaheim City Council approved the ordinance in September, 1993. It has been used four times since it went into effect, Anaheim Deputy City Atty. Moses Johnson said.
"We're not trying to violate anyone's First Amendment rights," Johnson said after a one-hour court hearing Monday. "We are just trying to preserve our public parks so that law-abiding citizens can use them."
But ACLU attorney Mark Silverstein said the city's law goes too far, violating individual rights of free assembly, expression and association.
"The city of Anaheim is the first city in the country to attempt to close their parks to a class of people," Silverstein said. "This is a well-intentioned ordinance and we understand that Anaheim has a problem with drugs. But it sweeps too broadly."
The ACLU is seeking the injunction on behalf of three organizations that advocate legalizing marijuana in certain medical situations, and three individuals with minor felony convictions involving the sale of marijuana.
The three people want to attend a rally in Anaheim's La Palma Park on Thursday. The rally has been called to generate support for the Compassionate Use Initiative, a proposed state ballot measure that would expand physicians' ability to prescribe marijuana for medical purposes.
The three plaintiffs would not be able to legally enter the park Thursday unless an injunction is granted by Taylor. The injunction would apply to anyone with a drug conviction.
Taylor complained about the timing of the lawsuit, noting that the rally is only days away.
"There is little time for the court to rule, or for either side to do much once the ruling is made," Taylor said. "The timing could have been better."
Johnson said he was also bothered by the timing of the lawsuit, which was filed April 28.
"The law was passed almost two years ago, and here we are in court three days before the rally," Johnson said. "I somehow feel that the city has been set up. This case could have been better briefed and been better responded to if there had been more time. Because this is a test case, we want to make sure we do the right thing."
Anaheim's law applies to anyone convicted of selling drugs, possessing drugs for sale or, if the offense occurred in a park, possessing drugs. Violation of the ordinance is a misdemeanor. Offenders face a maximum of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Signs have been posted at each city park warning drug offenders they are prohibited. The ACLU is asking that the law be overturned and the signs be removed.
Johnson said the city is not yet able to say whether the ordinance has helped curb drug problems in any significant way.
In ruling on the injunction request, Taylor said he would not
offer an
opinion on the law's merits, but would decide if the ordinance
furthers an
important governmental interest.
Copyright 1995/The Times Mirror Company
ANAHEIM -- A 2-year-old city ordinance barring people with certain drug convictions from using public parks is unconstitutional, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California contends in a lawsuit filed in federal court Friday.
At a news conference across the street from La Palma Park, ACLU officials said they are seeking to overturn the rarely enforced ordinance. The city law unjustly restricts rights to petition the government for redress of grievances, free speech and free assembly, charged ACLU officials.
"It's a well-intentioned ordinance that simply goes too far," said ACLU attorney Mark Silverstein. "Measures like this let politicians off the hook, substituting phony rhetoric for measures that work."
But city officials defended the ordinance enacted in October, 1993, as a means to help police crack down on rising drug sales in parks.
"We believe it's constitutional," said Eleanor Egan, senior assistant city attorney for Anaheim. "It's a legitimate regulation that serves a legitimate purpose."
Under the ordinance, drug offenders are banned from visiting the city's 40 parks for up to three years after their convictions or release from custody. The Anaheim police have cited only four people for violating the ordinance, according to Anaheim officials.
The law applies to anyone convicted of selling drugs, possessing drugs for sale or, if the offense occurred in a park, possessing drugs. Violation of the ordinance is a misdemeanor, and offenders face a maximum six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
The ACLU is representing three organizations who advocate legalizing marijuana in certain medical situations, and three individuals with minor convictions involving the sale of marijuana. The three individuals want to attend a May 25 rally in La Palma Park organized to garner signatures for a proposed state ballot measure, called the Compassion Use initiative, which would expand the ability of physicians to prescribe marijuana.
However, under the city's ordinance, the three who want to attend the rally cannot,because of their recent drug convictions, say ACLU officials.
"I feel a deep hurt that I can't go into a park I used as a child to speak out in the park," said Craig McClain, 38, who grew up in Fullerton and was permanently disabled after a recent construction accident.
McClain pleaded guilty in February to growing five marijuana plants at his current home in Modesto. Although he claimed the marijuana was to relieve his constant back pain, McClain said his conviction also included a charge of selling the drug.
"I feel I'm being made to suffer for some archaic law," said McClain, who has undergone six major surgeries for back pain. "I'm not a criminal or a threat to anyone. I just want to tell people about the initiative."
The city ordinance will, in effect, bar speakers from the rally whose arguments might be the most persuasive, ACLU attorneys said.
"Every effective drug abuse prevention program has, at its core, the testimony of recovered drug abusers who have more credibility with potential addicts than anyone," Silverstein said. "Yet, this ordinance stifles their message if it is delivered within 50 feet of an Anaheim city park."
A hearing on the lawsuit has been tentatively scheduled for May
22,
Silverstein said.
Copyright 1995/The Times Mirror Company
A rally supporting medical uses of marijuana drew about 30 people Thursday to La Palma Park, where they heard accounts of how the drug helps ease the suffering of seriously ill patients.
Organizing the event was the California branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. The group supports pending state legislation that would allow physicians to prescribe marijuana as a treatment for glaucoma, chronic pain, chemotherapy-related nausea and other ailments.
"We know we have the people behind us," NORML coordinator Dale Gieringer said. "It's the politicians who are scared." If current legislative attempts fail, Gieringer said, his group will launch a ballot initiative in August that would let California voters decide the issue.
Among the rally speakers was Modesto resident Craig McClain, who was disabled by a construction accident five years ago and was convicted in April of growing marijuana. McClain says that smoking the drug relieves his severe spinal pain for up to two hours at a time and is a more effective treatment than the legal marijuana pills he is now taking.
The pills "take hours to kick in," McClain said. "When you hit that 10 on the Richter scale, you need relief now."
McClain was allowed to appear at the rally as a result of a federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. ACLU attorneys obtained a preliminary injunction last week that prevents Anaheim from enforcing a local ordinance that bans convicted drug offenders from entering city parks.
Samuel Mistrano, legislative director for the Southern
California ACLU,
described the seldom-used Anaheim law as a well-intentioned but
misguided
attempt to address drug problems. The ACLU argues that the law
goes too
far, resulting in violations of First Amendment rights.
Copyright 1995/The Times Mirror Company
SANTA ANA -- A federal judge on Tuesday granted a temporary injunction against a seldom-used Anaheim ordinance that bars convicted drug offenders from city parks.
U.S. District Judge Gary L. Taylor wrote in a two-page order that a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union "presents important constitutional issues" and suspended the ordinance until the full merits of the case can be heard.
The law, passed by the Anaheim City Council in 1993 to help fight drug problems in city parks, is believed to be the only one of its kind in the nation. It prohibits convicted drug offenders from entering any of the city's 40 parks for three years after their convictions or release from custody.
ACLU officials say the law violates individual rights of free assembly, expression and association and want the judge to overturn it.
"This law is clearly discriminatory and ineffective, however well-intentioned," said Mark Silverstein, an attorney for the ACLU. It "penalizes law-abiding people who have paid their debt to society and pose no threat to anyone."
Silverstein added that he is "pleased that the judge has recognized that we have raised some very serious constitutional issues."
Anaheim officials expressed disappointment in the judge's ruling.
"We're somewhat hopeful because the court has not held the ordinance unconstitutional," said Deputy City Atty. Moses Johnson. "We feel that after a full hearing, we will be able to have this turned around and get the ordinance upheld."
The ACLU filed its lawsuit last month on behalf of three organizations that advocate legalizing marijuana in certain medical situations, and three individuals with low-level felony convictions involving the sale of marijuana.
The judge's order makes it possible for the three plaintiffs to legally attend a rally at La Palma Park in Anaheim on Thursday. The rally has been called to generate support for the Compassionate Use Initiative, a proposed state ballot measure that would expand physicians' ability to prescribe marijuana for medical purposes.
Anaheim's law applies to anyone convicted of selling drugs, possessing drugs for sale or, if the offense occurred in a park, possessing drugs. Violation of the ordinance is a misdemeanor. Offenders face a maximum of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
The ACLU also wants the city to remove signs posted at each park warning drug offenders they are prohibited.
Taylor ordered that the signs remain until the issue is finally decided. Removal now would be "unduly expensive," since it could be temporary, he wrote.
The law has been used only four times, and the city is not yet able to say whether it has helped curb drug problems.
"Whether or not the law has been used a lot should not decide whether it is constitutional or not," Johnson said.
Shortly after Anaheim's law was passed, some legal experts immediately raised questions about its constitutionality, comparing it to Westminster's effort to crack down on crime by prohibiting known gang members from associating with one another and Costa Mesa's attempt to drive out day laborers by prohibiting them from congregating on certain streets.
Both cities' ordinances were declared unconstitutional after
court
challenges.
Copyright 1995/The Times Mirror Company
ANAHEIM -- A seldom-used law to keep convicted drug offenders away from local parks was repealed by the City Council on Tuesday, avoiding a costly civil rights legal battle.
The ordinance, possibly the only one of its kind in the nation, prohibited people convicted of certain drug-related crimes from entering any of the city's 40 parks for three years after their conviction or release from custody.
The law was used four times since the council adopted it in 1993.
The American Civil Liberties Union successfully challenged the law in federal court last month on behalf of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, which had a pro-marijuana rally May 25 in Anaheim's La Palma Park.
By obtaining a temporary injunction barring enforcement of the law, the ACLU cleared the way for a Modesto man convicted of growing marijuana plants to legally enter the park and speak about the drug's medicinal uses.
U.S. District Judge Gary L. Taylor ruled that the lawsuit presented "important constitutional issues."
ACLU attorneys characterized the law as well-intentioned but too far-reaching, and contended that it violated individual rights of free assembly, expression and association.
Anaheim City Atty. Jack L. White advised the council to repeal the ordinance rather than fight the matter in a federal court trial scheduled to begin Sept. 22.
White said there appeared to be "a substantial risk" that the city would not prevail in the proceedings.
Repealing the law "will not significantly impede" the city's
efforts to combat drug problems in local parks, White said.
Copyright 1995/The Times Mirror Company
End