County eyes pot decriminalization, registration rules for exotic dancers

County eyes pot decriminalization,

registration rules for exotic dancers

BY TERRY SCHMIDA

As the global War on Drugs shows signs of faltering, amid evidence that it has done more harm than good, the winds of change may be about to blow through the sun-kissed skies of the Florida Keys.

Despite the area’s “Wild West” period of drug-trafficking and official corruption in the 1970s and ’80s, Monroe County has long been a place where the popularity of pot amongst residents and visitors found an incongruous counterpoint amongst law enforcement agencies.

Possession of as little as a joint almost certainly means arrest and a night or more in jail, as well as an expensive and embarrassing court proceeding and aftermath.

But at press time, the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) was preparing to take a look at relaxing the laws governing possession of small qualities of the drug, at the request of District 2 Commissioner George Nugent.

The long-serving pol added a discussion item to the July 15 BOCC meeting agenda, in the wake of a recent decision by neighboring Miami-Dade County to classify minor possession of the weed as a civil infraction, rather than a criminal offense. Officers in that county can still make an arrest, but now have the option to levy a $100 fine for possession of 20 grams or less.

Nugent won’t talk to Konk Life/Mile Marker News, but County Attorney Bob Shillinger said Monday that he expects the discussion to center around garnering support for some kind of county ordinance that would allow law enforcement greater leeway in their dealings with marijuana users.

“An ordinance would give officers another tool to deal with the issue without necessarily filing a criminal charge,” Shillinger said. “If there’s enough interest on the BOCC to do that, we could talk about a way to implement that proposal in a way that takes our unique geographical situation into account. Miami-Dade made it a code enforcement matter, but that would mean a lot of traveling for Keys residents. An ordinance might make more sense.”

State Attorney Catherine Vogel sounded cautiously supportive of the idea.

“I feel that if the County Commission wants to pass this, then we will do everything we can to support them, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to include juveniles,” she said. “We already have a citation in place for juveniles.”

Also on Wednesday, commissioners were to consider following Palm Beach County’s lead in requiring exotic dancers and other adult entertainment workers to register with the county, in order to combat sex trafficking.

“We may discuss this issue under the same agenda item [as the marijuana citation],” Shillinger said. “The Keys Coalition, which has as one of its missions to stamp out human trafficking, would like us to adopt something like they have in Palm Beach which would allow us to verify that dancers are at least 18-years-old, and to afford an opportunity for them to talk to the law, if they are a victim. We might also push to have sex trafficking awareness signs put up in those establishments, the way the legislature has mandated they be put up in post offices and other public buildings.”

Again, Vogel seemed receptive.

“It seems to me that it would be a good idea, to help cut down on trafficking of uderage girls, and to weed out the exploitation of juveniles,” she said. “It could be a useful tool for doing that. We have seen some juveniles used in prostitution, which is something that’s alarming. I believe we should do all we can to help protect underage persons from harm.”