[420 Girl]

Plans for a petition initiative to lessen marijuana-possession enforcement in the city of Kalamazoo have been delayed.

The Kalamazoo Coalition for Pragmatic Cannabis Laws has sent an e-mail to its Web-site subscribers, saying it will seek to place the ballot initiative before voters in November 2010.

The group had announced in April that it would begin circulating petitions to amend the city charter to make possession of small amounts of marijuana "the lowest priority for law enforcement." But the petition drive now will be delayed until March 2010, said Louis Cloise Stocking, founder of the coalition.

A vote on the marijuana ordinance in November could conflict with a possible vote on a proposed gay-rights ordinance, which is expected to appear on the ballot, the coalition said in the e-mail.

Some political observers have said that having the two initiatives on the same ballot might be a strategy for getting large numbers of supporters to the polls.

But Stocking said organized opposition is expected if the proposed ordinance creating a protected class for gays, lesbians and transgender people in employment, housing and public accommodations is placed on the ballot. That opposition, she said, could have carried over to the marijuana-enforcement initiative.

The City Commission could act by early July to adopt a new version of the so-called anti-discrimination ordinance it unanimously passed, then rescinded, in December after opponents mounted a petition initiative challenging it.

A three-member subcommittee of the commission has received additional public comment and is expected to recommend another version of the anti-discrimination ordinance. That version is likely to prompt another petition initiative that could put the issue before city voters in November.

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