Seattle City Attorney Throws Out 66 Public Use Tickets Written By Single Anti-Cannabis Cop

Despite assurances at the highest levels of Washington State lawmakers that the new cannabis ticketing system would not be abused by police, less than a month after legal recreational sales began in state, this idea has already been embarrassingly challenged by the efforts of apparently a lone cop on a personal anti-cannabis crusade.

Seattle cop Randy Jokela (no joke) single handedly managed to write 80% of the city’s public use cannabis tickets since the start of the year.  Between January 1 and the end of June, Jokela wrote 66 tickets with 37% of the same going to African Americans and half to the city’s homeless. 

On some tickets Jokela requested the attention of the city attorney Pete Holmes who has been an avid and vocal supporter of the legalization initiative in state. 

Smoking cannabis in public under the new law is punished by the issuance of a citation ticket and $25 fine.  With that said, it appears that even to the city’s law enforcement professionals, this cop was taking things a bit too far.  Jokela and his supervisor are facing short suspensions from work as a result of this ongoing apparently personal vendetta.  In September, Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole has asked city attorneys to throw out every one of Jokela’s public use tickets.

In addition, the issue of unfair prosecution of the law in Washington State over this very issue was precisely one of the reasons that even pro-cannabis reform groups opposed I-502.

While not the most embarrassing black eye to date in Washington State on the legal front with several lawsuits now challenging 502 from the business community over its legitimacy and authority, the low level pettiness of this situation merely highlights a need for real reform.