Biannual report finds one cop in Seattle issued 80 percent of all marijuana tickets

Biannual report finds one cop in Seattle issued 80 percent of all marijuana tickets
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The officer who gave out 80 percent of all marijuana tickets in Seattle for the first half of the year has been reassigned, Reuters reports.

While analysts compiled data for the Seattle Police Department's first biannual report on marijuana enforcement, it was discovered that 66 of 83 tickets handed out for public marijuana use came from one officer. Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O'Toole said the same officer attached notes to the tickets, with one indicating "he flipped a coin when contemplating which subject to cite." He later referred to the marijuana laws passed in 2012 that made it legal for adults to purchase cannabis for recreational use as "silly."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.