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Pot Citations Rise in Portland After Legalization

Data recently released by Portland police show that the number of marijuana citations is up nearly 50 percent since voters overwhelmingly approved legalizing the drug for recreational use last year.

Speaking at a City Council meeting Monday night, Portland Police Chief Michael Sauschuck said his department has been gathering statistics regarding marijuana arrests between December 2013 and October of this year.

"So what we found in that 10 month period is that Portland police officers had issued 48 citations to 46 different individuals," Sauschuck said.

This compares to 33 citations in the previous period - before the ordinance was passed. Sauschuck said these numbers need to be seen in the context of the 69,000 service calls the department received in total during the period.

When the ordinance was passed, Sauschuck said it would no make no difference in the police department's  attitude towards recreational marijuana, as it's still illegal under state and federal law.

Nevertheless, legalization advocates say the latest citation numbers show that city authorities are not listening to Portland voters.