Not So Fast, Washington Countians!

So Multnomah County has stopped prosecuting pot offenses that will cease being illegal in less than eight months. Clackamas County, as we’ve reported, is expected to do something similar.

But what of the third piece of the tri-county puzzle? What can our friends in earnest Beaverton and far-flung Hillsboro expect in changes as authorities around the state wrestle with the realities of Measure 91?

Not much right now, according to Washington County Senior Deputy District Attorney Bracken McKey. Prosecutors to the west aren’t planning any blanket changes like those Multnomah County DA Rod Underhill announced Monday. It’s not totally clear if they’re planning any changes at all.

McKey says Washington County prosecutors aren’t going to drop soon-to-be-legal pot charges in cases where other crimes are involved. The office will review marijuana-only cases “on a case-by-case basis,” he says. McKey was adamant about sticking to a formal statement, so when I asked if that meant prosecutors would actually consider tossing anything out, he wouldn’t say.

“We certainly aren’t going to be coming out with any sort of hard and fast policies that limits ourselves or our ability to deal with specific situations,” McKey says.

He offered an example: Being caught with less than an ounce of pot right now amounts to a violation punishable by a $650 fine. Once provisions of Measure 91 kick in in July, that’ll no longer be the case. You can carry up to an ounce of pot on you, worry-free. But McKey says that if someone is caught smoking pot in public today—he used dramatic examples such as on a playground, or in front of children on a Max platform—they might also be charged with possession of less than an ounce. And, since smoking pot in public is still illegal under Measure 91, Washington County is loath to make categorical changes to policy.

“We wouldn’t make a statement saying we wouldn’t prosecute PCS [possession of a controlled substance] less than an ounce,” McKey says. “We want to be thoughtful about it and we want to work with our law enforcement partners and those meetings will happen.”

Those conversations might change the situation and they might not, but for now, Washington County, it’s status quo for you.