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Missoula Heeds Voters on Pot Arrests; Denver Still Deaf
In sharp contrast with the authorities in Denver, who essentially ignored a 2005 ballot initiative that repealed local penalties for marijuana possession, the top prosecutor in Missoula County, Montana, has asked police to stop arresting pot smokers, citing a 2006 referendum that said such arrests should be the lowest law enforcement priority. Missoula County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg strongly opposed the referendum but is nonetheless heeding the message sent by voters:
"In the interest of compliance with the 2006 voter initiative on marijuana...we are asking law enforcement officers to stop arresting individuals or writing and submitting tickets (with mandatory appearance dates) where the offense committed is solely possession of marijuana in misdemeanor amounts or possession of drug paraphernalia intended for use of marijuana," according to a draft of the policy by Missoula County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg, an outspoken opponent of the measure.
Van Valkenburg's policy also instructs deputy prosecutors to charge misdemeanor marijuana cases on a lowest-priority basis when marijuana is the sole offense
"We will treat them as uncharged cases that will be assigned to a prosecutor and charged on a lowest priority basis," according to the policy. "If charged, we will seek issuance of a summons with the complaint."
If a defendant is charged but has no criminal record of consequence, county attorneys will offer a deferred prosecution agreement rather than filing formal charges. No court appearance would be required.
In Denver, where police have continued to charge people for marijuana possession under state law, the folks behind the 2005 initiative are trying again with a measure similar to the one passed in Missoula County. It sounds like the Denver initiative is worded more strongly than Missoula County's, which the Missoulian (paraphrasing Van Valkenburg) characterizes as "a mere suggestion to county law enforcement." By contrast, the Denver initiative says "the Denver Police Department and City Attorney's Office shall make the investigation, arrest and prosecution of marijuana offenses, where the marijuana was intended for adult personal use, the City's lowest law enforcement priority" (emphasis added). Given the impact that a "mere suggestion" had in Missoula, I may have been wrong to describe the Denver measure as "purely symbolic." And whatever its practical impact, its symbolism is important as an expression of public disenchantment with at least some aspects of the war on drugs.
[Thanks to Jamie Kelly for the tip.]
Episiarch|10.26.07 @ 9:14AM|#
Some sanity rears its head. More referendums like this could
have a powerful effect, methinks.
Of course, you have to live in a place which has referendums, but
it's a damn good start. Votes like these send a very clear message
to the politicians who are reflexively for the WOD, and have
convinced themselves that 99.38% of the population agrees.
VM|10.26.07 @ 9:18AM|#
Denver is deaf from that straw-on-concrete sound that's rapidly
approaching them....
listen
s ssss sssswwweeee
sweeeeep
it's getting louder...
|10.26.07 @ 9:20AM|#
It might have to be done one county at a time but I really
believe that pot will be legal in very short time.
Too many people now know that all drug users aren't slimebags,
despite the best efforts of the ONDCP, DEA, etc. and, as noted,
people are more and more disenfranchised by the WoD. $16 billion down the
tubes this year to date already.
|10.26.07 @ 9:21AM|#
A less vigorous prosecution of the WOD is a good thing, but it's more hope than progress. I remember the 70's when pot was pretty much decriminalized. The fact that it wasn't legal left enough criminal residue to set the stage for Nancy Reagan. We need a legal market. Still, it's good to see drug war madness getting rolled back.
|10.26.07 @ 9:38AM|#
I love this take-upon-yourself-at-a-local-level thing. Change
starts at home and all that...
I suppose, since the federal government won't listen to reason, and
some states don't listen either, this local refusing to enforce is
the best way to make these changes.
To people more versed in local government: Is there anything the
Feds can do to local law enforcement if they refuse to enforce
certain laws?
robc|10.26.07 @ 9:45AM|#
To people more versed in local government: Is there anything
the Feds can do to local law enforcement if they refuse to enforce
certain laws?
Cut off some grants and other funding, maybe. Which I see as a good
thing. No WOD enforcement and no funding for SWAT teams? Win -
win!!
|10.26.07 @ 9:49AM|#
Is there anything the Feds can do to local law enforcement
if they refuse to enforce certain laws?
Yes, in the 60's many southern states refused to enforce civil
rights laws (like the requirement for integrated waiting rooms at
interstate bus stations). The Feds stepped in, and part of the fall
out was the prosecution of some law enforcement officers. But I
think those cops all had a hand in breaking the law. I don't know
if anyone was ever convicted of merely not enforcing the law.
|10.26.07 @ 9:52AM|#
Is there anything the Feds can do to local law enforcement
if they refuse to enforce certain laws?
Officially, probably. But law enforcement is pretty damn selective
as it is.
|10.26.07 @ 9:57AM|#
I really believe that pot will be legal in very short
time.
And cigarettes will be illegal.
My brain hurts.
Episiarch|10.26.07 @ 10:01AM|#
My brain hurts.
That's just the skunk weed you just smoked. Have a cigarette, it'll
help.
|10.26.07 @ 10:05AM|#
Missoula County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg strongly
opposed the referendum but is nonetheless heeding the message sent
by voters:
I'm unaware of his entire record, but this would make me vote for
the guy's re-election! He displays commendable morality. That is,
the desires of the people outweigh my personal opinion.
Spock|10.26.07 @ 10:25AM|#
"That is, the desires of the people outweigh my personal
opinion."
Didn't I tell ya...? The needs of the many, out weigh the needs of
the few.
Mark|10.26.07 @ 10:35AM|#
There's not much the Feds can legally do- local authorities aren't generally responsible for the enforcement of federal laws, so the law the local cops aren't enforcing is the state law. The state may be able to intervene, but that's tough to justify as well, unless the state passes a law or regulation that negates the local resolution. Since Missoula is the second biggest county in the state, I have a hard time believing that state politicians will want to piss off about 10% of their potential voters.
Alice Bowie|10.26.07 @ 10:41AM|#
It might have to be done one county at a time but I really
believe that pot will be legal in very short time.
On the Contrary
Pretty soon, we will be buying cigarettes by the nickle
bag from the same corner where they sell crack,
herion, and angel dust
Since the prohibition of cigarettes is well on the way...and
neo-prohibitionist like MADD are making anything that has to do
with alcohol illegal...I don't see the legalization of any other
vices.
Episiarch|10.26.07 @ 10:42AM|#
The needs of the many, out weigh the needs of the
few.
Or the one. I have been, and always shall be, your friend. Live
long...and prosper.
KHAAANNNNNN!!!
|10.26.07 @ 10:46AM|#
I have a hard time believing that state politicians will
want to piss off about 10% of their potential voters.
Few voters get pissed of when cops clean up the streets by cracking
down on dirty druggies, even the ones who voted for the referendum.
There's likely a much larger percentage that approves of busting
skulls when it comes to drug users, who get very pissed off at
pinko pansy prosecutors who go along with this hippie crap.
FlowerPower|10.26.07 @ 10:53AM|#
".....hippie crap."
You mean, like..."get us out of Vietnam. ??
a-hole
|10.26.07 @ 11:10AM|#
I live in the southern suburbs, not in Denver. But the authorities in Denver embarrass so many of us with their sad continued enforcement.
|10.26.07 @ 11:14AM|#
...who go along with this hippie crap.
In this case, the "hippie crap" is about advancing individual
liberty.
|10.26.07 @ 11:31AM|#
In this case, the "hippie crap" is about advancing
individual liberty.
A lot of the "hippie crap" I adopted back in the days, I haven't
repudiated. A lot was complete BS. Summer of Love, Back to Nature
ludditism (is that a word?) and so on. Still weird people have some
good ideas sometimes.
|10.26.07 @ 11:32AM|#
VM:
s ssss sssswwweeee sweeeeep
it's getting louder...
Well, we still have the Buffs...No wait!
|10.26.07 @ 11:42AM|#
I'm not a hippie but I definitely believe in individual liberty
and personal responsibility. I'm re-reading Lysander Spooners Vices
are Not Crimes and the first paragraph is right on:
"Vices are those acts by which a man harms himself or his
property.
Crimes are those acts by which one man harms the person or property
of another.
Vices are simply the errors which a man makes in his search after
his own happiness. Unlike crimes, they imply no malice toward
others, and no interference with their persons or property.
In vices, the very essence of crime --- that is, the design to
injure the person or property of another --- is wanting.
It is a maxim of the law that there can be no crime without a
criminal intent; that is, without the intent to invade the person
or property of another. But no one ever practises a vice with any
such criminal intent. He practises his vice for his own happiness
solely, and not from any malice toward others.
Unless this clear distinction between vices and crimes be made and
recognized by the laws, there can be on earth no such thing as
individual right, liberty, or property; no such things as the right
of one man to the control of his own person and property, and the
corresponding and coequal rights of another man to the control of
his own person and property.
For a government to declare a vice to be a crime, and to punish it
as such, is an attempt to falsify the very nature of things. It is
as absurd as it would be to declare truth to be falsehood, or
falsehood truth."
|10.26.07 @ 11:49AM|#
J sub D:
Still weird people have some good ideas sometimes.
Yep-And truth is where you find it!
I like some of the music from the Summer of Love.
|10.26.07 @ 11:55AM|#
It bothers me that the drug warriors aren't even willing to make
a concession in their neverending battle to eradicate the concepts
of personal choice and personal responsibility. Why will they not
concede, at the least, that the War on Marijuana™ is a waste of
time and a failure? If they did that, they could at least claim
that the focus of the WOD is drugs that have a substantial risk of
causing harm to users; drugs like heroin or crack.
Not that I would agree with the WOD even if that logic was used to
attempt to justify it, but really, the war on pot defies every
attempt to analyze it objectively. It makes no sense whatsoever. It
seems to be based solely on junk science and using the state as an
armed moralizing organ.
|10.26.07 @ 11:58AM|#
I yield to myself such time as I may consume to advise and
extend my remarks.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to make it perfectly clear that on the issue of
drug legalization I am four square, 110% in bed with the hippies. I
even like their music and some of the nice leather craft. Outside
of that, I wish I could make them all read "the wealth of
nations".
Previously I made some remarks that might be construed as
disparaging my hippie brothers. Let me now clarify that I was
merely paraphrasing what I believe to be a prevailing attitude. My
remark was intended to be taken in a mocking and sarcastic
manner.
I yield back the balance of my time.
|10.26.07 @ 12:12PM|#
In vices, the very essence of crime --- that is, the design
to injure the person or property of another --- is
wanting.
Not true, what about the harm caused by negative downstream effects
on society?
It bothers me that the drug warriors aren't even willing to
make a concession in their neverending battle to eradicate the
concepts of personal choice and personal responsibility. Why will
they not concede, at the least, that the War on Marijuana is a
waste of time and a failure?
Your 'personal choice and personal responsibility' end when they
result in harm to society, i.e. increased health care costs, lost
productivity, etc. Marijuana use tends to lead to other things,
which is why it must be illegal.
It seems to be based solely on junk science and using the state
as an armed moralizing organ.
It is the responsibility of the state to enforce Gods morals.
Science is not true if it is only factually correct, it must also
be politically correct.
|10.26.07 @ 12:16PM|#
Eh, Warren, it's okay to hate hippies and be against the WOD. I see no contradiction there. Come on, tell us how you really feel. ;)
dhex|10.26.07 @ 12:23PM|#
It is the responsibility of the state to enforce Gods
morals.
man yer gonna regret this when the 5 percenters take over.
get used to being called earth, sister.
|10.26.07 @ 12:25PM|#
I like some of the music from the Summer of Love.
I love some of the the Music From the
Summer of Love.
|10.26.07 @ 12:30PM|#
Can't Denverites just elect a new Sheriff or
Prosecutor?
We can only hope.
NORML - That might be a good use of your dollars.
VM|10.26.07 @ 12:30PM|#
Rick -
sigh. true.
One of my best friends (from Denver, originally), was back in town
and was at the game against Pissburgh! What a barn burner!
for those relatively new to the site, "Juanita" or "Juan" or "Jane"
is a troll-like commenter who makes outrageous statements like
that. It's probably a regular joking around, but simply ignore!
|10.26.07 @ 12:41PM|#
Warren:
My remark was intended to be taken in a mocking and sarcastic
manner.
Yea! I thought that that had to be the case if it was you. And it
was cuz it is you. Groovy!
Now, FlowerPower, take back that you called Warren an "a-hole".
Minion of URKOBOLD|10.26.07 @ 12:47PM|#
"FLOWER POWER" IS FRIENDS WITH THE OKRIN MAN. WE HAVE PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE.
|10.26.07 @ 12:49PM|#
Warren...
I don't know the definition of "hippie" round these parts, but I am
own by self-definition. Self-sufficiency...growing and raising or
hunting our own food, I suppose "dropping out" in that we don't get
sucked into the consumer culture and we have a lot more money for
that. We and our neighbours even smoke our own fish. Or can it
(home-canned albacore is a gajillion times better than that
store-bought crap).
I love the comp, I use for my work, but if it disappeared tommorrow
that would be alright. Love Seattle and Vancouver, BC and media,
but again, if it went away..we'd be fine.
As for making cigarettes illegal...if I wanted to I'd grow my own
tobacco and pot. In my huge herb garden, medicinal and
cooking.
Yeah...I believe in herbal medicine...as well as modern medicine. I
notice a knee jerk tendency to discount it because it reeks of
"hippie".
We can make just about everything we NEED from home or from
friends. Even cloth from a friend who is a weaver. If petroleum
became a problem, we've already discussed alternatives for our
boat, a commerical fishing boat.
And all us "hippies" have guns...and some are right-wingers, some
are left wingers..most have a libertarian streak.
So I am always amused when the word "hippie" gets thrown around.
That word does not mean what you think it means. The "summer of
love" was a bunch of kids playing...as was Woodstock. The real
"hippies" quietly kept on doing their thing for the past 40 years
while the majority of those players went on to other things.
|10.26.07 @ 1:07PM|#
The Guardian UK has an article out that cites a study noting
that Marijuana decriminalization lowers marijuana use among teens
and young adults:
From the
Guardian UK article:
British Crime Survey statistics showed that the proportion of
16- to 24-year-olds using cannabis slumped from 28% a decade ago to
21% now, with its declining popularity accelerating after the
decision to downgrade the drug to class C was announced in January
2004.
Maybe studies like these can be used to help convince local pols to
decriminalize.
Paul|10.26.07 @ 1:07PM|#
We and our neighbours even smoke our own fish.
?! Wow, you guys know how to party. Most people just stick to the
usual joint laced with LSD.
Paul|10.26.07 @ 1:10PM|#
The "summer of love" was a bunch of kids playing...as was
Woodstock.
Didn't George Harrison find
them to be a bunch of "spotty teenagers"?
|10.26.07 @ 1:31PM|#
By the way, do we like the initiative process, or do we hate
it?
Hmmm, I've signed petitions to get initiatives on the ballot.
OTOH, I also have misgivings about the process. I think that
democracy is a system that works better damped.
Can I go with a love/hate answer?
iih|10.26.07 @ 1:52PM|#
I'm not a hippie but...
Can't people stand up for a principle without fearing to be labeled
and getting defensive?
(Don't mean to pick up on you james.)
|10.26.07 @ 1:57PM|#
Capelza,
It's the not the lifestyle that bothers some of us about hippies,
it's the doctrine. Anti-market philosophies are just ignorant. And
worse, so many that hold those philosophies are simply hypocrites
that participate in the market but somehow feel like they can wash
their hands of the supposed harm caused by capitalism.
|10.26.07 @ 1:59PM|#
My daughter thinks I'm a hippie because of the dreads. So that's where the disclaimer came from it's a reflex action. Nothing wrong with hippies unless you believe Cartman. ;0)
|10.26.07 @ 2:00PM|#
Hippie?:
I live back in the woods, you see
A woman and the kids, and the dogs and me
I got a shotgun rifle and a 4-wheel drive
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive
I can plow a field all day long
I can catch catfish from dusk till dawn
We make our own whiskey and our own smoke too
Ain't too many things these ole boys can't do
We grow good ole tomatoes and homemade wine
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive
Because you can't starve us out
And you cant makes us run
Cause one-of- 'em old boys raisin ole shotgun
And we say grace and we say Ma'am
And if you ain't into that we don't give a damn
We came from the West Virginia coalmines
And the Rocky Mountains and the and the western skies
And we can skin a buck; we can run a trot-line
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive
I had a good friend in New York City
He never called me by my name, just hillbilly
My grandpa taught me how to live off the land
And his taught him to be a businessman
He used to send me pictures of the Broadway nights
And I'd send him some homemade wine...
Hank Williams Jr.
|10.26.07 @ 2:46PM|#
We did just get done celebrating the 40th anniversary of the
Summer of Love...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jYT1p-M8P8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4uCuDD94bQ
Peace Love Liberty-What a groovy
combination!
Make love and money-not war!
From each as they choose-to each as they are
chosen
|10.26.07 @ 2:49PM|#
Is there anything the Feds can do to local law enforcement
if they refuse to enforce certain laws?
Yes -- in Hawaii we had something called the Felix Consent Decree,
where the Federal government forced the state to spend huge sums of
money on special education, at the expense of the regular public
school kids, based on a court decision handed down by a judge with
a kid in special education -- a judge who didn't recuse himself for
the obvious conflict of interest.
The Feds did other such acts here, where they basically said, "do
what we say, or we'll do it ourselves, spend lavishly, and send you
the bill -- which you'd better pay".
The word "consent" in the title of the Felix Consent Decree was
about as apt as saying a woman "consents" to being raped.
|10.26.07 @ 2:52PM|#
By the way, do we like the initiative process, or do we hate
it?
Initiatives act as a further check and balance on government,
albeit with some obvious dangers. The politicians most opposed to
initiatives in Hawaii are statists on a power trip.
Ventifact|10.26.07 @ 3:21PM|#
Initiatives circumvent establishment politics. I love them, even acknowledging that majority will is not often my own will.
|10.26.07 @ 4:11PM|#
"Anti-market philosophies are just ignorant. And worse, so
many that hold those philosophies are simply hypocrites that
participate in the market but somehow feel like they can wash their
hands of the supposed harm caused by capitalism."
Pinette;
As a practicing hippy, I would say you are mixing up systems with
philosophies. I look at the free market as how we get stuff in
exchange for work or something of value. Capitalism, to me, is an
economic philosophy which is the polar opposite of Communism in the
economic spectrum.
Capitalism worships money, like Communism worships the state and
you may or may not understand, but that's how I see it. I value
people above all else and my voluntary relationships with them and
I hope that the world is a better place because of this voluntary
cooperation. Peace.
//I also have guns, but would rather not have to use them, because
when you kill someone, you take away everything they will
become.
|10.26.07 @ 4:44PM|#
The initiative process can work both ways, of course. It can,
like in Montana, be used as an environmental sledgehammer (in 1998,
"we" banned all cyanide heap-leach mining) or in this case, advance
the cause of individual rights.
As far as hippies go, well ... I live in Missoula (I'm the one who
tipped Sullum to this story), and I can tell you that most of the
time, they're full of shit on almost every issue. But in this case?
Sweet, sweet victory.
And yes, we should re-elect Van Valkenburg.
|10.26.07 @ 4:46PM|#
I specifically made that distinction with my first sentence. I
know you saw that since you deliberately left that part out when
you quoted me, so that you could accuse me of not making that
distinction.
you can define yourself as a hippie and make that term your own all
you want. hell you can re-define anything. You are still subject to
the ribbing that goes along with the popularly accepted definition
of your title.
|10.26.07 @ 4:58PM|#
Capitalism worships money, like Communism worships the
state
"Capitalism" doesn't worship anything. Capitalism is an economic
philosophy guided by individual rights. Just the same as communism
doesn't worship the state. Communism IS the state. And if you think
communism doesn't operate on money, what do you suppose it operates
on?
I value people above all else and my voluntary relationships
with them and I hope that the world is a better place because of
this voluntary cooperation.
"Voluntary relationships," as in the free exchange of goods and
services? Hmmm, sounds familiar.
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