 [9] ALT.HEMP (1:375/48)  ALT.HEMP 
 Msg  : #3519 [223]                                                             
 From : Carl E. Olsen                       1:2613/335      Sun 14 Aug 94 20:53 
 To   : All                                                                     
 Subj : Alaska marijuana law                                                    

From: Carl_E._Olsen@commonlink.com (Carl E. Olsen)
Organization: Common Link Consulting & On-Line Service

By STEVE RINEHART
Daily News Reporter
  A Superior Court judge in Ketchikan has ruled that an anti-marijuana law
voters adopted in 1990 is unconstitutional.  He said an earlier state Supreme
Court decision giving adult Alaskans the right to possess the drug for
personal use remains the law of the land.
  Judge Michael Thompson ruled that the Supreme Court has the power to
interpret the constitution.  He said that, if voters don't like that court's
decision, they can change the constitution, either by amendment of by calling
for a new constitutional convention.  But, he said, they cannot get around
the high court by simply voting in a new law, as they did in 1990.
  "In other words," he wrote, "the voters cannot change the constitution
simply by carrying the polls on a given day."
  Unless Thompson's ruling is upheld by a higher court, it may not affect the
marijuana laws in Anchorage or other areas outside the First Judicial
District, in Southeast Alaska, an attorney following the case said.
  Thompson made the ruling Oct. 29, in favor of Klawock logger Patrick McNeil.
 He had been charged for possession of marijuana and cocaine after police
searched his home and found a tiny quantity of the drugs.  McNeil's lawyer,
public defender James Wendt, argued that the search violated Alaska's
constitutional right to privacy, and he cited the Supreme Court's 1975
decision in what is called the Ravin case.
  In that case, the high court ruled unanimously that people's right to
privacy was more important than the state's interest in banning pot.  It said
simple marijuana possession was not a good enough reason for the police to
intrude on a person's home.  That decision formed the basis for a state law
allowing possession of up to four ounces of pot for personal use.
  In 1990, voters approved a ballot initiative to change the law and make it
illegal to possess any amount of the weed.
  Civil libertarians hailed Thompson's ruling.  "I think it is pretty
incredible," said Anchorage attorney Don Clocksin, a director of the Alaska
Civil Liberties Union.  The judge affirmed the arguments the ACLU and a
citizen group, Alaskans for Privacy, had made while fighting to defeat the
ballot initiative.
  "The majority does not have the right to deprive individuals of their civil
liberties," Clocksin said.
  Anti-pot forces condemned Thompson's decision as a step backward.
  Marijuana use among youths has declined since the drug was made illegal,
said Marie Majewske, who as a leader of Alaskans for Recriminalization
supported the ballot initiative.  She said she did not have prepared
statistics to back that claim, but that kids she meets as a volunteer
counselor tell her "using drugs is just not cool" anymore.
  "In my mind, the law has a great deal of effect," she said, because kids see
that society disapproves of marijuana.
  She and Clocksin both said they were surprised by the decision.  So,
apparently, was Attorney General Charlie Cole.  He said Tuesday he had not
yet seen it.
  "We plan to review it and evaluate it, to determine whether to appeal it,"
he said.  Cole declined to comment further.  It could not be immediately
determined how the ruling might effect law enforcement.
  Clocksin said judges in other districts can give the ruling serious
consideration, but are not bound by it.
  According to Thompson's summary, the Ketchikan case began when a Klawock
police officer in September of 1992 looked through the glass door to McNeil's
home and saw what he believed to be marijuana.  He got a search warrant and
found a pinch of pot, less than a 100th of an ounce.  In the course of the
search, the officer also found cocaine, in an amount Wendt described as
"residue inside a vial."
  McNeil was indicted for drug possession in July 1993.  Wendt said the state
offered to let his client plead guilty to a lesser charge, but McNeil chose
instead to challenge the law.
  "He was really upset about it.  He did not like the police going in his
home," Wendt said.  "He likes his privacy.  I suppose that's why he lives in
Klawock."
  Anchorage Daily News, Wednesday, November 17, 1993, Page A-1.

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 [9] ALT.HEMP (1:375/48)  ALT.HEMP 
 Msg  : #3520 [223]                                                             
 From : Carl E. Olsen                       1:2613/335      Sun 14 Aug 94 20:55 
 To   : All                                                                     
 Subj : Alaska marijuana law (part 2)                                           

From: Carl_E._Olsen@commonlink.com (Carl E. Olsen)
Organization: Common Link Consulting & On-Line Service

RE:   Alaskan court ruling

Carl,

The state has never appealed the Ketchikan decision (yes, you spelled it
correctly). Busts by the Alaska state police continue apace. They don't seem
to care much for reading court decisions. Don Hart and Ronda Marcy, members
of the National Lawyers Guild, have been working, through the people they
help to defend, to apply the decision statewide. Call them at 1-907-376-2232
for more legal stuff.

For liberty,

Len Karpinski
Without Prejudice U.C.C. 1-207

"USAGVMNT.SYS CORRUPT - PLEASE REINSTALL OPERATING SYSTEM"
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