DdC

Judicial Day of Reckoning Coming

An Alaska Superior Court judge in Fairbanks has dismissed a man's conviction for marijuana possession on the grounds that the Alaska state constitution's privacy provisions guarantee the right to possess marijuana for personal use. Judge Richard Savell dismissed the conviction against Scott A. Thomas on June 25. He had been charged with three counts of felony fourth-degree misconduct for growing pot plants in his home last summer, but a jury found him guilty of only one count of misdemeanor marijuana possession, and now that has been thrown out.

In a 1975 Alaska Supreme Court decision, Ravin v. State, the state's highest court ruled that it was legal for adults to possess marijuana in their own homes as long as the quantity was not sufficient to constitute "an intent to deliver." Marijuana possession by an adult at home was protected by the fundamental right to privacy enshrined in the state constitution, the justices ruled. But in 1990, marijuana opponents cheered on by then drug czar Bill Bennett won a voter initiative making possession of any amount of marijuana in any location illegal.

"A direct conflict in the law exists between the right to privacy guaranteed under the Alaska Constitution and the statutory prohibition... which criminalizes the personal use of marijuana by an adult in the privacy of the home, regardless of the quantity of the prohibited substance," read Thomas' motion to dismiss his conviction. Judge Savell agreed. But the ruling does not set precedent yet, said Fairbanks attorney William Satterberg, who has argued at least three marijuana cases, including the Thomas case, in hopes of overturning the law. "There is another case, Alaska v. David Noy, before the state appeals court," he told DRCNet. "Noy was convicted of misdemeanor possession of less than eight ounces, and although he was given a suspended imposition of sentence, they still gave us the chance to appeal. We appealed on a pro bono basis and gave our final brief to the court last year."

While the state is unlikely to appeal the Thomas decision, the ruling brings added pressure for the courts to resolve the issue. "We had one court rule against us in Noy and another rule for us in Thomas," he said. "This court will have to resolve this, and they will use the Noy case to do it."

There are two issues at play, Satterberg continued. "One issue is the right to privacy as recognized in Ravin v. State; the other issue is the medical necessity defense. Noy had arthritis and stress, and while Alaska law allows for medical marijuana, you effectively have to get it illegally because doctors are afraid the DEA will check their certificates to prescribe. Our thinking is that the court can deal with Ravin or it can deal with medical necessity, and we think they'll deal with Ravin."

An appeals court ruling in yet another earlier case leaves Satterberg optimistic about the final outcome, he told DRCNet. In that case, because the quantity of marijuana involved was more than the eight ounces that is considered the line for personal possession, the Supreme Court didn't directly address the Ravin ruling. "But in a footnote to their decision, they said that if it had been a personal possession case, they would have relied on the Ravin decision."

Even though the state Court of Appeals, not the Supreme Court, is deciding the Noy case, whatever the verdict is in Noy, it could become the law of the northland because the Supreme Court is not required to hear appeals from Court of Appeals decisions. "We will petition the Supreme Court if we lose," said Satterberg. In the meantime, he's waiting for that decision to come down. "We could get a call on Noy any day now," he said.

"The fact of the matter is we are dealing with personal rights and personal privacy," Satterberg noted. "Right now, the cops can claim they smell marijuana and get a search warrant and tear your place apart because you were smoking a joint. Who is secure in his home when this is the case?"

Subject: 002 <a href="http://www.drugsense.org/lists/restore/v2003.n166" target="_blank">Alas ka Court Rules Marijuana Possession Okay</a>
From: D. Paul Stanford stanford@crrh.org
<a href="http://thc-foundation.com/restore" target="_blank">Rest ore-Digest</a> * <a href="http://www.stopthedrugwar.o rg" target="_blank">Webs ite</a> * <a href="http://www.mapinc.org/states/ak" target="_blank">Book mark(Alaska)</a> * psmith@drcnet.org
Author: Phillip S. Smith, Editor
Pubdate: Fri, 11 Jul 2003
Source: The Week Online with DRCNet (US Web)

<a href="http://www.adn.com/adn/marijuana" target="_blank">Alas ka's top crop</a> Looking for these articles...
Author: S.J. Komarnitsky
Daily News Mat-Su Bureau

Alaska's Top Crop
Map Inc snipped
<a href="http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/7/thread7344.shtml" target="_blank">Cann abis News snipped</a>


<a href="http://www.columbia.edu/cu/fehdp/prop5.html" target="_blank">Alas ka's Prop. 5</a>

Related: <a href="http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/legal/l1970/ravin.htm" target="_blank">Irwi n RAVIN, Petitioner, v. STATE of Alaska, Respondent.</a>
No. 2135. Supreme Court of Alaska.
May 27, 1975. As Amended May 28, 1975.

<a href="http://www.overgrow.com" target="_blank">Over grow.com</a>
US AK: <a href="http://www.overgrow.com/edge/showthread/t-304589.html" target="_blank">Judg e Dismisses Pot Conviction</a>
<a href="http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113%257E26794 %257E1494933,00.html " target="_blank">Fair banks judge dismisses marijuana conviction</a>

<a href="http://www.freedomwriter.co m/issue25/ak1.htm" target="_blank">MARI JUANA POLICY PROJECT DIRECTOR TO SPEAK</a>
at ALASKA LIBERTARIAN PARTY CONVENTION

High Hopes in Alaska for Sweeping Pot Law

The folks behind a statewide ballot initiative to decriminalize marijuana in Alaska will stare you down with their glassy eyes and sermonize on the numerous commercial uses for industrial hemp, the environmental benefits of hemp production and the medicinal benefits of the cannabis plant. And sure, the Nov. 7 measure is about all of those things.

Mostly, though, it's about the freedom to get stoned.

<a href="http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7173.shtml" target="_blank">High Hopes in Alaska for Sweeping Pot Law</a>
<a href="http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6045.shtml" target="_blank">Alas ka Hemp Initiative 2000</a>
<a href="http://www.globalhemp.com/News/2000/June/99hemp_issues.html" target="_blank">HEMP Issues’s Rope Not Dope</a>

Free Hemp in Alaska Al Anders, Chair
2603 Spenard Road
Anchorage, Alaska 99503
(907) 278-HEMP
E-mail: freehempinak@gci.net
Visit their web site: <a href="http://www.freehempinak.org " target="_blank">http ://www.freehempinak.org </A>

NEWS RELEASE: Tuesday, January 28, 2003
<a href="http://www.freehempinak.org " target="_blank">Mari juana reform backers file lawsuit to put initiative on the ballot.</a>

Backers of the initiative to Decriminalize and Regulate Cannabis/Hemp including Marijuana filed suit today to force Lieutenant Governor Loren Leman to place their initiative on the August 2004 ballot. Tim Hinterberger, Alvin Anders and Scot Dunnachie are plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed by Anchorage attorney Ken Jacobus. In the lawsuit, the initiative backers assert that they have complied with Alaska law and that the State erred in disqualifying their petition.

<a href="http://www.drugwarprisoners .org/alaska.htm" target="_blank">Vict ims, Not Criminals</a>
<a href="http://touchngo.com/lglcntr/akstats/Statutes/Title17/Chapter35.htm" target="_blank">Chap ter 35. Marijuana Therapeutic Research Program</a>
<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/10/16/campaign.hemp.reut" target="_blank">Alas ka voters to consider hemp legalization</a>



Alaska: Posted by cryote on May 26, 1999
Privacy right
May 14, 1999

To the editor:

The News-Miner May 4 editorial reprinted from the Ketchikan Daily News "Refine marijuana laws" illustrates again the print media's refusal to acknowledge how Alaska's courts have defined state constitutional privacy rights to personal marijuana possession.

The editor must be aware that Ketchikan's own Judge Thompson declared the 1990 marijuana recriminalization unconstitutional in accordance with the Supreme Court's 1975 Ravin decision (State vs. McNeil 1993). The state accepted (decided not to appeal) that verdict. The initiative is inadequate to overrule Ravin and that case remains the law. The state executive branch should protect Alaskans' constitutional privacy rights to possess marijuana and cease using the scarce revenues to arrest those exercising theirs.

On behalf of Alaskans for Drug Abuse Medicalization (a group seeking to re-legalize personal possession of marijuana and end criminal treatment of drug addiction in favor of medical treatment) I challenge the respective editors to explain to readers their reliance upon and support for a recriminalization law that's clearly unconstitutional.

Respectfully submitted,
H. Thompson Prentzel III
Chair, Alaskans for Drug-Abuse Medicalization
Fairbanks

Legal states


<a href="http://www.friendlystranger .com/info/hemp_01/hempamericas3.htm" target="_blank">Hemp : America's Answer for Energy Self-Sufficiency</a>



<a href="http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/15/thread15950.shtml" target="_blank">Alas ka's Marijuana Experiment</a>
<a href="http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/7/thread7369.shtml" target="_blank">Alas ka Voters To Consider Hemp Legalization</a>

<a href="http://www.cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=Alaska&H =40&T=t" target="_blank">Cann abis News Search: Alaska</a>
<a href="http://www.mapinc.org/find?MM1=6&YY1=2000& GAC=n-us-ak&TITLE=Alaska" target="_blank">Map Inc Search: Alaska</a>



As an agricultural crop, hemp is gentle on the land and is easily grown without chemicals. Because it is so fast growing, hemp can help us shift to a carbohydrate based sustainable economy. This change is one of the major steps towards bringing us into harmony with our natural world.
Ecolution <a href="http://www.ecolution.com" target="_blank">http ://www.ecolution.com</A>

Exxon Valdez

On the 24th of March 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker ran aground in the Prince William Sound off Alaska, spilling 232,000 barrels of oil. The effects of the incident are not really known, but it is known that the only 25% of the migratory salmon population returned to the area the following season, thousands of otters were poisoned, and thousands of birds died. The scale of the incident prompted the development of the Valdez Principles, which are slowly being adopted by industry. It also highlighted just how expensive a major oil spill can be - Exxon spent some 2 billion dollars cleaning up the spill, and a further 1 billion to settle civil and criminal charges related to the case.

<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/ca7/ddc/Fuel.html" target="_blank">Cann abis Fuel</a>

<a href="http://www.netstoreusa.com/sabooks/012/0124561608.shtml" target="_blank">Mari ne Mammals And The Exxon Valdez</a>

<a href="http://www.alaskaweb.net/alaskan_issues.htm" target="_blank">Oil and Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.</a>

Beginning 3 days after the vessel grounded, a storm pushed large quantities of fresh oil onto the rocky shores of many of the beaches in the Knight Island chain. In this photograph, pooled oil is shown stranded in the rocks.

<a href="http://www.loe.org/series/exxon/links.htm" target="_blank">Exxo n Valdez Related Links</a>

<a href="http://www.hempcar.org" target="_blank">hemp car.org</a> * <a href="http://www.hemptech.com" target="_blank">hemp tech.com</a> * <a href="http://www.jackherer.com" target="_blank">jack herer.com</a> * <a href="http://www.hempfood.com" target="_blank">hemp food.com</a>

<a href="http://www.sumeria.net/politics/invpro.html" target="_blank">The Invisible Prohibition</a> * <a href="http://www.sumeria.net/politics/shadv3.html" target="_blank">Shad ow of the Swastika</a>
<a href="http://www.cannabis.com/untoldstory/#INDEX" target="_blank">MARI JUANA AND HEMP The Untold Story</a>
<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/ca7/ddc/index.html" target="_blank">Why do you think they call it dope?</a>
<a href="http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread8150.shtml" target="_blank">Cann abis News: Hemp Car</a>

__________________

riderman420

SHIT! I didnt you could possess for personal use in alaska!! Im moving there as soon as i can!!!

__________________
you ever notice how every empty bowl needs to be filled, and every full bowl needs to be emptyed?

Real Corona

Cops here don't give a shit about weed, they only do anything about it if they find it on while doing something else. Like dwi or minor consuming. Basically the cops here have night vision which they use to bust teenagers partying on the beach. It;s really pathetic.

Antediluvian

Federal law still supersedes state law. You could still get arrested under federal law. Alaska is still part of the US isn't it ?

DdC

Ganja is unique in that it can be classed by local City County laws, state laws and/or federal laws and its arbitrary on who gets the bust. And I believe double and triple jeopardy is legal if the state doesn't like the verdict it can change venues and retry the case. Or in Eds case the feds are appealing the ruling that seems clearly double jeopardy. The reality is at present there isn't enough manpower for the feds to bust single family tokers. Unless its politically important to them. And there is weasel room for them to bust locals using fed narks if local ordinance prohibits it. As they did to WAMM. Its all obvious fascism and no one wants to deal with that. But for now Alaska law can fend off local cops by being legal under state constitutional law the same as Santa Cruz, Medicino and basacally the 8 or 10 states with state laws legalizing. A defensive measure that can be moot if the feds want it to be. But usually they won't. Its not like we're baking cookies here. The narkczars job is to maintain the Ganjawar. Truth or lies doesn't matter, they are simply means to an end result of perpetuation. As long as the war goes on, profits from the war will go on. The reality of Ganja is really outside the Ganjawar, unless we bring it back in. But the "movements" designated speakers never mentions the "f" word and so the factions stay separate . And are as divided as the prohibitionist and stoners with hampsters against medicinal and both against religious and stoners pissing off everybody when they are basically the largest consumers of Ganja/hemp and medicinal providers. Just not politically correct. So for all intent and purposes Alaska is legal to locals and the local cops probably won't bust you for small possessions alone. Many reports agree with the Nixon commission stating for legalization in the early 70's and arbitrarily rejected by Nixon without investigation. Yet none of the so called spokespersons for the so called movement ever play the simple obvious corporatism card. Perpetuating the war profits many sides.
Peace, Love and Liberty with solidarity or DEAth
DdC

<a href="http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohi bitionstuff.showMess age?topicID=122.topi c" target="_blank">Who Supports Prohibition?</a>

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Real Corona

Yeah but the Feds aren't around except in ANchorage so no one will bust you.

Captain_Koons

This just in:

A terrorist organization in all parts of Alaska seems to have been behind the 9-11 attacks. This group of terrorists are said to have been fighting for Homosexual/Atheist/Liberal/ Communist rights and are completely against trucks and SUVs.

Antediluvian

Damned terrorists.......... .

DdC

Damn GOPerverts!

I don't have a thing against redneck falsewellians for geeeezus famalies rolling over their SUVisas on the freeways. The more the merrier. And its their prego mommas aborting the youngins with pesticide runoff hemp doesn't use. And their kids having the clinic abortions, too afraid to confront such a strict wingnut parents. Their kids too ignorant to know about drugs are the ones finding white powder trouble. Teach them Enron ethics and Anderson Iran Contra morals so we end up with a silver spoon dry drunk crackhead in office, following fascist and screwing up sentences sinking deeper in the shit they've been slinging with each day past. Bitching about nudity on TV while reading the starr search reports about Klintoons penis to their kids as bedtime stories. Start the Oilwars as chickenhawks do. Its not GOPervert fascist kids signing up for active duty protecting Bush Cheney Inc crude wells. Its the disenfranchised poor the rich pout over as they spend hundreds of billions fixing previous sadamn mistakes. And giving terrorist money for the crude oil plastic, gasoline, clothing and even the paint our farmers could make with veggie oil. Patriotic as Benadict Arnold or Nazi Bushit selling to Hitler. As the Gipper minions follow and slobber and stagger on themselves whining the air is too clean for the profits, the water can be filtered but not by the trees sold to Japanese as partcleboard. But it comes in bottles. Along with selling exported meat leaving GOPerverted dung raising nitrates and more chemicals for the grain the meat eats. Suicidal cannabols spasming symbols and pissing on Liberty and in reality their fauxnews is actually sickening. Causing more Ganja used to quench the nausea. So please by all means waste that 10 mpg off road or end up as road kill, it makes no dif to me... Pick up a gerbal tree hugger while your at it, before the bend, the ones shunning hemp, the environmental protection rackets as surreal as Liberterrorist investment counclers. Buy two and save, everything but your soul.
You have a real nice fucking day now, ya here?
Peace, Love and Liberty or the GOPerverted Demonkrat DEAth
DdC

The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter.
Thomas Jefferson, 1823

<a href="http://makeashorterlink.com/?T2ED63D45" target="_blank">Anci ent Temple Hashish Incense! Did Jesus Inhale?</a>



<a href="http://makeashorterlink.com/?M23C12B45" target="_blank">Fear in the fields: How hazardous wastes become fertilizer</a>

Talkin John Birch Paranoid Blues

Well, I was feelin' sad and feelin' blue,
I didn't know what in the world I was gonna do,
Them Communists they wus comin' around,
They wus in the air,
They wus on the ground.
They wouldn't gimme no peace. . .

So I run down most hurriedly
And joined up with the John Birch Society,
I got me a secret membership card
And started off a-walkin' down the road.
Yee-hoo, I'm a real John Bircher now!
Look out you Commies!

Now we all agree with Hitlers' views,
Although he killed six million Jews.
It don't matter too much that he was a Fascist,
At least you can't say he was a Communist!
That's to say like if you got a cold you take a shot of malaria.

Well, I wus lookin' everywhere for them gol-darned Reds.
I got up in the mornin' 'n' looked under my bed,
Looked in the sink, behind the door,
Looked in the glove compartment of my car.
Couldn't find 'em . . .

I wus lookin' high an' low for them Reds everywhere,
I wus lookin' in the sink an' underneath the chair.
I looked way up my chimney hole,
I even looked deep inside my toilet bowl.
They got away . . .

Well, I wus sittin' home alone an' started to sweat,
Figured they wus in my T.V. set.
Peeked behind the picture frame,
Got a shock from my feet, hittin' right up in the brain.
Them Reds caused it!
I know they did . . . them hard-core ones.

Well, I quit my job so I could work alone,
Then I changed my name to Sherlock Holmes.
Followed some clues from my detective bag
And discovered they wus red stripes on the American flag!
That ol' Betty Ross . . .

Well, I investigated all the books in the library,
Ninety percent of 'em gotta be burned away.
I investigated all the people that I knowed,
Ninety-eight percent of them gotta go.
The other two percent are fellow Birchers . . . just like me.

Now Eisenhower, he's a Russian spy,
Lincoln, Jefferson and that Roosevelt guy.
To my knowledge there's just one man
That's really a true American: George Lincoln Rockwell.
I know for a fact he hates Commies cus he picketed the movie
Exodus.

Well, I fin'ly started thinkin' straight
When I run outa things to investigate.
Couldn't imagine doin' anything else,
So now I'm sittin' home investigatin' myself!
Hope I don't find out anything . . . hmm, great God!

Bob Dylan

<a href="http://makeashorterlink.com/?S11B23B45" target="_blank">Ganj a/hemp lnfolinx</a>

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jesus

[quote]Originally posted by Antediluvian:
<strong>Federal law still supersedes state law. You could still get arrested under federal law. Alaska is still part of the US isn't it ?</strong><hr></blockquote>

that's exactly what i was going to say... he might have gotten off of state level charges by a state level judge... but he is still wide open for federal prosecutors to throw his ass away.

__________________
you're all a bunch of fucks

Once I met this wino and he was eating some grapes and I said "dude, you have to wait".

I don't have a girlfriend. I just know this lady who'd be really mad if she heard me say that.

I once saw a forklift lift a crate of forks. And it was way too literal for me.

I got an ant farm. Them fellas don't grow shit.

I like the FedEx guy, 'cause he is a drug dealer and he don't even know it! And he is always on time.
- Mitch Hedberg

nipples?

Antediluvian

Until laws/thinking at a federal level change ,'nothing' else really matters.

Real Corona

God damn piss fuckers.

DdC

Antediluvian

Until laws/thinking at a federal level change ,'nothing' else really matters.


Yes it matters on the local levels. As stated the feds don't have the manpower. And local ordanences will fend off local copshops and courts. A deterrent and the [people can also over rule the local city councils and reject the hundreds of thousands given for hemp eradications. And at the state level to reject the federal funding given. Yes the fascist supposidly have the upper hand but many have benefitted from prop 215 by not being busted in the first place, because of local initiatives.

It also sends a message that legal reefer can work. And the more towns and cities that develope their own destinies the less the feds will be able to dictate. Giving up as you suggest is about the same as abstanence. I guess its technically true they wouldn't bust you if you quit either. If you really think its all the same ask a toker from Alaska and then one from Alabama or Oklahoma.

Federally the only way is to discredit the present bogus laws and overzelous politicians who all have financial conflict of interest. Prove the corporate money behind the original prohibition and expose Nixon Ford Rayguns Bush and klintoons administrations for covering up the reality of Ganja and hemp.

Killing the red herring reefer madness divertuing the focus from the reality of Ganja/hemp products and potentials.

And solidarity among the victims of Ganja/hemp corporate competition when it would have provided a safer means. The thousands of tons of chemicals not used on hemp or the high death rate from Pharmaceuticals unknown to Ganja. The farmworkers to the farmers would all benefit growing Ganja or hemp.

The alcoholics and junkies prevented a safer alternative by these draconian lies.

The unemployeed and homeless and foreign countries promoting something to keep the immigration levels down by permitting a sustanence at home.

Saving billions on the Ganjawar on Americans and hundreds of billions spent on the military prison industrial complexes.

So once again with Bushit and Waldo Bennett Askrapt, the feds falsely claim properties or censor properties found in Ganja in order to keep it classed a schedule#1 narcotic. Nixons own commission dispelled the "narcotic" and addictive charges as false and yet this one politician arbitrarily over ruled science and doctors to promote his own financial and political interest. And no one said much to stop it...

And it continues to this day. So as someone living in a Ganja progressive town I can say the cops have been cool since the will of the people has been spoken and voted upon. And even though the feds could bust the very publicised WAMM and Ed Rosenthal and the other outspoken writers and activists. Its better with locals willing to stand up against them instead of standing by yourself.

The Ganja prohibition is the Keystone of the entire war on some drugs and a large contribution to this G8 new weird odor of international corporations and banksters. When enough people finally see the reality of Ganja the feds won't be able to continue unchecked as they have. And hopefully if there is any justice the war criminals perpetuating this nonsense will be prosicuted and we can all live happily ever after... Don't give up Antediluvian, its not if you win or lose its stopping the games perpetuation... The more Ganja info that goes out, the more people see the light and the more politicians get guts to stand up against the DEAth.

Peace, Love and Liberty or the Stupid DEAth
DdC

<a href="http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/07_23_03dea.cfm" target="_blank">152 Members of Congress Vote for Medical Marijuana</a>



<a href="http://tinyurl.com/hw5p" target="_blank">Gree ns Call For Impeachment Of Bush</a>

KUCINICH FORUM LIVE ON CSPAN SUNDAY

<a href="http://actioncenter.drugpol icy.org/ctt.asp?u=184&l=2937 " target="_blank">DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE</a>

"They <a href="http://www.dccc.org" target="_blank">(Rep ublicans)</a> have had control for 10 years, they've gotten arrogant, they demean the
institution, they demean democracy by virtue of the heavy-handed way they run the House, minority rights are downtrodden, and it's time, Mr. and Mrs. America, to make a change."
-Former GOP Leader Dick Armey, quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle, 7/22/03.

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