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Please forward widely. From the AP article:
"Superior Court Judge Patricia Collins said a lower court can’t reverse the state Supreme Court’s 1975 decision in Ravin v. State. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled the right to privacy in one’s home included the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use. ...
"The new law makes possession of 4 ounces or more a felony. Possession of 1 to 4 ounces is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail. The part the court ruled against was that less than 1 ounce would be a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail."
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Marijuana Policy Project <rob@...> wrote:
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 11:51:23 -0700
Subject: Court makes marijuana legal in Alaska homes again
From: "Marijuana Policy Project" <rob@...>
Marijuana Policy Project Alert July 11, 2006 Court makes marijuana legal in Alaska homes again Yesterday, a judge struck down part of the new Alaska law that had re-criminalized marijuana in the state, ruling that the new law conflicts with past state Supreme Court decisions that protect adults who have small amounts of marijuana in their homes.Until last month — when the new Alaska law took effect — possession of up to four ounces of marijuana in the home had been legal in Alaska. Unfortunately, the new law attempted to make it a crime to possess any amount of marijuana in the privacy of the home, directly contradicting a September 2004 Alaska Supreme Court decision allowing adults aged 21 and older to use and possess up to four ounces of marijuana in the privacy of their homes. The MPP grants program funded this litigation.Yesterday's ruling — which you can read about in this Associated Press article — means that police will not be able to search someone's home for marijuana unless they have probable cause to believe that the home contains more than one ounce of marijuana. (The court limited its decision yesterday to amounts under one ounce — not four ounces — saying that the Alaska Civil Liberties Union, which brought the case, argued that the issue at hand was the state legislature's power to regulate "small amounts" of marijuana.)The bad law enacted last month was the result of an aggressive lobbying campaign by Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski (R), who went on a personal crusade to re-criminalize marijuana in the state. Political observers originally expected Murkowski's bill to pass within weeks of its introduction in early 2005, but many months of lobbying and grassroots organizing by MPP, the Alaska Civil Liberties Union, and Alaskans for Marijuana Regulation and Control succeeded in blocking the bill for one-and-a-half years. However, the governor and state attorney general's intense lobbying campaign, which included personal phone calls to waffling legislators, ultimately tilted the vote; the bill passed in May and was signed into law on June 2.(To help MPP recoup some of the costs of the $60,000 it spent lobbying in Alaska this year, please donate here.)Yesterday's court ruling is a clear and direct rejection of Gov. Murkowski's prohibitionist zealotry — and a victory for all Alaskans.Sincerely,Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.P.S. Photos from MPP's recent awards gala in New York City are online here.
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-----Associated Press article begins--------
Alaska: In The News
Judge Strikes Down Part of Alaska Pot Law
Not Criminal: Ruling limits impact of new law on possession of small amounts.
Anchorage Daily News; July 11, 2006By Matt Volz, Associated Press Writer
JUNEAU, Alaska - A judge on Monday struck down part of a new Alaska law criminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, saying it conflicts with past decisions by the Alaska Supreme Court.
That means the police won’t be able charge people with a misdemeanor under the new law
for possessing less than 1 ounce of marijuana in their homes.
The state Department of Law was expected to quickly file an appeal with the high court.
Superior Court Judge Patricia Collins said a lower court can’t reverse the state Supreme Court’s 1975 decision in Ravin v. State. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled the right to privacy in one’s home included the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use.
“Unless and until the Supreme Court directs otherwise, Ravin is the law in this state and this court is duty bound to follow that law,” Collins wrote in her decision.
Collins granted a summary judgment to the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska, which sued the state when the law took effect in June.
Collins limited her decision to possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana, even though the new law increases penalties for possession of
more than that amount. Before the law took effect in June, it had been legal in Alaska to possess up to 4 ounces of the drug.
Collins said she limited her decision because the ACLU argued that the only issue in this case is the Legislature’s power to regulate possession of small amounts of marijuana.
“No specific argument has been advanced in this case that possession of more than 1 ounce of marijuana, even within the privacy of the home, is constitutionally protected conduct under Ravin or that any plaintiff or ACLU of Alaska member actually possesses more than 1 ounce of marijuana in their homes,” Collins wrote.
The new law makes possession of 4 ounces or more a felony. Possession of 1 to 4 ounces is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail. The part the court ruled against was that less than 1 ounce would be a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail.
The state Department of Law argued that new findings of marijuana’s increased potency since the 1975 decision justify reconsidering the issue.
------end of AP article------
MMM (Global Million Marijuana March):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cannabisaction
Newsweek, Nov. 14, 2005, page 36:
"The most recent evidence comes from autopsies of 44 prisoners who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan in U.S. custody. Most died under circumstances that suggest torture. The reports use words like 'strangulation,' 'asphyxiation' and 'blunt force injuries.' ... A few months before the [Abu Ghraib] scandal broke [spring 2004], Coalition Provisional Authority polls showed Iraqi support at 63 percent. A month after Abu Ghraib, the number was 9 percent. Polls showed that 71 percent of Iraqis were surprised by the revelations."
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