Alaska Supremes Let Stand Ruling Protecting Pot Possession

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Alaska Supremes Let Stand Ruling Protecting Pot Possession By Adults

September 16, 2004 - Anchorage, AK, USA


Anchorage, AK: The Alaska Supreme Court last week denied a petition by the state attorney general's office to reconsider a September 2003 Court of Appeals ruling finding that the possession of marijuana by adults within the home is constitutionally protected activity.

The court's decision further upheld the lower court's judgment striking down a successful 1990 voter initiative that sought to criminalize the possession of any amount of marijuana. A 2004 initiative measure seeking to remove all criminal and civil penalties on the use, possession, cultivation, or distribution of marijuana will appear on the ballot in November.

The Court of Appeals based its 2003 decision on a 1975 Alaska Supreme Court ruling (Ravin v. State) which held that the state's constitutional protections regarding a citizen's right to privacy protects the personal use and possession of up to four ounces of marijuana in one's home. Since the state's existing marijuana possession law (based on the 1990 recriminalzation measure) conflicts with Ravin, the law is unconstitutional, the court ruled.

Last week, the Alaska Court of Appeals ruled in a separate case that police cannot legally execute a search warrant in a person's home without probable cause that the person is in possession of more than four ounces of pot.

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Feds Back Down In CO Medical Marijuana Legal Case

September 2, 2004 - Aurora, CO, USA



Return Marijuana Growing Equipment To Patient

Aurora, Colorado: Dana May, who suffers from chronic pain, won a major legal victory last week when the federal government agreed to return all of his marijuana-growing equipment.

The assistant U.S. attorney also informed NORML Legal Committee member and Mr. May's criminal defense attorney, Robert J Corry, Jr., that the feds will not prosecute May for any crime. However, the marijuana Mr. May was caught with will not be returned.

Executive Director of the NORML Foundation Allen St. Pierre said that Mr. May and his partner are genuine heroes for standing up to federal law enforcement and "advocating for the common sense principle that if medical marijuana is legal for approved patients in Colorado (and nine other states), and if the government fails to provide for safe and legal access to a physician-recommended medicine, then Mr. May is guilty at worse of self-preservation."

May's doctor signed his legal forms in 2002 permitting him to grow and use marijuana under Colorado law to help treat his chronic pain in his legs and feet as a result of a 1995 accident. Mr. May called his victory bittersweet and complained that anti-drug personnel should target hard drug sellers rather then "going after little pot growers like me."

"I think this is a big step because the DEA giving my equipment back they know what I'm going to do with it and it's like they're condoning it," said Mr. May.