cannabisnews.com: Cops At Odds on Pot Ruling





Cops At Odds on Pot Ruling
Posted by CN Staff on September 04, 2003 at 06:03:17 PT
By Sean Cockerham
Source: Anchorage Daily News 
Juneau -- So, is pot legal in Alaska now? Alaska law enforcement agencies are split in their reaction to last week's state appeals court decision that adult Alaskans have the right to possess a modest amount of marijuana in their homes for personal use.Anchorage police will continue to enforce a pot ban. But the Alaska State Troopers will not, according to Public Safety Commissioner Bill Tandeske.
State prosecutors, who handle cases for both troopers and Anchorage police, have not figured out what to do about small home pot busts. The state plans to ask the Alaska Supreme Court to review the ruling by Alaska Court of Appeals.Susan Parkes, chief of the criminal division of the Alaska Department of Law, noted that the appeals court ruling came out on Friday, before the long Labor Day weekend, and the state has had little time to digest it."Right now we are taking a look at (the court decision) to determine what our avenue of appeal is going to be," she said. "Once we do that we will look at 4-ounces-or-less cases, and what our policy is going to be."State troopers and police do not focus much on busting people for small amounts of marijuana at home. But it does happen. In the case of David Noy, a North Pole man convicted in 2001 after he was found with marijuana in his home, the appeals court determined: "Alaska citizens have the right to possess less than four ounces of marijuana in their home for personal use."Bill Satterberg, the Fairbanks defense attorney who argued the Noy case, said the state has no choice but to stop prosecuting people for having a small amounts of pot at home."Until things change, the court of appeals ruling is the law," Satterberg said. "When we cease to recognize the rule of law in this country, then we have some serious problems."The ruling, based on the broad right to privacy guaranteed in Alaska's Constitution, does not affect most of the state's marijuana laws, Parkes said. People will still be prosecuted for selling marijuana, possessing any amount of it outside of their own home, and having 4 ounces or more at home, she said.Possession of any amount of marijuana is still illegal under federal law, whether in Alaska or anywhere else in the United States.U.S. Attorney Tim Burgess would not say how federal prosecutors would react if asked to take on small marijuana possession cases the state could no longer pursue. Snipped:  Complete Article: http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/alaska.htmSource: Anchorage Daily News (AK)Author: Sean CockerhamPublished: September 4, 2003Copyright: 2003 The Anchorage Daily NewsContact: letters adn.comWebsite: http://www.adn.com/Related Articles:Alaska Court Ruling Sparks Hope for Pot Advocateshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17221.shtmlGovernor Concerned about Re-legalization http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17220.shtmlMarijuana Ruling Smokes Foeshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17189.shtmlAlaska Court: Drug Ban Unconstitutionalhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17184.shtml
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Comment #17 posted by Rev Jonathan Adler on September 05, 2003 at 23:27:44 PT:
The Puna God Brought Thunderfuck to Alaska!
It was over 20 years ago! A young, extremely bold kid from L.A. moved to Hawaii and became one of the best growers and "transporters" ever to supply AK. Two to three times a month he would brashly take a backpack full of "Puna Butter" up to Anchorage to a population of snowed in, but very well paid Alaskans. Where do you think some of the best seeds to hit Alaska came from? Hawaii, Big Island of course! I must have taken over 100 trips right through security, hand carried and never popped. Must have done something right! Any how Alaska was legal back then and it is legal again! Bravo and 
take care of those old Hawaiian Strains they call Alaska Weed! It may have come from my backyard! Aloha!
Hawaii Medical Marijuana Institute
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Comment #16 posted by E_Johnson on September 04, 2003 at 21:49:04 PT
Ed Rosenthal would be SHOT in Cuba
I refuse to listen to anyone who tries to compare Cuba to Canada, sorry. Ed Rosenthal wouldn't even have had a trial. They would have just shot him. He wouldn't have been the first.
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Comment #15 posted by E_Johnson on September 04, 2003 at 21:47:03 PT
They're just eager as heck
"U.S. Attorney Tim Burgess would not say how federal prosecutors would react if asked to take on small marijuana possession cases the state could no longer pursue.
"I'm sure that every up and coming US Attorney is just jumping at the chance to put huge numbers of minor marijuana possession convictions on his or her resume while the career clock is ticking in a slow economy.So what did you do when you worked for the DOJ? Oh well, I put away some guy who was caught with a whole 28 grams of pot. Yes, a whole baggy full. He was a desperate character. It was the highlight of my career to get him off the streets.
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Comment #14 posted by Duzt on September 04, 2003 at 19:19:12 PT
it is true....
I wasn't basing the light cycle on the potency, it just gives larger plants. When police make busts they send samples to be tested for THC levels. Alaska always has the highest levels of THC in bud confiscated by police. I travel to Holland twice a year as I work with cannabis for a living. I've also spent most of my life traveling around the world to find pure land races for my F1 hybrids. Obviously bud is going to grow better in certain climates and in places with better water, air, etc. The fact is that the average sample in Alaska does test higher, it's a fact. Genetics are a major part of it but if it isn't grown right (growing organically will produce much stronger cannabis than growing with chemicals, and I can give you references to studies done that prove that as well) genetics won't be as much a factor. Each step in the growth cycle from seedling to harvest and proper curing are equally important. Go to overgrow.com sometime and look up my name and you can see my work if you have any doubts about my knowledge. You can find as strong of bud as Alaskan bud anywhere in the world, they just have better bud on average due to many factors. Remember, a lot of hippies moved to Alaska many years ago when it was legal, they know how to grow up there which is the most important reason the bud is so good.
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Comment #13 posted by eric_us01 on September 04, 2003 at 15:48:49 PT:
Not Entirely True
In response to post #8:  "First of all, Alaska bud
has always had the highest THC levels of bud tested in
the U.S. They have a 23 hour light cycle in the
summer."That's not totally accurate. Indeed, 23 hours of
daylight is very optimal for certain parts of the
growing cycle, but has no direct effect of potency, it
will just grow a larger plant. Potency is strictly
determined by both of the parents of the seed. 
Certainly, there are factors that can degrade potency
(i.e. time of harvest, light and medium stresses,
etc.) But if you grow a healthy plant, environment,
medium, food and witches brews have no effect on the
level of THC. Furthermore, I've sampled some of the
finest herb in the world. I was fortunate to have a
friend stupid enough to smuggle small fragments of
Cannabis Cup winners back from Holland. Bud you find
in Oregon, Washington and Alaska easily rival those
samples. So to say that the best bud comes from one
place or another is highly inaccurate.
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Comment #12 posted by herbdoc215 on September 04, 2003 at 12:11:02 PT
EJ, I would move to Cuba so fast people's heads 
would spin if Castro would just recognize Medical cannabis...you think the USA isn't a snitch culture? Hell Canada is even worse, old people here cannot dial police fast enough or often enough for them...I think it's just old people being angry with youth and things we do now that they would never have dared! I've never seen so many people so ready to let pigs handle every little problem that comes up. The Asians in Canada are the KINGS of it, hell they are sooo much sheeple they believe and worship EVERYTHING the gov't tells them and parrot " drugs are bad " everytime you try to debate them. Yep USA did a damn fine job brainwashing rest of globe into reefer maddness, getting them out of it will probably take just as long...many have found just what a dang fine control mechanism they are for dissidents. I have always been very torn about Cuba, they have an idillic paradise with very harsh laws but I always wonder how many laws were made because of dirty pool played by US, assasination attempts, bay of pigs, economic destabization by CIA, etc. maybe we created our own 'boogey-man' and USA looks every bit as Nazi to me as anybody you can point your finger at! Peace, Steve Tuck  
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Comment #11 posted by E_Johnson on September 04, 2003 at 09:20:33 PT
American irony, Cuba and Ed Rosenthal
Canada having flights to Cuba forbidden by America is a really ironic situation.Cuba is governed by the power of the informant. There are no private conversations in Cuba, not even within a family.Now in America we're supposed to love freedom so much that we won't allow flights to Cuba on an ethical basis.But America has slipped into the informant-based culture as well.Even in the news media -- our journalists in America have relinquished the hard leg work of investigative reporting for the lush partied up world of cultivating government sources.What is a government leak other than someone informing on the government? It's gotten so normal, now it's how journalism works.The Drug War requires the culture of informancy. That's the basic machinery of drug enforcement -- informing on others, just like in Cuba.Sometimes I think that our government doesn't want Americans to go to Cuba so that they won't realize what has happened to America.I think it may have been good luck for Ed Rosenthal that the Cuban dissident trial where intellectuals were given 10 and 15 year sentences in prison for resisting the government took place while the judge was mulling over Ed's sentence. Bush made a big stink about the Cuban sentencing, as well he should have, doing his proper job for once.Maybe that was good timing. Maybe some people can see American paranoia reflected in the psychotic paranoia of Cuba.
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on September 04, 2003 at 09:02:50 PT
Thanks Duzt
Thanks for explaining. I just didn't think it could grow where it was so cold back then.
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Comment #9 posted by Sam Adams on September 04, 2003 at 08:51:34 PT
Sore losers
You had to figure that these proscutors wouldn't lose gracefully. Listen to them fumbling for the proper euphemisms for "we got our butts kicked".  Um, er, we'll have to find the avenue for appeal........right, I can't wait to see what that is! The Supreme Court ruled on this EXACT issue before, it's be shocking if they even agreed to hear an appeal!State prosecutors haven't figured out what to do about small home pot busts? Ignore them! Or get your ass sued off for false arrest & harassment. I sincerely hope we see a wave of lawsuits across Canada and Alaska for false arrest. Hopefully it will start with Emery going after the cities that arrested him this summer.
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Comment #8 posted by Duzt on September 04, 2003 at 08:51:07 PT
Alaska
First of all, Alaska bud has always had the highest THC levels of bud tested in the U.S. They have a 23 hour light cycle in the summer. They also have the worlds largest vegetables because of this. I lived in Kenai for a while and it was like the tropics in the summer. The other thing is that most Alaskans like to keep quiet and mind their own business. A Marc Emerey style tour would seriously piss off a lot of Alaskans and turn people against the movement. If you can smoke and grow 4 ounces legally, why go around pissing everyone off and hurting the cause. Almost every person I met there was a smoker or grower and they are pretty open about talking about it, just not rubbing it in people's faces. I also wouldn't talk trash about Cuba as it is really a beautiful country and not anywhere as bad as our propaganda media makes it out to be. My family flies there every year (via Jamaica) and they love it there. I'm planning a move back to Alaska next spring if the state supreme court upholds this. MMM, good old Matanuska Thunderfu**, not many strains like it, at least when it's grown in the 
Mat-Su valley.
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on September 04, 2003 at 08:46:08 PT
EJ About Cuba
It wasn't Cuba that was interesting but the flights to Cuba. My one sister vacationed there way back many years ago when they were allowed and said it was beautiful. It was more on Canada saying we do what we want basically. I don't have any desire to go there! 
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Comment #6 posted by E_Johnson on September 04, 2003 at 08:37:05 PT
Cuba -- the snitch capital of the entire world
Cuba has to have the highest concentration of ready and willing snitches in the entire world. Ratting out friends and family is the how the basic machinery of their political system works. The Revoutionary Committee has eyes and ears everywhere. Probably just about everyone who hasn't left or been put in prison has snitched on someone who has left or been put in prison.Daniel Ortega kicked the Cubans out of Nicaragua when he found them putting up billboards on the main highways encouraging Nicaraguans to become snitches for socialism.Danial Ortega -- what a man! That was brave. He could easily have been killed by Castro for that.
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Comment #5 posted by E_Johnson on September 04, 2003 at 08:28:52 PT
Why on Earth would Canadians go to Cuba?
FoM, I can imagine what Fidel Castro would do to a man like Marc Emery.If Marc Emnery went to Cuba, after about ten minutes he'd commit an anti-Communist act and be snitched out to the REvolutionary Committee within ten minites after that.He'd end up in a prison cell that wasn't tall enough for him to stand up in or long enough to lie down in.And he be left there for ten or twenty years.OH great, Canadians can fly to Cuba. That's really going to be such an advantage when Canadians can't go to prison any more for pot. Those who still want to go to prison anyway can do it by flying to CUba and insulting Castro.
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on September 04, 2003 at 08:26:34 PT
Something I Remember
Years and years ago when the penalties were reduced in my state I remember reading about the law changing in Alaska and it being made legal sort of. I remember thinking that was good news but why Alaska? I never thought Cannabis could grow in Alaska! 
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Comment #3 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on September 04, 2003 at 08:18:38 PT
Take action
Something akin to Marc Emery's Summer of Legalization tour would be GREAT in Alaska right about now...
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on September 04, 2003 at 08:03:07 PT
kaptinemo
My husband told me this morning that he saw on the news that Canada was going to allow some flights to Cuba. I sure admire their raw nerve when dealing with the U.S.
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on September 04, 2003 at 07:52:21 PT:
The Canadian sanity plague is heading westward! 
Officials of the US Irrationality Agency have issued warnings against travel to and from Alaska, citing it's close contact with Canada and that country's recent outbreak of sanity by rescinding cannabis possession laws. According to these government officials, Alaska is now in the process of becoming infected with a rare form of sanity called 'common sense', which is totally at odds with the government position that prohibition of cannabis is the only sure means of protecting America's youth from crime caused by its' prohibition.A Bush Maladministration official hinted darkly at possible 'regime change' a la Iraq and Afghanistan if Alaskans don't force their government to return to the irrational position demanded by the Federal government.When reminded that Alaska is also a member of the Union, and no State has been invaded by the Federal government since the Civil War, the official hesitated, then re-iterated his position more heatedly as if nothing contradictory had been said.He added: "We can't have freedom and sensibility breaking out any damn' place it wants to! This is 'Mur-ik-kah', By God!"
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