cannabisnews.com: Alaska Official Says Pot Prosecutions Will Go On





Alaska Official Says Pot Prosecutions Will Go On
Posted by CN Staff on September 17, 2003 at 17:07:02 PT
By Yereth Rosen
Source: Reuters 
Anchorage, Alaska -- Alaska's attorney general has ordered state police to keep prosecuting marijuana users, despite an appeals court decision throwing out a marijuana-possession conviction as a violation of constitutional privacy rights.Attorney General Gregg Renkes said Alaska police departments should continue to investigate marijuana smokers, confiscate their supplies and, if necessary, turn over information to the Justice Department so that federal charges can be filed.
"Possession of any amount of marijuana by adults in their home for personal use continues to be a federal crime," Renkes said in a memorandum to state law officials distributed on Tuesday.The Alaska Court of Appeals on Aug. 29 overturned the marijuana conviction of David Noy of North Pole, a suburb of Fairbanks, saying the state constitution allows Alaska adults to possess and use small amounts of the drug in private.The appeals court cited a well-known 1975 state Supreme Court decision, which declared the state's interest in curbing marijuana use as "insufficient to justify intrusions into the rights of adults in the privacy of their own homes." The constitutional right to private use of small amounts of marijuana remains in effect, despite a 1990 ballot initiative that re-criminalized cannabis, the appeals court ruled.Renkes said he has also filed a petition asking the appeals court to reconsider its ruling. "The court of appeals is sending the wrong message to our children," he said.Noy's attorney on Wednesday called Renkes' order to prosecutors a misguided attempt to force state officials to "act as agents for the federal government.""The attorney general should be defending Alaska's constitution and the constitutional rights of the citizens," said William Satterberg, the Fairbanks attorney who represented Noy. "Conservatives and liberals alike should be applauding the Court of Appeals for protecting our constitutional rights, when we have things like the Patriot Act coming down that are eroding our rights."Until the 1990 ballot initiative went into effect, Alaska law allowed adults to have and use up to four ounces of marijuana in their homes.Alaskans voted in 1998 to authorize medical use of marijuana, but in 2000 rejected a ballot initiative that would have completely decriminalized cannabis. Source: ReutersAuthor: Yereth RosenPublished: September 17, 2003Copyright: 2003 Reuters Related Articles:State May Take Pot Cases To Fedshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17338.shtmlState Won't Arrest for Personal Pot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17337.shtmlAlaska Police Told To Keep Probing Pot Usehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17325.shtmlLaw Enforcement Contends With Decision On Pothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17307.shtml
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