Missoula County attorney to police: Halt misdemeanor arrests for pot

[Newsjock]

Source: Missoulian

Nearly a year after voters made the Garden City a little greener by asking county law enforcement to ignore adult marijuana offenses, Missoula's top prosecutor has adopted an official policy to uphold the referendum.

“In the interest of compliance with the 2006 voter initiative on marijuana ... we are asking law enforcement officers to stop arresting individuals or writing and submitting tickets (with mandatory appearance dates) where the offense committed is solely possession of marijuana in misdemeanor amounts or possession of drug paraphernalia intended for use of marijuana,” according to a draft of the policy by Missoula County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg, an outspoken opponent of the measure.

... If a defendant is charged but has no criminal record of consequence, county attorneys will offer a deferred prosecution agreement rather than filing formal charges. No court appearance would be required.

Dubbed Initiative 2 and approved by 55 percent of Missoula's electorate in last November's election, the countywide measure asked law enforcement to make adult marijuana possession offenses the lowest priority. It also established a community oversight committee to investigate marijuana arrests and produce a report on the initiative's effects one year after passage.

Read more: http://missoulian.com/articles/2007/10/20/news/local/news02.txt

[varkam]

1. I'm not a smoker, but...

I think this is excellent news. The prosecution and incarceration of non-violent persons arrested for minor drug offenses has seriously overtaxed our court system and pushed our prisons to the breaking point. Without having to waste so much time on these crimes, they will be able to allocate their resources to more serious (and violent) offenses and offenders.

K&R

[formercia]

17. But, but!

What about the shareholders of stock in the private prison industry. Have you no empathy?

:rofl:

[kimmylavin]

2. Hey, Missoula County!

Stop making sense!
That's not allowed in this day and age.
Don't you know that pot is a gateway drug, and getting it off the street should be our highest priority? :sarcasm:

[monktonman]

24. where I live most of the drugs are dealt in and around the bars.

So does that make booze a gateway drug?
In this case, yeah it does.
I always thought that argument was so frickin stupid.

The only time I've ever been stumped was when someone I respected said to me
"when you go to the bar, you can have ONE beer and get in your car and drive home."
"when you smoke pot, the intent is to get high period. there is no casual use and after
even ONE bong hit, its not ok to get in your car and drive home."

OK you got me. I guess I'll have to take the bus instead!

[roseBudd]

29. Actually being high & driving is nothing like being drunk & driving

It is possible to be too high to drive, but it doesn't happen easily, it requires that oh so special, da bomb & unlike alcohol you do realize it and it doesn't take a really long time to get to the not too high to drive point.

Pot effects are practically instantaneous so it's really easy to practice dose control. I don't have alcohol tolerance and have found myself uncomfortably drunk over 2 hours after I ingested a second mixed drink. When I am buzzed on alcohol, it's even hard to muster the motor coordination to unlock a car door.

Being high and driving doesn't cause you to weave or drive the wrong way, nor does it cause black outs, but you will find yourself inexplicably driving to work rather than driving to the store. You do realize it very quickly and turn towards where you really wanted to drive.

Pot high is cerebral, alcohol is a high that effects coordination and ability and hampers judgement.

[monktonman]

32. Rose, I've been smoking for thirty years.

I know these things.
My older friends point was that drinking is drinking.
I know one beer wont mess me up. Two is enoughto start to impair motor functions.
One bong hit (why would you smoke anything other than headies?)
is enough to impair motor functions. The whole point of smoking in the first place is to get high.
If not, why do it?

many happy loads to you!!

[roseBudd]

33. I drive high all the time, it takes "couch lock" to effect my motor coordination

I never have problems walking while high

I never have a problem inserting the key in the door lock while high

Drunk & high are 2 totally different animals. Those who have never been high assume it resembles alcohol intoxication. It doesn't. That is why you don't hear about the pot smoker running red lights or driving the wrong way. Automatically turning towards work rather than driving towards the store when high doesn't kill anybody, it just wastes a bit of gas and time.

[Ian David]

3. And business is booming...

... at the Orange Street Food Farm!

http://adsys.townnews.com/98902203/creative/missoulian.com/ads+inrail2/72638-1192875116.gif
"Some chips... some icecream... mmmm, more chips... some chocolate..."

[John Q. Citizen]

10. I shop there. Lowest beer prices in the county.!

[Ian David]

4. "Dude...

"Dude... I'm so stoned right now, I thought I saw someone delivering the mail with a wolf."





Mailing it in : Postal service woman and her wolf deliver into the wild
By MICHAEL JAMISON of the Missoulian

POLEBRIDGE - She calls him “homeland security,” this enormous gray wolf who hangs his head out the car window as she drives bumpy back roads up near the Canadian line.

“I don't think there's any other postal delivery people with wolves in their rigs,” said Karen Craver, and you've got to reckon she's right about that.

Strange enough that she's got a big black Newfoundland packed in there drooling on the parcels and postcards, but a wolf?
“He's just a big baby,” Craver assures, burying her nose in the stiff fur of her wolf's neck. “He loves to ride along.”

More:
http://missoulian.com/articles/2007/10/15/hometowns/home39.txt

[loudsue]

14. Wolves make the coolest "dogs". They are "family" bonders --

anyone they consider part of their pack is someone they'll defend under any and all circumstances. And they're very affectionate to members of their family/pack.

I love that picture.

And now I wanna move to Montana. ;)

:kick:

[Viva_La_Revolution]

20. best dog I had as a kid was half wolf, half german shepherd...

he let toddlers ride him, pull on his ears and tail, he would give them big wet kisses and they would giggle and I swear he would laugh.
best dog ever.

[dkofos]

5. Moving to Montana soon,

gonna be a dental floss tycoon.

[Bennyboy]

6. Waxing it up........

[tom_paine]

7. I'm sure the Bushes will begin systematic harassment of Missoula and Montana

as reprisal for this.

Without doubt, the Busheis are cruel, ruthless and indefatigable when pushing "Enemies of the State", which Missoulians have made themselves with this declaration.

You'll see. Oh it will probably be subtle, after all the Bushies have almost 100% of the govrenment apparatus under their control so Missoula and Montana will be hit back not with widlcat violence or anything so UnAmerican as that (plus, it's MONTANA and the Loyal Bushies would get their ASSES KICKED by Loyal Americans in a heartbeat if they tried to use the methods which they desire) plus it would remind the Motnanans even further who the Bushies are patterened after (every totalitarian nation that ever was).

So look for the payback, and look for it to be delivered as ruthlessly as possible by the Bushies.

It may take a little while to get around to this, as the bushies have so many other opponents to detsroy and innocents to murder.

But they WILL get around to these Traitorous Jews, errrrr, Liberals (sorry, I sometimes get the various incarnations of the Bushies mixed up) in Montana and all of the nation, soon enough.

[dkofos]

8. Blackwaters next assignment!!

[tom_paine]

12. LOL! Those Blackwater boys would be in for HELL of a surprise.

No way the Bushies will DARE something like that in Montana, trust me I've lived there.

Just about any other state in the Union would be more fertile ground for those kinds of actions. Montanans (not that I am arguing any unique attributes to ALL Montanans; they are a mixed group like any bunch of people), are people with a strong independant take no bullshit streak are attracted to that place, generally.

The Bushies WOULD BE CRAZY DUMB to start any Blackwater actions in Montana, the place where they are most likely to face actual armed and organized resistance.

Of course, nothing can be put past the Bushies, but I have my sincere doubts.

LOL.

[janetle]

16. True--even the liberals have guns.

How do I know? I was born and raised in Montana. Though I no longer live there, my son just graduated from the UM in Missoula. We are a liberal Seattle family but my son took his 22 to college in Missoula and was allowed to have it in a gun locker in the dorms.

[Ediacara]

11. You think MT isn't already getting special harassment for electing Schweitzer and Tester?

:-)

[tom_paine]

23. Of course they are! But this will step it up a notch and direct it

more specificlly at the Missoula end of the state even more than it already is.

[High Plains]

9. These "lowest law enforcement priority" initiatives have also passed in...

Seattle, Oakland, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Columbia, MO, and Eureka Springs, AR.

Laying the groundwork for legalization votes.

[loudsue]

15. That's good to know! It's about time there was a little bit of sanity concerning

marijuana laws. Marijuana should be legal. Period.

[Trillo]

30. Yeah, I think so too. nt

[downindixie]

13. common sense-Now theres a fresh idea!

The war on marijuana use is insane.

[Quantess]

18. Kudos to Missoula! And, if I'm not mistaken, meth should be a higher priority,

in Montana. Meth is a genuine source of crime, including identity theft, property theft, burglary, fraud, etc, etc. Plus child abuse & neglect, health problems, you name it, meth causes it.

Marijuana does not have these horrible effects on society. I think it's great someone is rearranging their law enforcement priorities.

[monktonman]

22. If pot were legal I'd be too stoned to go out and buy meth anyhow! n/t

[peacebuzzard]

19. it is referendums like this and the support surrounding it that give me hope

that senseless unbalanced bias toward this subject will soon be of low importance. I hope this makes it way through all of the state's agendas and legislation.

Missoula is beautiful country. That wolf & postlady is a great photo. Hooray for Missoula. I may come back for a visit again one day....

[Froward69]

21. Same ting on Denver's ballot.

We already did away with Denver's Maryjane ordinance two years ago.

[High Plains]

25. Too bad the mayor and the cops ignored it...

...they continue to bust people under the state law.

This is a real problem whenever drug reforms are passed--the cops try to ignore them. It's an issue in California and Washington state, where some recalcitrant cops and prosecutors refuse to acknowledgment that medical marijuana is state law.

How do we rein in the cops?

[Froward69]

27. no currently to make the DPD

stop busting people under state law. "Lowest enforcement priority" only when their are other laws broken.

[Spangle]

31. Simple

The time they spent writing the ticket, etc.. Consider it their 'break' and not pay them. <grin>

[Stainless]

26. Oppressive Drug Laws

I joke with my co-workers that when I retire, I'm going to supplement my meager income by selling marijuana. I work for a large defense contractor that requires pre-employment drug screening and random testing. I've stayed clean for a dozen years and I will stay clean.....until I retire. Drug laws which include harsh penalties for marijuana use have always been used by Neanderthal Politicians to control their agenda and to suppress intelligent dissent.

[Froward69]

28. Here Here!!!

:smoke: