Hailey city attorney to defend pot initiatives he opposed
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 4:54 pm | By: Radical Russ
Leave it to my birth state to bring us the latest in the altered reality we call Reefer Madness – a trial where the defense and the prosecution both want the same outcome, in order to ignore the will of the voters.
Idaho Mountain Express: Hailey city attorney to defend pot initiatives – May 16, 2008
An anti-marijuana lawsuit filed earlier this month puts Hailey City Attorney Ned Williamson in the ironic position of having to defend three controversial pot initiatives that he has staunchly opposed.“I will do my best to defend those laws,” Williamson told the Idaho Mountain Express in February, shortly after Hailey Mayor Rick Davis announced that the lawsuit would be filed.
Williamson was then asked if defending the marijuana initiatives would be difficult for him.
“I will do my best to defend those laws,” he said again.
HA! Excuse me, isn’t this like the old Western where the victims beaten by the railroad owner’s thugs find that the sheriff is in the pocket of the railroad owner, too?
The lawsuit, filed by Hailey attorney Keith Roark on behalf of Davis, City Councilman Don Keirn and Hailey Police Chief Jeff Gunter, seeks to have the obviously illegal pro-pot initiatives officially ruled illegal in Blaine County 5th District Court. The three initiatives, one to legalize medical use of marijuana, a second to legalize use of industrial hemp and a third to make enforcement of marijuana laws the lowest priority for the Hailey Police Department, were approved by Hailey’s electorate last November.
Good job with the journalistic neutrality there – obviously illegal, huh? It might be a tough case to make for medical marijuana and industrial hemp, but lowest priority isn’t that clear. Lowest priority doesn’t make pot legal in any way, it doesn’t change the crime or the punishment for marijuana. It is just a prioritization of limited municipal resources. But that’s beside the point; if they were obviously illegal, we wouldn’t be going to trial.
