Voters approved initiatives to legalize medical use of marijuana by a margin of 417-296, to legalize industrial use of hemp by 403-308 and to make enforcement of marijuana laws the lowest police priority in the city by a margin of 381-331.
Turned down once again was an initiative to require the city to regulate and tax distribution of the drug. It failed 386-323.
Pro-marijuana advocate Ryan Davidson, a former Bellevue man who now lives in Garden City, filed petitions to place the initiatives before the voters once again after Hailey city officials threatened to file a lawsuit to have the three previously approved initiatives declared illegal in court. That lawsuit was filed earlier this month in Blaine County 5th District Court.
Davidson, chairman of The Liberty Lobby of Idaho, said passage again of the initiatives would make it “politically less viable” for the city of Hailey to ignore the will of the electorate.
Prior to the election, neither Davidson nor city officials were willing to predict the outcome, though Davidson said, “I’d think it’s going to be close to the same percentages as last time.”
Last November, 1,288 voters, about 37 percent of the city’s registered electorate, showed up at the polls.
The medical marijuana and industrial hemp initiatives were approved in that election by about 53 percent of voters. About 51 percent of voters approved the lowest-police-priority initiative, while the regulation and taxation measure failed with only 47 percent voter approval.
Hailey Mayor Rick Davis said he had “no idea” as to the outcome of pot election No. 2.
“There’s been a lot more publicity this time about the initiatives,” he said. “I think people are a lot more educated now about the issues. But I don’t know if it will have a different outcome or not.”
Nov ‘07 Election: medical marijuana = 53%, industrial hemp = 53%, lowest priority = 51%, tax and regulate = 47%, turnout = 1,288 votes
May ‘08 Election: medical marijuana = 58%, industrial hemp = 57%, lowest priority = 54%, tax and regulate = 46%, turnout = 713 votes
Hailey city officials, the people are trying to tell you something…
It’s Thursday, May 22nd and it’s 4:20 somewhere in the world. I’m your host, “Radical” Russ Belville and this is your NORML Daily Audio Stash.
Don’t forget to get on the phone and call your Congress at 202-224-3121. Tell your representative to support Ron Paul’s HR5842, the bill to end DEA raids in medical marijuana states, and Barney Frank’s HR5843, the bill to end federal penalties for personal possession of marijuana.
Today on the Daily Audio Stash we’re traveling across the pond to speak with Steven Rolles, the research director of the Transform Drug Policy Foundation in London, England. We’re talking about the recent reclassification of cannabis from Class C back up to Class B and the overall UK reefer madness obsession with the dreaded “skunk”.
For our musical break today, Cannabis Karri brings us some smooth funky jazz from Yamasaki, with a song he calls “Herbal Remedy”.
Then we’ll finish up with Ryan Davidson from the Liberty Lobby of Idaho. Ryan’s the man behind three initiatives passed in Hailey that legalize medical marijuana and industrial hemp and direct police to treat cannabis law enforcement as the lowest priority. You’ll hear about the latest crazy twist in this story coming up in our Hemp Headlines.
We’re also playing Pass the Stash – you could win a free autographed DVD of the movie “Totally Baked” – keep listening for details.
We’ve got a lot to cover, so sit back and relax with a meeting of your Joint Subcommittee and enjoy your NORML Daily Audio Stash…
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.
“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.
Times-News: Magicvalley.com, Twin Falls, ID
Several Hailey city officials sued their city Friday over three pro-marijuana voter initiatives, a course of action aimed at getting a judge to rule against the legality of the measures and bring and end to the controversy.
This lawsuit, which has been in the works for 3 1/2 months, has allowed council members to freeze any implementation pending a judge’s ruling.
Plaintiffs Mayor Rick Davis, councilmember Don Keirn and police chief Jeffrey Gunter, all say the initiatives passed by voters in November violate their freedom of speech, conflict with federal law, state law or are otherwise illegal.
Those allegations assembled into a complaint by attorney Keith Roark, have already been raised by city attorney Ned Williamson and the Idaho attorney general.
A judge’s ruling, however, carries the force of a final verdict.
The initiatives would legalize medicinal marijuana and industrial hemp, and make the enforcement of marijuana laws a lower police priority. Voters did not approve a fourth initiative to legalize marijuana.
According to the text of their complaint, the city officials allege their freedom of speech would be abridged because the initiatives “require the City of Hailey and its officers to advocate for changes in marijuana laws”. What I don’t understand is how a city official acting under direction of the majority of the voters is afforded any free speech rights in the first place. Nothing is requiring the mayor to say he personally favors changing marijuana laws, merely that as mayor his duty is to express the will of his constituents.
Industrial hemp fibers can be manufactured into fabrics for clothing, blankets, carpet, upholstery, sails, tarps, awnings, rope and numerous other items. It can be made into paper, plastic or hemp oil. British researchers have used it to manufacture surfboards. It’s used in some health food snacks, for lotions and in manufacturing car parts.Industrial hemp, advocates note, requires little or no herbicides or pesticides. Bugs don’t usually like to eat it and it grows thick enough and fast enough to block out would-be competitive weeds. It has good soil-restoration qualities.
It was grown extensively in the United States until laws in the 20th century made it illegal. It can be legally grown now, but only by permit from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. Those permits are few and far between.
Several states, including North Dakota, Maine, Montana and West Virginia, have passed legislation to allow farmers to grow industrial hemp, but their efforts remain blocked by the DEA. California passed a bill to legalize hemp but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it.
Worldwide, the industrial hemp picture is different. Growing the plant is allowed in most countries, and 33 nations, including Canada, are developing industries centered on production of the crop.
Erwin A. “Bud” Sholts, of the North American Industrial Hemp Council, studied crop diversification while employed with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture and found that industrial hemp was the only viable crop to fit in with corn and soybean crop rotations.
Sholts said the biggest problem with legalizing industrial hemp in the United States is because the DEA and other government entities continue to cling to an outdated definition of the plant that links it to marijuana. He said it will take either a presidential declaration or an act of Congress to change that definition.
“It’s going to happen, because American agriculture wants it, American industry wants it and the public wants it,” Sholts said.
Pass the Stash: win 311+Snoop tix; Dr. Mitch Earleywine on teens + marijuana = nature?; Paul Armentano on "whole plant" Italian medmj study; music by Dubmatix.
Massachusetts: Pot Decrim Initiative Qualifies For November Ballot Measure Would Replace Criminal Penalties With A $100 Fine; Congress Moves Forward On Cannabis 'Candy' Crackdown; Rhode Island: Governor Vetoes Bill To Study Feasibility Of State-Licensed 'Compassion Centers'; Hawaii: Governor Vetoes Medical Marijuana Task Force Measure.
US Leads The World In Illicit Drug Use; US Drug Enforcement Administration ‘Celebrates’ 35 Years Of Failure; Marijuana, Cocaine Have Contrasting Effects On Driving Performance, Study Says; Loretta Nall on AL judge's son's special treatment for felony drug charges.
Oral Pot Preparation Effective For Depression, Journal Reports; New Zealand: Most Pot Consumers Not Frequent Users; Cannabis Agonist Reduces Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Tumor Growth, Study Says; California: County Officials Finalize Mendocino Vote Count; Interview with Mason Tvert on proposal of cannabis smoking lounges in Denver airport to combat air rage incidents with alcohol.
John Wesley Hall, president-elect of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, describes the case precendent in roadside traffic stops and search and seizure.
Seattle, Washington attorney Doug Hiatt explains the latest medical use issues in Washington State, including denial of transplant organs for medmj patients.
