On September 24-25, NORML held its 38th annual national conference at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Francisco.

This last Tuesday, the San Francisco Chronicle posts this letter to the editor complaining about the conference.  Naturally, it would take a tourist from out of state, not a native San Franciscan or Californian, to complain about the event.  But did it have to be somebody from my hometown of Boise, Idaho?

SECOND-HAND DOPE

I recently brought my mother to your beautiful city to see the play “South Pacific,” which had been one of her favorite movies.

Imagine our surprise when the hotel we stayed at, the Grand Hyatt had thick marijuana smoke in the lobby, elevators, area around the hotel and in our room.

The guest in the room next to ours smoked so heavily, my mother felt ill. She had never smelled marijuana and has no desire to ever again.

If NORML wants to convince citizens to legalize marijuana they should start by being respectful of those who do not wish to share in second hand dope.

The bellman told us that the housekeepers and all the employees who worked during the NORML convention did not feel well after being subjected to those trying to push their “unaddictive” hobby on the rest of us.

For all the claims about marijuana not being addictive, those folks sure spent a lot of hours each day smoking the stuff.

Sandy Dalton

Boise, Idaho

Well, Ms. Dalton, imagine my surprise to hear about “thick marijuana smoke in the lobby, elevators, area around the hotel and in our room”!  As Outreach Coordinator for NORML, I had visited all of those areas frequently throughout the three day conference, and never once did I catch anyone smoking marijuana in the lobby, elevator, or in your room.  There was smoking outside on the windy patio area for medical marijuana patients who aren’t allowed to use their medicine in their own hotel rooms (unlike, say, you and your mother).  Other folks who had traveled from less-tolerant places in America (like Boise, Idaho, where you can get six months for merely being high) availed themselves of an outdoor doobie as an act of personal liberation that harmed nobody.

I think what you’re complaining about, Ms. Dalton, is marijuana smell.  I won’t deny that the lobby, elevators, and some hallways would smell like people who had been smoking marijuana, though the hotel’s ubiquitous oil candles probably added to the discomfort more than it helped.  But guess what?  Sometimes freedom is smelly.  Sometimes I have to sit on an airplane on flights back to Boise next to old women who stink of perfume.  Sometimes I have to get into an elevator and ride with businessmen who reek of tobacco smoking.  Sometimes I have to stay in hotel rooms on floors where where young men are drinking and partying until 3am and the smell of stale beer permeates my room.  Sometimes I walk the streets of a big city and I smell all sorts of unpleasant things.

NORML is more than respectful of non-smokers’ rights, but not to the point where we’re going to Febreze ourselves before going out in public because you don’t like the smell of marijuana, Ms. Dalton.  The hotel had twenty rooms that our medical patients had requested and they smoked marijuana within them.  If that smell wafted toward your room, I’m sorry, but that could just as well have been a tobacco smoker in that smoking room.

And for the record, every bellman, housekeeper, banquet staff, engineer, dishwasher, front desk, and cook that I interacted with were either very happy to be working with us or upset they were at work and could not join us.

Now that would have been the end of it, if not for an opinion column by John Diaz in today’s Chronicle:

Three letters to the editor on Tuesday, in a package headlined “Tales of life in the city,” raised questions about the competence and attentiveness of the San Francisco Police Department. One writer, a visitor from Chicago, detailed his frustration in trying to retrieve his stolen belongings. A city resident bemoaned the difficulty of finding a shopping cart at a grocery store – while homeless people seemed to steal them with impunity. A tourist from Boise, Idaho, described how her stay in the Grand Hyatt hotel seemed like a smoke-filled scene from a Cheech and Chong movie.

No, that would be my suite (bah-dum bum!)  Once again, there may have been marijuana smell, but there was definitely not marijuana smoke all throughout the Grand Hyatt.

Case three: Sandy Dalton of Boise, Idaho, took her 73-year-old mother to San Francisco to see the musical “South Pacific.” She booked a nonsmoking room at the Grand Hyatt, but when she arrived, the entire hotel seemed to be engulfed by the distinct scent of marijuana. Dalton’s visit coincided with the 38th annual conference of NORML, a group that advocates the legalization of marijuana. It seems that many of the conference attendees were lighting up as if their goal already had been achieved.

Yes, because, in fact, it has been.  Many of the conference attendees are medical marijuana patients and their goal of legal use has been achieved.

Dalton and her mother rolled wet towels under their door to stop the secondhand smoke, but it did little good. The smoke was so pervasive that her mother felt ill.

“There were a couple of guys who rode up the elevator with us at the Grand Hyatt during the marijuana love fest,” she said. “One of them mentioned that he was on probation and was worried that he wouldn’t pass a drug test, given that the elevator was honestly thick with pot smoke.”

Again with the image of the hot-boxed elevator!  As if the doors open and it looks like Spicoli’s van from Fast Times at Ridgemont High.  C’mon, people, you know when you use ‘honestly’ to preface a statement it is usually an exaggeration.  Nobody is going to fail any urine screens because they rode in an elevator that smelled like marijuana.

She complained to the front desk. The hotel offered an apology and a free breakfast. It did not, apparently, ask for law enforcement’s help in controlling the party.

[San Francisco Police Chief George Gascón] acknowledged that marijuana smoking is a “low-grade event” on the scale of police priorities – as it should be – but if officers had been called, they would have started with warnings to smokers who did not have medical marijuana cards.

And wouldn’t that have been fun to sort out, with all the out-of-state, but legal in their state, medical patients and all the in-state, perfectly-legal medical patients in attendance flanked by two dozen or so of the top marijuana criminal defense attorneys in the country.  Yes, that would’ve been a compelling use of police resources.

The Grand Hyatt should not have been surprised that a NORML event turned into an abnormal smokeathon. It owes Sandy Dalton and other nonsmoking guests more than a free breakfast and an apology. They should get refunds for their exposure to the inconsiderate side of San Francisco.

From NORML CON 2009 San Francisco

OK, then let me make a complaint.  On Saturday night as we began to assemble for the bus to take us to a party, the streets were completely shut down by a mass bicycle protest called “Critical Mass”.  Our bus sat there at the intersection, unable to pick us up for twenty minutes because of people – some of them naked! and a few of them smelly! – clogging the streets.

So imagine my surprise when this inconsiderate side of San Francisco was actually being assisted by the San Francisco Police!  There they were, stopping traffic to ensure that none of these naked bike riders or anyone in traffic would be harmed.

I’m joking, of course, I thought the mass bike ride was fantastic.  But there is an activity that inconvenienced far more people than the smell of marijuana in one hotel.  More violations of the law and threats to public safety occurred during that bike ride than at the entire NORML Conference.

A recent study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University has some startling results about teens and drugs.

In their study, they found that 40 percent of teens could get marijuana within a day; another quarter said they could get it within an hour. In another portion of the survey, teens between the ages of 12 and 17 say it’s easier to get marijuana than buy cigarettes, beer or prescription drugs. That number is up 37 percent from 2007.

But, local law enforcement says these numbers don’t match up to what’s happening here in east Idaho.

Kim Ellis, Pocatello Police department: “That’s something that we’re seeing here, but as far as what we’re seeing the statistics don’t bear out, that way, we’re seeing a lot more underage consumption citations than marijuana, possession of marijuana.”

According the Pocatello Police Department, since the beginning of the year there were 58 alcohol violations with minors younger than 18, while there were only 12 marijuana violations.

Law enforcement credit’s this to in school programs like “DARE” and having school resource officers available.

Did you think about crediting this to the fact that student’s ability to procure marijuana and police records of marijuana arrests have nothing to do with each other?  Cops bust a college keg party or run an ID check at clubs all the time, both situations where there are adults legally enjoying alcohol but some minors sneak in.  Sure you’re going to have more alcohol citations, as people using alcohol are more likely to do it in a manner that brings police interaction.

But marijuana you’re going to keep under wraps, especially in a conservative part of the country like North Utah Southeastern Idaho.  So don’t credit D.A.R.E., which has been proven to be ineffective at keeping teens from trying drugs.

Checking in on the road in Nampa, Idaho (population 81,000… African-American population 3) with some random observations.

Funny thing – last week my mother-in-law came from Boise to stay the week in Portland during a record heat wave. I joked, “Gee, you brought those triple-digit Idaho summer days with you!”  Now I’m in Boise and it’s done nothing but rain and my dad says, “Gee, you brought some of that Portland rain with you!”

I hope everyone who wanted a Barack Obama “Yes We Cannabis” poster got one, because now we’re not selling them anymore.  Getty Images is preparing a lawsuit.  It’s been an interesting couple of days delving into the complexities of US copyright law and “fair use” in parody and satire.

Had wonderful conversations with my 15 & 12-year-old nieces and their mom about drugs.  The girls confirmed what we all know: that they could pick up a bag of weed in their school without much effort but a six-pack of beer would require two willing adults (one to buy it for them and the clerk to sell it).  Mom now does her social work with women in the Idaho Dept. of Corrections and has built a treatment/education/re-entry program that has reduced these women’s recidivism rate from 80% to 13%.  “87% of these women have substance abuse problems,” she tells me, “but when they get out, even if they have insurance, it’s a six-week wait before they even get an evaluation for drug treatment!  You want an ex-con meth addict to wait six weeks?  Please!”

I’ll be at the Fairview Flying Pie Pizza at 4pm today in Boise to meet with any aspiring activists who’d like to form a Boise NORML.  Free stickers, pins, brochures, and fliers for all who attend.

(Los Angeles Times) One of the people who was instrumental in pushing for laws to increase the legal drinking age to 21 now calls his actions “the single most regrettable decision” of his career.

Dr. Morris Chafetz, a psychiatrist who was on the presidential commission in the 1980s that recommended raising the drinking age to 21, made his remarks in an editorial that he is shopping for publication and which he released to the advocacy group Choose Responsibility. Chafetz wrote the editorial to mark the 25th anniversary of the law that was signed by President Ronald Reagan on July 17, 1984.

“Legal Age 21 has not worked,” Chafetz said in the piece. “To be sure, drunk driving fatalities are lower now than they were in 1982. But they are lower in all age groups. And they have declined just as much in Canada, where the age is 18 or 19, as they have in the United States.”

Chafetz said the law instead has resulted in “collateral, off-road damage” such as binge drinking that occurs in underage youth and crimes like date rape, assaults and property damage.

NORML doesn’t take a stand on the use of other drugs, other than to report scientific and medical facts about them.  For instance…

(MSNBC) Alcohol abuse kills some 75,000 Americans each year and shortens the lives of these people by an average of 30 years, a U.S. government study suggested Thursday.

Excessive alcohol consumption is the third leading cause of preventable death in the United States after tobacco use and poor eating and exercise habits.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which published the study, estimated that 34,833 people in 2001 died from cirrhosis of the liver, cancer and other diseases linked to drinking too much beer, wine and spirits.

Another 40,933 died from car crashes and other mishaps caused by excessive alcohol use.

And to remind you that cannabis is a far safer substance for your body and for society and its greatest harm is caused by its prohibition.

I, however, will make some personal observations about drinking age.  Way back in the Eighties, when my ties were skinny and my shoes were checkered, the drinking age in my home state of Idaho was 19.  The Summer of ‘84 was the one before senior year in high school for me, but I was only 16 and my friends were all 17 and close to 18 (I started first grade a year early because I was reading the copyright notices on the handouts for “C is for Cat” on my first days in kindergarten).

That law got signed by President Reagan and all the states were now under the blackmail threat of losing federal highway funds if they didn’t raise their drinking ages to 21.  Idaho, however, is a very libertarian-minded state.  Our state dug in its potato-mashing heels and kept the age at 19 all through my senior year and through my college years.  I am constantly humiliated by my friends all turning 19 and me being unable to join them as they went out to the nightclubs to cruise for wild American foxes because I’m still 17 or 18.

I did drink, though.  It was that Summer of ‘84 when I first drank alcohol.  Ghost Busters was playing at the Frontier Cinema (motto: there are plenty of good seats where ceiling plaster won’t fall on you) and me and the guys snuck in Bartles & Jaymes wine coolers in our trenchcoats.  Yes, we ran around in trenchcoats in the summer.  It was the Eighties and way before Columbine.  I got hammered on the six I’d snuck in.  I even knocked over the empty bottles as we left and everyone laughed as they rolled forever down the sloped theater floor.  From that point forward, drinking was a fairly routine part of our weekend party plans.

Fast forward to January of 1989.  Democratic Gov. Cecil Andrus is prepared to sign the bill passed by the Republican-dominated legislature to raise the drinking age to 21.  I am 18 years old, about to turn 19 on the last day of the month and finally join my brothers in the quest for the ever-elusive wild American foxes.  But in an amazing turn of events, ol’ Cec is out of the state and Republican Lt. Gov. Butch Otter is in charge when the bill hits the governor’s desk.  Ol’ Butch, a strong libertarian, perhaps too a fan of wild American foxes, vetoes the bill!  It was the best birthday present ever!  I turned 19, the bill didn’t get back to Andrus’s desk until April, but as it raised the age to 21 it also grandfathered-in those of us who were already drinking.

And I mean “drinking”.  Dropping out of college, becoming a full-time rock musician, and living in big rental houses with a bunch of dudes having contests over how much and how fast we could drink.  It would be another three years of that before I discovered cannabis and my drinking tapered off.

As for the drinking age, I think that if you can join the military, you can have a beer.  Or a joint.  If there is an age of majority, let it be one age.  Eighteen feels right socially – you’re out of high school, off to college, voting – and it seems right developmentally.  Let adults be adults and let’s be consistent about who the adults are.

Holy shnikes! I think my next road trip home to visit the folks just got a whole lot more fun!*

(AP) In Idaho, you can drive high as long as you can drive straight.

Marijuana users can drive legally in the state as long as their driving isn’t erratic and they can pass a field sobriety test, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. The three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote that while it is illegal to drive under the influence of alcohol or narcotics, Idaho law doesn’t list marijuana as a narcotic.

The ruling overturned an impaired driving conviction against Matthew Patzer, 21, who was stopped for a broken tailgate light in 1998 and admitted to police he’d smoked marijuana at a party. The appeals court said Patzer could not automatically be presumed impaired; he wasn’t driving erratically and passed two field sobriety tests.

“Given the distinction drawn by the statute, there is no basis to conclude that impairment may be presumed upon admission of use of a non-narcotic drug,” the appeals court wrote.

*Note: This is a joke.  NORML reminds you to never smoke and drive impaired.

With public perceptions of marijuana prohibition shifting nationwide, in particular among traditionally anti-drug Republicans and security officials, Idaho could join the number of states loosening drug regulations. In 2006, then-gubernatorial candidate Butch Otter told Reason Magazine, “I still support medical marijuana,” though he told BW last week that he did not think Idaho would ever legalize and that he was not “desperate” enough for new revenue to pursue it. The Idaho Republican Party debated legalization last year, the citizens of Hailey voted twice in favor of three different cannabis initiatives, and budget woes have lawmakers scrambling for new sources of revenue.

(Moscow Rep. Tom) Trail says there is currently no way to track the amount of marijuana grown in Idaho. California’s annual marijuana yield is often valued at $14 billion, nearly double the value of the state’s vegetable and grape crops combined. And the Web site marijuanalobby.org estimates that Idaho could net $12.4 million in new revenue from an 8 percent tax on medicinal marijuana and license fees.

Trail’s draft bill seeks protection for qualified patients to smoke marijuana, and for designated providers and licensed physicians to grow and possess medical marijuana. Nonmedical acquisition, possession, manufacture, sale or use would remain illegal. The state would not be liable for ill effects of medical use and patients would be limited to 60-day supplies.

Sitting at his corner cubicle in the temporary Chairmen’s Suite before the close of the 2009 legislative session, the soft-spoken Trail described the plight of Moscow residents forced by Idaho law to travel to doctors in Washington, and then risk traveling back across state lines in possession of illegal medicine. Less than 3 ounces is punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine up to $1,000. More than 3 ounces is a felony, five years and a fine up to $10,000.

via Boise Weekly: News: News: Is Idaho Ready for Medical Marijuana?.

Idaho has a very strong Libertarian streak in its Republican-dominated government (last I checked, the most Republican-dominated state government in the US), so I wouldn’t be too quick to shrug off the chances of getting medical marijuana where my parents live.  There is a competing Religious Right wing to the Idaho Republicans, though, that opposes anything marijuana-related.

With medical marijuana legal just over their western, southwestern, northern, and northeastern borders, Idaho stands alone with Utah and Wyoming as the only non-medical marijuana states in the West (Arizona’s got a law, it’s just inoperable.)  C’mon, Idahoans, I’d love to be able to visit my folks without becoming a criminal once I hit Payette!

Moscow Police say a 23-year-old University of Idaho student from Wilder died Saturday morning from a toxic level of alcohol.

Daniel Mark Miller was a senior at the University of Idaho, said Moscow Assistant Police Chief David Duke.

Miller was found unresponsive about 8 a.m. on Saturday and transported via ambulance to Gritman Medical Center in Moscow where he was later pronounced dead.

Miller and a group of friends started drinking about 7 p.m. Friday at a local tavern. The group left about 11:30 p.m. and went to a private residence where they continued playing drinking games up until 2 a.m., Duke said.

Miller was “quite intoxicated and passed out,” Duke said. Friends put him in a bed and checked on him several times through about 4:30 a.m. When they checked on Miller at 8 a.m., he did not respond.

Dan Miller did not break any laws or university policies.  University of Idaho does list the following restrictions on alcohol use on campus:

ARTICLE VIII–DRUGS AND ALCOHOL. [section renumbered 8-07]

1. The sale, use, or possession of illegal drugs is a violation of this code.
2. Sale or illegal possession or illegal consumption of alcoholic beverages is prohibited in facilities owned, leased, or operated by UI and on campus grounds.
3. Alcoholic beverages may not be possessed or consumed under any circumstances in areas open to and most commonly used by the general public. These areas include, but are not limited to, lounges, student union buildings, recreation rooms, conference rooms, athletic facilities, and other public areas of UI-owned buildings or grounds.
4. UI’s primary role in handling matters involving the use or potential use of drugs or alcohol by its students is that of counseling. However, in appropriate situations, the full range of sanctions may be applied.

Dan was 23-years-old and did his drinking in a tavern and at a private home, so he abided by University standards.  If he’d been caught with a baggie of weed, he would he be alive now, but he’d be subject to a full range of potential sanctions by the University, including suspension, permanent loss of student housing, and expulsion.

My friends attended University of Idaho in the late ’80s and I visited a few times.  Moscow, Idaho, is a tiny college town and the drinking culture is very much a part of student life.  I was but 17 and my friends 18 and 19 when I visited the Delta Chi house for a night of drunken revelry (fair notice: Idaho’s drinking age was 19 back then).  Dan Miller was a 23-year-old senior, which suggests to me he was once a 19-year-old (or younger) freshman.  You don’t just go on 7-hour drinking binges to start – that’s something you build up to over time.  What if Dan had been caught drinking before age 21, or was caught drinking on campus?  How does the University of Idaho demonstrate how seriously they want to stop underaged drinking?

10. The Regents of UI adopted guidelines for enforcing campus alcohol regulations which include sanctions for violation of these regulations. Minimum sanctions for violations of Article VIII, Sections 1 and 2 of the Student Code of Conduct are listed below. These sanctions will be minimum standards and more severe sanctions may be applied. [See next page.]

a. First Infraction

1. Open container or minor in possession violations = Referral to judicial council for education programs and payment of administrative costs.
2. Illegal distribution of alcohol = Referral to judicial council with sanctions to include community service, period of probation, administrative costs, and education programs.

b. Second Infraction

1. Without injury; or without conduct likely to lead to injury = Referral to judicial council or similar authority for action which must include a treatment and/or education program.
2. With injury; or conduct likely to lead to injury = Referral to the proper administrative body of the institution for action must include notification to the criminal justice system, strict probation, and, a treatment or education program.

c. Third Infraction

1. Without injury; or without conduct likely to lead to injury = Referral to the appropriate administrative body of the institution for appropriate action, which must include, at least, suspension from school for one semester.
2. With injury; or conduct likely to lead to injury = Referral to the appropriate administrative body of the institution for appropriate action, which must include, at least, referral to the criminal justice system and expulsion from the institution for one year.

These are minimums and the University may punish alcohol violations more severely, but there are no such minimums listed for marijuana possession.  So, a UI freshman caught with beer “without injury” – remember, an illegal drug for someone under 21 – must be caught three times before being suspended from school.  Any one involved in an alcohol incident on campus “with injury” would have to be caught twice before the police are called.

So what is the standard operating procedure for marijuana on campus?  This story from the student newspaper sheds some light:

[Laura] Hutchinson, director of campus life and student conduct, said anyone who violates the Student Code of Conduct can be placed in UI’s judicial system.

Hutchinson said she sees anywhere from 900 to 1,100 students in her office for issues ranging from candles in a dorm room to sexual assault. About 10 to 15 of those cases come from police reports.

The amount of time students spend in the system varies according to their offense, said Bruce Pitman, vice provost of student affairs. The most common cases are ones of alcohol abuse, where a student will attend an educational program, pay a fine and be out of the system in a matter of weeks.

Amanda Dougherty, a sophomore RA in the Chrisman Hall last semester, said her biggest difficulty enforcing rules was in trying to get mutual respect from students.

As an RA, her job was to make sure the students in her hall were following the law and code of ethics. Vandalism, alcohol, drugs, stealing or general rule breaking could result in the student being written up.

RAs go through formal training to learn how to react to situations like suicide and legal issues.

In cases involving drugs, like marijuana, Dougherty said the first thing an RA is instructed to do is call the police.

It’s no wonder you have students drinking themselves to death when they learn even before age 21 that drinking will only get you a slap on the wrist, but the safer choice of marijuana will get them kicked out of school and sent to jail.

The ad accompanying the Idaho Falls 420 protest story. Coincidence?

Photo from localnews8.com Idaho Falls

IDAHO FALLS – There have been many protests around the country lately, but the one in Idaho Falls Monday was a little bit different.

Some protesters have been seen around town on street corners trying to pass the knowledge they say they have about marijuana.

They call themselves the 420 Soldiers and they were holding up signs letting drivers know some of the “benefits” of marijuana.

They say legalizing marijuana could help relieve prison populations, give the government another crop to tax and there are many paper uses for hemp.

The group did see some signs of support from a few drivers. Though police were called several times today by drivers thinking they were posing a driving hazard.

Photo by auto-show-girls.blogspot.com

Four hot bikini babes holding handmade signs on the street corner advertising a fund raising car wash, that’s no hazard to safe driving at all.

It’s funny which versions of free speech are driving hazards, isn’t it? (No, the bikini girls weren’t having a car wash in Idaho Falls, I’m just making the point that nobody ever complains about “cheerleader car wash” fund raisers being driving hazards.)

Our dedicated Stasher xCannabis hails from my home state of Idaho, but on the eastern side, an area of the country I like to call North Utah.  In the pouring rain, armed only with his First Amendment rights, a camera, and a car, he set out to spread the word about legalization in Pocatello and Idaho Falls.

Everybody likes to go to a protest when there is a big huge crowd on a sunny day.  Very few will stand alone in the rain to make a point.  I’ve been that one guy, standing on the sidewalk with a sign, feeling very exposed and vulnerable, but just too highly-motivated to be silent any more.  Keep up the good fight, xCannabis, and know that there are many Idahoans who saw you that day who wanted to be out and proud, but are afraid, or trapped, or just didn’t know anyone else was out there for them.  You lit a spark under someone yesterday and that fire will continue to grow… if it doesn’t get rained out!

Click here to view the embedded video.

(Idaho Mountain Express) A judge’s ruling this week took the teeth out of two controversial marijuana initiatives that were approved by Hailey voters, but left intact a requirement that the city advocate for reform of marijuana and industrial hemp laws.

Blaine County 5th District Court Judge Robert J. Elgee, in a decision filed Tuesday, voided portions of the initiatives that would have legalized medical marijuana use in the city and would have made enforcement of marijuana laws the lowest priority for Hailey police. The judge also voided language in the initiatives that would have required individual city officials to advocate for marijuana reform.

However, provisions of the initiatives that require the city as an entity to advocate for marijuana reform were left intact, as were provisions that require the city to establish community committees regarding marijuana and hemp issues.

Councilman Keirn said he’s not sure how the city is going to implement remaining provisions of the initiatives that require Hailey to advocate for reform of marijuana laws and to establish community committees.

“A city as an entity has no voice unless we give it one.” Keirn said. “If we don’t have to support it as individuals, I don’t see how we can do it as a city. We’ll probably leave it up to the city attorney. We can pass that one back and forth for a while.”

An interesting thing to note when reading the quotes in this story:

Hailey Police Chief Gunter: “If I want to advocate something…” and “I’m also pleased…”

City Councilman Don Keirn: “If we don’t have to support it as individuals…”

Mayor Rick Davis: “I got what I wanted…”

Makes you almost wonder if there are more than three people living in Hailey, Idaho, doesn’t it?  The people living in this alleged democracy voted for four different pro-marijuana initiatives and passed three of them, twice, with votes of 53%, 53%, 51% in the first election and 58%, 57%, 54% in the second a year later.

But wait, it gets more interesting.  The Chief, the Councilman, and the Mayor were all parties in the lawsuit to overturn these initiatives.  Springing to the defense of these initiatives was the City Attorney, Ned Williamson, who was quite vocally opposed to the initiatives before they passed.  I’m sure he came up with the most solid defense arguments he could possibly make and in no way let his strong opposition to these initiatives color his enthusiam and drive to defend them.  At least after he lost the case, Williamson made a token reference to the will of the people whose case he just lost:

“The people spoke when they voted for this, but just like with the Legislature, laws have to be subjected to legal scrutiny,” he said.

Or to put it another way, the people said marijuana shouldn’t be illegal, but it is, so tough luck.