Thursday, August 27th, 2009 at 11:28 am | By: Radical Russ
(Missoulian) Law enforcement reports of incidents involving marijuana continue to rise in the city of Missoula, and members of an oversight committee asked the county of Missoula on Wednesday to help reverse the trend.
A report released this week analyzing data for the last half of 2008 concluded the recommendation of voters in November 2006 that adult marijuana offenses be given the lowest priority by government officials “continues to be ignored by most of the officials in position to heed it.”
Donna Hamilton of the county-appointed Marijuana Initiative Oversight Committee presented the third semiannual report to commissioners at their weekly public meeting. It stated that while there have been modest decreases in incidents reported by the county sheriff’s department and the University of Montana, incidents reported by the Missoula Police Department seem to have risen by 50 percent since the first year.
John Masterson, chairman of the oversight committee [and head of Montana NORML], said many of the questions arising from the increase can’t be adequately answered, because the panel isn’t receiving initial incident reports from law enforcement agencies.
“We were told incident reports were impossible for us to review because they contained information about persons who were not yet charged with a crime,” he said.
Angela Goodhope, the third member of the oversight panel to testify in front of the commissioners, asked that they help law officers get on board with the initiative’s intent.
“We’re coming to you to ask for your help,” she told commissioners Bill Carey, Jean Curtiss and Michele Landquist. “Whether it’s overzealous law enforcement practice due to us voters maybe asking them to change their priorities, or whether it’s that people are flagrantly using marijuana because of (the initiative), we need to know this information.”
Remember when we complained that police shouldn’t arrest pot smokers and the cops would say, “We don’t make the laws, we just enforce them”? So we get together and put up an initiative and the voters agree that while the law still exists, the police shouldn’t enforce them if they have anything more important to do. So what’s the excuse now, “We just enforce the laws, even if you don’t want us to”?
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Monday, February 16th, 2009 at 11:16 am | By: Radical Russ
Subject: Montana Senate To Decide On Medical Marijuana; House To Debate Decriminalization
We’re contacting you today with good news from the State House.
First, the House Judiciary Committee has scheduled to hear testimony in favor of HB 541 — which would amend state law so that the possession of up to 30 grams of marijuana is reduced from a criminal misdemeanor (punishable by up to six -months in jail) to a $50 fine — on Wednesday, February 18, at 8am in Room 137 of the State Capitol.
Please consider traveling to the Capitol and voicing your support for this common sense proposal. Also, if you have not yet done so, please write your Representative today, and urge him or her to vote ‘yes’ on HB 541. You can do so here.
In other news, on Friday the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Safety Committee votes 5-2 to pass SB 326, an act to provide greater access to medical marijuana for state-authorized patients. The full Senate is expected to vote on the measure later this week!
If passed, this proposal would:
Expand the number of qualifying conditions for which marijuana may be legally recommended;
Increase the amount of marijuana a patient may legally possess;
Prohibit employers and landlords from discriminating against medicinal marijuana patients solely because of their medical status.
Please contact your Senator today and tell him or her to vote ‘yes’ on SB 326. You can do so by clicking here.
These next few days are crucial for the fate of marijuana law reform in Montana. Please write or call your elected officials and voice your support for these efforts.
For additional information, please please contact Montana Patients and Families United at: info@mtmjpatients.org or Montana NORML.
Thank you for supporting NORML’s marijuana reform efforts in Montana.
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On today’s Stash we go to Big Sky Country to speak with the head of Montana NORML, John Masterson, who is also co-author of a report showing that city officials in Missoula are ignoring the will of the voters who said they wanted marijuana offenses to be the lowest priority in the county. Then we visit with Tere Joyce down in Hollywood with some 420 Comedy and comedian Howard Dover.
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008 at 12:15 pm | By: Radical Russ
Missoula Marijuana Arrests Up, Report Suggests | Missoula | New West Missoula
A report released Wednesday suggests a jump in marijuana offenses in Missoula County compared to last year, despite the passage in 2006 of Initiative 2, the “marijuana initiative,” which made adult misdemeanor marijuana offenses the County’s lowest law enforcement priority.
Marijuana incidents in the City of Missoula, the County and on the University of Montana campus are up 27 percent, the report estimates; 63 percent in the city alone.
The numbers are stark enough for the Community Oversight Committee that compiled the report (PDF) to conclude: “The voters’ recommendation is apparently being ignored by most of the officials in a position to heed it.”
John Masterson, chair of the committee and director of Montana NORML, says it should be disappointing to the 55 percent of voters in Missoula County and the 80 percent of voters in some city precincts that voted for the initiative.
But no matter the vote margin, Missoula Chief of Police Mark Muir says nothing’s being ignored—it’s a county, not city, initiative. “The initiative itself never gave any direction to municipal government. Period.”
I get into a lot of discussions with law enforcement types regarding marijuana. My eldest female cousin and her husband are both county sheriff’s deputies in the conservative Idaho county where I was born. They believe the laws requiring them to investigate and arrest cannabis smokers are a ridiculous waste of their time. They’d prefer to spend their time going after meth – a big problem in that area.
RevRayGreen: I'll post a pic of me and my son....gimme a minute
Missippi Hippy: Guess what... I'm gonna be a new... ummmmm well, my pet piggie Ganja is in labor and they ain't mine in the same sense. See what your wife [...]
RevRayGreen: days they didn't talk back..or act disrespectful..
RevRayGreen: feel so lucky my son is 18 going 19 and my daughter 16 going on 17..relish the days that can't talk back
Urb Age: Congrats Spof thats awesome. My little Clara is about to hit 20 months. Im not the activist I used to be, but its made me a better man.
Urb Age: Heck I was gonna go up there, but just not feeling well this weekend..Dang it, I hate it when that happens..
RevRayGreen: wishing I was hanging at NORML cafe...
JohnH: Just a quick comment about tokin' and sperm motility....been tokin since age 14 and have 8 kids ranging in age from 30 to 9...(what can I say, I found 2 [...]
slash5city: really ..oprah 35 yr or more in the closet toker ...outed ....o my god !!
SneakerPimp: that would be huge news just imagen the headline
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Missoula cops ignoring “marijuana as lowest priority” passed by voters
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