Alaska legal update, MJ stays protected

>July 11, 2006

>
>CONTACT: Daniel Berger, (917) 602-2445;
[email protected]:
<mailto:[email protected]>
>
>JUNEAU - In a landmark ruling, an Alaska state court judge has upheld
>adults' right to possess and use small amounts of marijuana within their
>homes. The American Civil Liberties Union, which challenged the law,
>said the ruling confirmed that the state constitution protects adults
>who use and possess marijuana in their homes from police surveillance,
>searches, arrest and prosecution.
>

>"The drug war has wreaked havoc on the Bill of Rights and the U.S.
>Constitution, but fortunately many state constitutions still shield
>individuals from drug war excess," said Allen Hopper, an attorney
with
>the ACLU Drug Law Reform Project. "This ruling is incredibly
significant
>from a national perspective, because there are a number of states with
>similar privacy rights in their constitutions that may afford
>protections to adult marijuana users."

>With the court's ruling, Alaska remains the only state in the nation in
>which adults are legally free to possess and use small amounts of
>marijuana within their homes.
>
>"The state of Alaska has charted a different course from that of the
>federal government's failed policy on marijuana," said Michael
>MacLeod-Ball, Executive Director of the ACLU of Alaska. "This ruling
>affirms Alaska's commitment to fundamental privacy rights over reefer
>madness."

>The ACLU filed suit against the State of Alaska after it passed a law
>earlier this year that would have re-criminalized adult use and
>possession of small amounts of marijuana within the home. Since 1975,
>the Alaska Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that the state
>constitution's privacy provisions protect adults' possession of small
>amounts of marijuana in the home, and the state court's ruling relied in
>part on those decisions. A similar law was proposed in 2005 by Governor
>Frank Murkowski, but failed to pass following testimony by
>international, national and state scientific experts that adult use of
>marijuana is no more dangerous today than it was in 1975.
>
>In the 1975 ruling, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled in Ravin v. State
>that the state constitution's right to privacy protects adults who use
>and possess marijuana within the home from criminal prosecution.
>

>Judge Patricia Collins of the Juneau Superior Court relied on the Ravin
>decision to reaffirm that the relatively minor dangers associated with
>adult possession and use of small amounts of marijuana within the home
>do not justify government surveillance and searches of homes or criminal
>prosecution. Her ruling was issued late yesterday.
>

>The State of Alaska argued that since the 1975 Ravin decision, marijuana
>has become more potent and dangerous, justifying a revisiting of the
>Supreme Court's previous ruling. Judge Collins disagreed, stating in her
>opinion that the "[Ravin] decision is law until and unless the
supreme court takes contrary action."
>
>
>The ruling is online at:
>
http://www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/decr...gl20060711.html
>

>The ACLU's legal papers are available at:
>
http://www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/decr...l20060630.html:
<
>http://www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/decrim/26060lgl20060630.html>

>
>Additional background information on ACLU of Alaska v. State of Alaska
>can also be found at:
>
http://www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/decr...s20060630.html:
<
>http://www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/decrim/26076prs20060630.html>
>

>
>Allen Hopper
>Senior Staff Attorney
>ACLU Drug Law Reform Project
>1101 Pacific Avenue, Suite 333
>Santa Cruz, CA 95060
>831-471-9000
>831-471-9676 (fax)
>[email protected]
>
www.aclu.org/drugpolicy
*