U.S. Says It Won't Intervene in States Where Drug Is Legal HELENA, Mont. (AP) - Medical marijuana businesses worried that federal agents will close them down now have a roadmap to avoid prosecution, courtesy of the Justice Department's decision to allow legal pot in Colorado and Washington state. The agency last week said that even though the drug remains illegal under federal law, it won't intervene to block state pot laws or prosecute as long as states create strict and effective controls that follow eight conditions. [continues 664 words]
HELENA, Mont. (AP) - Medical marijuana businesses worried that federal agents will close them down now have a roadmap to avoid prosecution, courtesy of the Justice Department's decision to allow legal pot in Colorado and Washington state. The agency said last week that even though the drug remains illegal under federal law, it won't intervene to block state pot laws or prosecute as long as states create strict and effective controls that follow eight conditions. "The DOJ is saying you guys need to color inside the lines," said Teri Robnett, founder of the Cannabis Patients Action Network, a Westminster, Colo.- based medical marijuana advocacy group. [continues 230 words]
HELENA, Mont. (AP) - Medical marijuana businesses worried that federal agents will close them down now have a roadmap to avoid prosecution, courtesy of the Justice Department's decision to allow legal pot in Colorado and Washington state. The agency said last week that even though the drug remains illegal under federal law, it won't intervene to block state pot laws or prosecute as long as states create strict and effective controls that follow eight conditions. "The DOJ is saying you guys need to color inside the lines," said Teri Robnett, founder of the Cannabis Patients Action Network, a Westminster, Colo.-based medical marijuana advocacy group. "If you color inside the lines, we'll let you keep your crayons. [continues 506 words]
HELENA, Mont. (AP) - Lori Burnam, a Hamilton woman with lung cancer who became the face of medical marijuana advocacy in Montana, has died at age 66. Ms. Burnam died Thursday at her home of what the medical examiner determined was natural causes, said Chris Lindsey, president of an advocacy group that Ms. Burnam testified for in challenging a restrictive marijuana law. The cancer "had metastasized and was in her bones. The family believes that's what made the difference," Lindsey said. [continues 248 words]
HELENA - The Montana Attorney General's office will make its case Wednesday to the state Supreme Court that the commercial sale of medical marijuana should be halted. Assistant Attorney General Jim Molloy is set to argue that District Judge James Reynolds improperly blocked that portion of the new medical marijuana law passed by the 2011 Legislature. Meanwhile, the plaintiffs led by the Montana Cannabis Industry Association say that Reynolds should have gone further and blocked the entire law, not just the provision keeping marijuana providers from making a profit. They will ask the state's high court to do so until their lawsuit can be heard. [continues 498 words]
HELENA - Four of the six medical marijuana providers who are suing the U.S. government over last year's raids of pot businesses across Montana have been arrested on federal drug charges, their lawyer in the civil lawsuit said Tuesday. The medical marijuana businesses of the four plaintiffs arrested Tuesday and last Thursday were among more than 26 homes, businesses and warehouses searched in sweeping raids last spring that shut down many providers and cast a pall over Montana's booming pot business. [continues 593 words]
HELENA - A year after agents raided his medical marijuana operation in a sweeping sting that shut down pot providers across Montana, Chris Williams is stepping up his challenge of the federal operation that changed the face of the industry in the state. Williams, a former co-owner of the now-defunct Montana Cannabis, and more than a dozen other providers are taking a constitutional fight over the federal crackdown to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after a district judge dismissed the case in January. He also is preparing for his own possible arrest related to last year's raids. [continues 783 words]
HELENA - A judge has ruled that Montana's medical marijuana law doesn't shield providers of the drug from federal prosecution, delivering a new blow to an industry reeling from a state and federal crackdown. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy on Friday dismissed a civil lawsuit filed by 14 individuals and businesses that were among more than two dozen medical marijuana providers raided by federal agents last year across Montana. The providers claimed the raids violated their constitutional rights in part because state law passed by voter initiative in 2004 allows them to grow and produce the drug for medical consumption. [continues 646 words]
After months of hearing from hundreds of patients, caregivers, police and worried parents, an interim legislative committee plans to draft possible changes to the state's medical marijuana law by August. Lawmakers received dozens of recommendations Monday on how to improve the law passed by initiative in 2004. The recommendations from a working group ranged from creating a regulatory board that licenses medical marijuana providers _ called caregivers _ to reviewing the one-year period that a patient's medical marijuana card is valid. [continues 571 words]
As Bob Marley music wailed in the next room, the makeshift clinic hummed along like an assembly line: Patients went in to see a doctor, paid $150 and walked out with a recommendation that they be allowed to buy and smoke medical marijuana. So it went, all day, at a hotel just blocks from the state Capitol that was the latest stop of the so-called cannabis caravan, a band of doctors and medical marijuana advocates roaming Montana that has helped thousands of patients apply for medical marijuana cards from the state. [continues 849 words]
Not Criminal: Ruling Limits Impact of New Law on Possession of Small Amounts. JUNEAU -- A judge Monday struck down part of a new Alaska law criminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, saying it conflicts with past constitutional decisions made by the Alaska Supreme Court. That means the police won't be able charge people with a misdemeanor under the new law for possessing less than 1 ounce of marijuana in their homes. The state Department of Law was expected to quickly file an appeal with the high court. [continues 315 words]
A judge is asking the state of Alaska for its evidence that marijuana has become so dangerously potent in the last three decades that it warranted tightening one of the nation's most liberal possession laws. Judge Patricia Collins requested the documentation Thursday, three days after the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska asked the court to block a new state law recriminalizing marijuana. The civil liberties group alleges the new law is an unconstitutional invasion of privacy. Gov. Frank Murkowski pushed the law through the Legislature and signed it June 2. But in preparation for the expected court fight, Murkowski and the Legislature included in the bill a set of findings meant to prove that marijuana has increased in potency since the original Supreme Court decision [continues 211 words]
The civil liberties group alleges the new law is an unconstitutional invasion of privacy. "Is marijuana so dangerous that it justifies restricting a fundamental right? The state thinks it's yes, we think it's no," said Michael Macleod-Ball, executive director of the ACLU of Alaska. The lawsuit also claims the law allows prosecution of people who use marijuana for medical purposes, which the Alaska Department of Law disputes. Along with the lawsuit, the ACLU is asking a Juneau Superior Court judge to block the law. Macleod-Ball said a hearing was not immediately set. [continues 403 words]
New Felony Status Violates Privacy Rights, Group's Lawsuit Claims JUNEAU - The American Civil Liberties Union on Monday sued the state of Alaska over a new law penalizing marijuana possession for personal use in the home. The law, signed by Gov. Frank Murkowski on Friday, is an attempt to reverse a 30-year-old Alaska Supreme Court decision called Ravin vs. Alaska in which the court ruled the privacy rights of Alaskans trumped the harm the drug could cause. Later court decisions set a legal limit of four ounces that an individual can keep in the home. [continues 484 words]
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - In a surprise vote Friday, the Alaska House passed a bill that would both recriminalize marijuana possession and make it tougher to by the ingredients to manufacture methamphetamine. The House last month rejected the conference committee's marijuana.m.eth bill, but voted 21-17 Friday night to rescind that action. The bill went on to pass without debate 24-14. "I don't think it was a reversal, I think it was an evolution toward good policy," said Rep. Jay Ramras, R-Fairbanks, who sponsored the methamphetamine bill. [continues 465 words]
Legislature: Bill Would Also Require Signing of Logbook to Buy Ephedrine-Based Drugs. JUNEAU -- A legislative conference committee on Wednesday denied one last attempt to remove tougher restrictions on marijuana possession from a drug bill before approving a final version of the measure. The bill is meant to curb the manufacture of methamphetamine and give the state the legal artillery to overturn Alaska Supreme Court decisions that have made the state's marijuana laws among the most lenient in the nation. [continues 355 words]
JUNEAU--Stymied by the courts, Alaska's governor is looking for other ways to toughen Alaska's anti-marijuana laws. Pot laws are looser in Alaska than just about anywhere else in the country. Possessing small amounts of the drug for personal use is a privacy right protected under the state's constitution, the Alaska Supreme Court has upheld. Alaska is one of 11 states that allows the use of medical marijuana. Republican Gov. Frank Murkowski wants state lawmakers to re-criminalize the drug, asking them to consider evidence of the marijuana's dangers that he contends should trump the right-to-privacy rulings. [continues 675 words]
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A proposition to legalize the use and sale of marijuana was rejected by Alaska voters Tuesday night, but supporters said it would not be the end of their efforts to change the law. With 319 of 439 precincts reporting, 123,164 voters - about 57 percent - voted against the measure. Yes votes totaled 92,537, or about 43 percent. Wev Shea, a former U.S. attorney and a vocal opponent of the initiative, said he was pleased the measure failed despite proposition boosters raising more than $850,000, much of it money from outside Alaska. [continues 478 words]
Opinion: Possession of Less Than 4 Ounces Doesn't Justify Search. The Alaska Court of Appeals ruled Friday that police cannot execute a search warrant in a person's home for possession of less than 4 ounces of marijuana. Attorney General Gregg Renkes says he will appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court and he is "fearful that this will shut down effective investigation of marijuana growing cases." The Appeals Court ruled in the case of Leo Richardson Crocker Jr., who was charged with controlled substance misconduct after police, acting on a tip, searched his Anchor Point home and found marijuana and growing equipment. [continues 306 words]
ANCHORAGE, AK - Police cannot execute a search warrant in a person's home for possession of less than 4 ounces of marijuana, the Alaska Court of Appeals ruled Friday. The court ruled in the case of Leo Richardson Crocker Jr., who was charged with controlled substance misconduct after police, acting on a tip, searched his home and found marijuana and growing equipment. A lower court ruled the search warrant that led to the arrest should have never been issued and suppressed the evidence against Crocker. The appeals court agreed. [continues 239 words]
ANCHORAGE--The Alaska Court of Appeals ruled Friday that police cannot execute a search warrant in a person's home for possession of less than 4 ounces of marijuana. Attorney General Gregg Renkes says he will appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court and that he is "fearful that this will shut down effective investigation of marijuana growing cases." The Appeals Court ruled in the case of Leo Richardson Crocker Jr., who was charged with controlled substance misconduct after police, acting on a tip, searched his Anchor Point home and found marijuana and growing equipment. [continues 306 words]
Judge: 'We Can Operate for About a Year With What We've Got' JACKSON - Mississippi drug courts, encouraged but largely unfunded by the state, plan to turn to unlikely sources to find operating money. Corporations and groups like the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians are being sought out to fund a new drug court for the 8th Circuit Court District in Leake, Neshoba, Newton and Scott counties. And a drug court that has seen 248 offenders since 1999 will soon see its state funding cut 60-65 percent. [continues 528 words]
JACKSON - The former deputy director and the chief of operations of the state Bureau of Narcotics were allegedly paid thousands of dollars in questionable overtime and compensation, the agency's own investigators have found. A report of those findings and others, reviewed by The Associated Press, have been turned over to the state Attorney General's Office and the state auditor for investigation. Deputy State Auditor Norman McLeod says the investigation, which covers a range of allegations from records fraud to misspent drug fighting money, has no timetable for completion. [continues 481 words]
"I was pretty much instructed what to buy. I was aware that a lot of stuff was not kosher," the former unit member said. JACKSON - Certain officers at a Mississippi Air National Guard unit spent money earmarked for drug fighting on personal items and gifts, sources close to an investigation into activities at the Meridian-headquartered unit say. The items in question, purchased in 2000 with money meant for the C-26 counter-drug unit of the 186th Air Refueling Wing, included personal digital computers, telephones, leather chairs, travel bags and wall prints. [continues 588 words]
The Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics has placed a minister-agent over its marijuana eradication program amid an investigation into alleged records falsification and misconduct. Elbert Craig, a 14-year MBN agent and a Baptist minister, was named earlier as agent-in-charge of the eradication program and its evidence, MBN director Frank Melton said Monday. Melton said that during the three months Craig has been in charge, the program's accountability has improved. "It has been streamlined, it has been put under new management," Melton said. "(Craig's) integrity is above reproach." [continues 254 words]
Minister-Agent To Lead Marijuana Eradication Program JACKSON - The Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics has placed a minister-agent over its marijuana eradication program amid an investigation into alleged records falsification and misconduct. Elbert Craig, a 14-year MBN agent and a Baptist minister, was named earlier as agent-in-charge of the eradication program and its evidence, MBN director Frank Melton said Monday. Melton said that during the three months Craig has been in charge, the program's accountability has improved. [continues 334 words]
BRANDON, Miss. - Tunica County Sheriff Jerry Ellington, one day after his arrest on federal extortion and bribery charges, was served Thursday with a similar state complaint. The state documents were served during a court appearance in Rankin County. A $25,000 bond was ordered by Rankin County Judge Kent McDaniel, appointed special judge to hear the state case. There was no immediate word on whether Ellington had posted the bond. The state alleges that on June 6, Ellington demanded and collected $2,500 from bail bondsmen with Hampton Company National Surety in Rankin County in exchange for Ellington's referring individuals to the company. The company writes bonds in Tunica County. [continues 472 words]
JACKSON, Miss. - The head of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics says he is investigating allegations that two bureau planes were transferred at the request of a former aide to Sen. Trent Lott. MBN director Frank Melton said Monday that an internal probe began last week into the 1999 transfer of a Beechcraft King Air to the Harrison County Sheriff's Office and the 2000 transfer of a Cessna 206 to the Hancock County Port and Harbor Commission. The transfers allegedly were made at the request of Robert Maxwell, an aide to Lott at the time. [continues 309 words]
Former TV executive and controversial gubernatorial appointee Frank Melton was sworn in Friday as head of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics. Melton has been on the job since December, leading a series of "street sweeps" around the state. Early on, he led a high-profile sweep in front of the Capitol in downtown Jackson while lawmakers were in session, a move that raised eyebrows. Melton, 52, is the former chief executive officer of WLBT-Channel 3 in Jackson. The state Senate confirmed his appointment late last month. [continues 342 words]
JACKSON (AP) -- Frank Melton, the former chief executive officer of Jackson television station WLBT, was named Wednesday as the new director of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics. Melton, picked by Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, replaces Don Strange Jr., who announced his resignation last month. Melton, a board member of the Liberty Corporation, which owns TV3, has been active in promoting anti-drug programs and in efforts to get children off the streets. Dennis Wood, assistant director of special operations at the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, had served as interim director of the agency. [continues 306 words]
